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Winhelp has been discontinued in Windows Vista |
  
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Winhelp has been discontinued in Windows Vista |
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Microsoft Windows Vista does not include support for the Winhelp format. It has been removed entirely from the operating system. Even if your application runs fine under Vista, trying to open the help will only display an error message if you use Winhelp. This applies both for the main help and context-sensitive help popups using the Winhelp format, including HTML Help in dual-mode help mode.
We thus strongly recommend that all help authors should start transitioning away from Winhelp as soon as possible.
The current Winhelp situation in Windows Vista:
What the precise situation with Winhelp in Vista is going to be is still not entirely clear, even though Windows Vista has already shipped. The known situation at present is as follows:
Microsoft has indicated that it may be possible to download support for Winhelp after Vista is officially released, but this will have to be done by the user as Microsoft is not going to permit this support to be included in software vendors' own installation packages. This software download has been delayed and is currently not yet available. |
It is not yet clear whether context help popups (field-level popups) called from your application and dual mode HTML Help will be possible in Vista. |
The Winhelp compiler is fully functional under Windows Vista. This means you will still be able to generate Winhelp with Help & Manual under Vista but you may not be able to view it – what exactly is possible will not be clear until the downloadable Winhelp support package for Vista actually becomes generally available... |
Alternatives to Winhelp:
We recommend using HTML Help for help installed on the user's computer and Browser-based Help for help accessed over local networks or the Internet. You can make context calls to the main help using both these formats but in both cases you will have to rewrite the calls in your application:
This API is documented in the help of Microsoft HTML Help Workshop, which is installed automatically when you install the Microsoft HTML Help Compiler. You can also find added information for using this API in most current programming languages in the |
You can make context calls directly to topics in your Browser-based Help and specific jump targets within topics using regular URLs. For details on the syntax and implementation see Context calls to Browser-based Help. |
Note that Browser-based Help can also be used for help installed on local computers if you want. You should just remember to activate the option Enable local testing for MS Internet Explorer in the Compile menu. |
Now that Winhelp is no longer supported by Microsoft, HTML Help is the only way to implement field-level popups Field-level popups are ontext popups displayed directly within your application, without displaying the main help. Note that HTML Help popups are plain-text only, so you can no longer use formatted text, images or hyperlinks in your field-level popups. Help & Manual's own help has now also switched to HTML Help for its own field-level popups. (For an example, right-click on any control in the program and select What's This?. |
See Conditions and Using Context-sensitive Help for details on implementing field-level popups with HTML Help. |
Page url: http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index.html?hm_winhelp_vista.htm
