Commands on the Edit menu affect the text in the Help file, letting you copy a topic into a text editor or add notes to a Help topic.
The Copy command copies some or all of the text in a Help topic to the Clipboard. From the Clipboard, users can paste the text into another application or document. In this way, your Help system can provide examples and other information that the users might want to copy for themselves.
Choosing the Copy command places the text of the current Help topic in the Copy dialog box. (This command does not copy graphics.) Line breaks are inserted at the end of each line, unless the topic was authored as nonwrapping.
In the Copy dialog box, you can select a portion of the topic text that you want to copy to the Clipboard, or you can copy the entire topic to the Clipboard by not selecting anything. If you make a selection in the Copy dialog box, only the selected text is copied to the Clipboard.
Once displayed, the Copy dialog box can be moved and resized. Changes to the dialog box size or location are recorded in the [Windows Help] section of the WIN.INI file.
To copy text in the current Help topic to the Clipboard
1.1.From the Edit menu in Help, choose Copy.
The Copy dialog box appears (Figure 1.16).
2.2.To copy all the text to the Clipboard, choose the Copy button.
Or select the text you want to copy to the Clipboard, and then choose the Copy button.
You can paste the text in the Clipboard into a Help annotation or into a document from another application.
You can also copy the entire contents of a Help topic directly to the Clipboard without displaying the Copy dialog box.
To copy the entire topic directly to the Clipboard
1.nPress CTRL+INS.
The Annotate command attaches a note to the currently displayed topic. This feature lets users add their own comments to the information you provide in the Help file.
In the Annotate dialog box, you can type the annotation you want to add to the Help topic, edit an existing annotation, delete an annotation, copy all or part of an annotation to the Clipboard, or paste the contents of the Clipboard into the annotation window.
When you save an annotation, Help places a paper-clip icon to the left of the topic title to remind you that you have added text to this topic. Clicking the paper-clip icon opens the Annotate dialog box so that you can see the annotation.
Copy and Paste buttons are included in the Annotate dialog box so that users can select a portion of the text to copy to the Clipboard. Or they can copy the entire annotation to the Clipboard by not selecting anything. If they make a selection, only the selected text is copied to the Clipboard. The Paste button allows users to place information in the Clipboard and then paste it into the Annotate edit box and save it with a topic. In this way, users can enhance their annotations with information from different sources. For example, a user might copy one Help topic to the Clipboard and then go to a different topic and paste the copied topic into an annotation to have the information from both topics accessible from one topic. The Paste button becomes active only when there is something in the Clipboard that might be pasted into the Annotate edit box.
Annotations are saved in a file with an .ANN extension. The annotation filename is based on the root name of the Help file and the annotation extension. For example, annotations to File Manager Help would be stored in the WINFILE.ANN file. Help stores annotation files in the user’s Windows directory. Annotations in the current Help file remain in effect between Windows Help sessions.
Once displayed, the Annotation dialog box can be moved and resized. Changes to the dialog box size or location are recorded in the [Windows Help] section of the WIN.INI file.
To add an annotation to the current Help topic
1.1.From the Edit menu in Help, choose Annotate.
The Annotate dialog box appears (Figure 1.17).
2.2.Type the text you want to add.
If you make a mistake, press BACKSPACE to erase any unwanted characters, and then continue typing.
Text wraps automatically in the edit box, but you can end a line before it wraps by pressing ENTER.
3.3.When you have finished creating the annotation, choose the Save button.
A paper-clip icon appears in the topic title, indicating that you have made an annotation (Figure 1.18).
To view an annotation
1.1.Go to the topic where you made the annotation.
2.2.Click the paper-clip icon.
Or press TAB to highlight the paper-clip icon, and then press ENTER.
3.3.When you have finished reading the annotation, choose the Cancel button.
To remove an annotation
1.1.Go to the topic where you made the annotation you want to delete.
2.2.Click the paper-clip icon.
Or press TAB to highlight the paper-clip icon, and then press ENTER.
3.3.Choose the Delete button.
You can also copy text from an annotation and paste it into another annotation or into another document. Likewise, you can paste text from other documents into annotations.
To copy an annotation
1.1.Go to the topic where you made the annotation you want to copy.
2.2.Click the paper-clip icon.
Or press TAB to highlight the paper-clip icon, and then press ENTER.
3.3.To copy the entire annotation to the Clipboard, choose the Copy button or press CTRL+INS.
Or select the text in the annotation that you want to copy to the Clipboard, and then choose the Copy button.
4.4.To close the Annotate dialog box, choose the Save button.
To paste an annotation
1.1.Copy to the Clipboard the text that you want to paste into the annotation.
2.2.Go to the topic where you want to paste the annotation.
3.3.Click the paper-clip icon.
Or press TAB to highlight the paper-clip icon, and then press ENTER.
4.4.To paste the contents of the Clipboard at the beginning of the topic, choose the Paste button or press SHIFT+INS.
Or place the insertion point where you want to insert the new text, and then choose the Paste button.
5.5.To save the changes and close the Annotate dialog box, choose the Save button.