Compiled Help

[ShawnUSU]

I use WebHelp in RH9 to generate online help for our software product.  The problem is, the help is huge.  It takes up more space than the product itself, and with the plans we have for the future, it is only going to get bigger.  Is there a way to create compiled online help so there is only one file, rather than hundreds of individual files?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If you're talking about a locally installed help file that stays in 1 file, I think the old CHM is your only choice.

To package my WebHelp, I use an installer program (Wise; you could use something like Install Shield too) that compresses all the component parts (from the \!SSL!\WebHelp\ folder) & puts them into a single installer that gets shipped with our software. Another option I'm using for another of our packages is a locally-installed AIRHelp file. That consolidates all the "stuff" of your project into 1 file that gets unpacked (like the WebHelp does) when installed.

[Peter Grainge]

Have you checked the size of a CHM generated from your help against the size of webhelp? As Jeff indicates, you need to tell us where the application and the help are installed.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[ShawnUSU]

I hope you'll forgive my ignorance but I've never generated a CHM and don't know the first thing about it.  I searched around for some information but didn't find anything helpful.  How would I generate one?

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

It's the HTML help option in your Single Source Layouts pod. It's really old-fashioned looking help. It relies upon the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop program to create a .chm file.