OEM Help Files

Article
06/30/2006

A custom Help file is created when an SDK is built. This Help file contains a table of contents entry for each feature that is included in the platform. Each of these entries in the table of contents points to a .chm file for the feature.

During the build process, the Export SDK Wizard copies the appropriate .chm file for each feature that is included in your platform. 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 will display only the entries from the table of contents for which there is a corresponding Help file.

The master .chm file feature is recursive, meaning that a master .chm file can contain a table of contents entry for another master .chm file. This second file may in turn contain entries in a table of contents for any number of .chm files. All .chm files must be located in the same parent directory, and all Help files will be placed in the same directory on the client machine after installation. The SDK Configuration Settings dialog box allows you to specify a Help file that will appear in the custom Help collection that is created. When the Help file for the SDK is created, an entry for your Help will be added to the table of contents.

Due to the recursive nature of the .chm files, it is possible for the Help file you created to contain an additional table of contents. This table of contents may include an entire document collection, and/or leave slots available for additional third-party Help files.

If you want to associate a custom HTML file with a feature you create, add the following line to the BUILDREL step of the BuildMethod block in the .cec file for the feature, where chmname is the name of the custom .chm file.

Setting( '#CHM( "chmname.chm" )' )

Note Custom .chm files can be added only for features that have a .cec file. For more information about creating features, see Catalog Customization.

After you perform this task, exported SDKs that include the new feature automatically include the custom documentation. This custom documentation does not appear in the Platform Builder Help system. However, once the SDK is installed on a development workstation containing eMbedded Visual C++, the custom documentation appears in the eMbedded Visual C++ Help collection, underneath the Microsoft Windows CE node.

When the SDK is installed on a workstation containing Visual Studio .NET, 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, refer to Microsoft HTML Help Workshop 1.3 in the MSDN Library.

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OEM Help Files

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