Hi all,

Up until this point I had always created "help screens" within FileMaker itself using different layouts and popup windows. Now I have a rather large project ahead and am considering my options. One option is building a true help file (.chm extension perhaps) using conventional tools. I have not done this before and really don't know much about it.

I would like to do it cheaply of course so I would really appreciate any inexpensive freeware or shareware recommendations.

Thanks!

Just adding my name to subscribe to this topic! I'm interested too.

as am i.. they should really let your sign up to topics without posting first...

Microsoft created a "Answer Builder" application for these type of things. I beleive it came with with the VB.NET program of theirs, but I don't recall ever seeing such a thing. Of course, If I got more into VB, I would probably find it.

Anyways - it appears that there are a few different applications that can create .chm files -

http://www.wekasoft.com/vchm/

http://www.easyhelpweb.com/

http://www.brothersoft.com/Software_Developer_Helpfile_Tools_Pocket_CHM_20707.html

If memory serves me correctly, these files will execute in Windows just by "opening" them. So having them launch in FM wouldn't be hard.

It would probably be easier to create these .chm files than creating a layout in FM.

I have an FMP help file done in 5.5 - "Simple Help"

I just did a port over to 7 and it appears to have converted well.

Send me your email address and platform of preference an I will compress and send the files to you. Even if you are not interested in purchasing, it will give you some ideas on how to do your own.

Note that the version you receive will allow you do do anything, but each time you start it up it deletes any new recrods that were entered.

Dave McQueen

[email protected]

We use Robohelp here. It is very easy to setup and since its not a FileMaker window, we can have it always ontop to help users while they looking at their FileMaker windows simulateously.

Robohelp is $1000 bucks... YIKES!

I think many users dislike those help systems and find them a little confusing. I took another approach and used my User's Guide in PDF format, which users can popup at any time from the Help Menu (I use Dacons Menu Control). It allowed me to embed screen captures and an easy to use set of bookmarks in the PDF. Plus, it's easy to print and everybody has Reader.

Steve

Steve,

I think you might be right; I didn't care for help files myself until recently. I found them to be confusing as you said and often not very helpful although I'm sure a lot of that was because of content rather than presentation.

I'm not with you on the PDF though. One of my pet-peeves is websites that have simple basic content embedded into PDFs. I hate waiting for the reader to load a giant document just so I can refer to a few words or sentences. If its a large document that few people will read on-line then PDFs are fine. If you need tight control over the printing or presentation then PDFs are good too but for reference information and simple "how to's", to me there is nothing better than an HTML web page with its ability to load quickly, hyperlink, and modify itself to fit different window sizes.