Custom Help Files (Windows CE 5.0)
When an SDK is built, by default Platform Builder creates an HTML Help (.chm) file that contains an entry in the table of contents for each Catalog item included in the OS design the SDK is based on. Each entry points to a .chm file for the Catalog item.
During the build process, the SDK Wizard copies the .chm file for each Catalog item in your OS design. The SDK installation application places the .chm files, including the master .chm file, into the SDK's Help subdirectory.
When the Help collection is opened, the master .chm file only displays entries from the table of contents that have a corresponding Help file.
The master .chm file is recursive, meaning that a master .chm file can contain a table of contents entry for another master .chm file. This second file can in turn contain entries in a table of contents for any number of .chm files.
All .chm files must be in the same parent directory, and all Help files are placed in the same directory on the client machine at installation.
The SDK Settings dialog box allows you to specify additional Help files that appear in the custom Help collection created when the SDK is built.
When the Help file for the SDK is created, an entry for your Help is added to the table of contents. Due to the recursive nature of .chm files, the Help file you create can contain an additional table of contents that can include an entire document collection, or it can leave slots available for additional third-party Help files.
To associate a custom HTML file with a Catalog item you create, add the following line to the BuildMethod block in the Catalog item (.cec) file for the Catalog item, where chmname is the name of the custom .chm file.
Setting( '#CHM( "chmname.chm" )' )
Note Custom .chm files can be added only for Catalog items that have a .cec file. For more information about creating Catalog items, see Catalog Customization.
After you perform this task, SDKs that include the new Catalog item include the custom documentation.
This custom documentation does not appear in the Platform Builder Help system. However, after the SDK is installed on a development workstation containing eMbedded Visual C++, the custom documentation appears in the eMbedded Visual C++ Help collection, under the Microsoft Windows CE node.
When the SDK is installed on a workstation containing Visual Studio, the custom documentation does not appear in the default online collection. The help files are installed on and can be accessed from the developer's hard drive.
Creating custom HTML Help files and master .chm files are beyond the scope of this documentation. For more information on HTML Help, see Microsoft HTML Help Workshop 1.3 in the MSDN Library.
See Also
Adding Custom Help Files to an SDK | SDK Development | Catalog Item Creation | How to Create an SDK for an OS Design
Last updated on Thursday, February 02, 2006
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