Technical Information Database
TI434D.txt - Making a help group for Borland Pascal
Category :Turbo Pascal
Platform :All
Product :
Description:
Introduction
------------
Borland Pascal has many text files in the \BP\DOC directory
that can be very helpful, but not quickly accessible from
within Windows. This document will show you how you can
create a program group that contains the additional help
icons by using the GROUPS.EXE program provided with Borland
Pascal, and creating a text file to tell it where the files
are.
Instructions
------------
The steps to create the help group are the following:
1) You need to load up an editor program with a copy of
the GROUPS.HLP text file. To do this:
Load up an editor, the DOS command EDIT for example,
and either type in the example file below, or load this
instruction file and strip off all the text except for
the example code. DO NOT include the --TOP-OF-FILE-- and
--END-OF-FILE-- in your text file.
Use the SAVE AS command to save the text file as:
C:\WINDOWS\GROUPS.HLP
This will make sure the file is saved under the Windows
directory.
2) Change the directories in the example file to match the
directories on your system.
In the included example file, the location of the Pascal
root directory is C:\BP. If your Pascal files are in the
directory D:\BP, use a Global Search and Replace to search
for 'C:\BP' and replace it with 'D:\BP'. This will let
the GROUPS program know where your Pascal help
and icon files are.
If your Windows files are not located in the C:\WINDOWS
directory, you will have to do another Global Search and
Replace and replace 'C:\WINDOWS' with whatever the path
is to your Windows files, D:\WINDOWS for example.
3) Under Windows, you will need to run the GROUPS.EXE file
along with the text file you've just edited as its
parameter. To do this, go to the FILE menu and select
RUN. In the field for Command Line, type
GROUPS GROUPS.HLP
This should run the GROUPS program, and it should ask
you if you'd like to create a Windows program group.
Click on Yes.
If an error box pops up, you can try typing
C:\WINDOWS\GROUPS C:\WINDOWS\GROUPS.HLP
assuming that your Windows files are located in the
C:\WINDOWS directory.
4) Look at the icons, they should all be yellow question
marks with titles underneath. Also double click on some
of the icons and make sure that an editor screen comes
up with a copy of the help file in it.
If there are problems:
If either the icon is wrong, or the editor shows an empty
screen, the directory setting for the Pascal files is
wrong. Make sure that the Pascal directory entry is of
the form C:\BP, or D:\BORLANDP, or something similar that
has a valid path to your Pascal directory.
If the editor doesn't come up, there is an error with the
Windows directory path entry. It should be something
like C:\WINDOWS.
If the icons don't appear but the Group Box does appear,
there is a format error in the GROUPS.HLP file.
Make sure the file follows the example shown here.
If the Group Box doesn't appear at all, GROUPS.EXE
couldn't load the text file GROUPS.HLP. Make sure the
path to the file is valid, and that the file exists
where the path is pointing to.
Example File
------------
IMPORTANT:
In this example file, the lines after '[icons1]' have been
split before the '='. The actual text file must be
implemented with each help icon command on it's own line.
You must combine the lines that start with an '=' with the
line above it. For example, you could possition the cursor
on the '=' and press BACKSPACE to bring the line up and
append it to the line above it.
Each line should have the form:
ExecuteFile=WorkingDir,Icon Caption,IconFile
When this example text file is finished, it should contain
28 lines only and will create 24 help icons.
NOTE:
Since \BP\DOC\utils.td is too large to fit into the
NOTEBOOK.EXE editor, WRITE.EXE has been substituted.
FILENAME: C:\WINDOWS\GROUPS.HLP
------------------------TOP-OF-FILE----------------------------
[group1]
caption=Borland Pascal Help Files
file=BPH7.GRP
[icons1]
WINHELP.EXE C:\BP\BIN\BPW.HLP
=C:\WINDOWS,BPW Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
WINHELP.EXE C:\BP\BIN\WORKHELP.HLP
=C:\WINDOWS,Workshop Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
WINHELP.EXE C:\BP\BIN\WINSIGHT.HLP
=C:\WINDOWS,WinSight Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
WINHELP.EXE C:\BP\BIN\WINSPCTR.HLP
=C:\WINDOWS,WinSpector Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\manual.rw
=C:\WINDOWS,Workshop Manual Update,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\readme.rw
=C:\WINDOWS,Workshop RLE4 Notes,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\custcntl.rw
=C:\WINDOWS,Creating Custom Controls,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\bwccapi.rw
=C:\WINDOWS,Custom Controls Tech Notes,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\bwccstyl.rw
=C:\WINDOWS,Custom Controls Style Notes,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\manual.prf
=C:\WINDOWS,Profiler Manual Update,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\helpme!.prf
=C:\WINDOWS,Profiler Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\readme.td
=C:\WINDOWS,DB/PF/ASM Release Notes,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\manual.td
=C:\WINDOWS,Debugger Manual Update,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
write.exe C:\BP\DOC\utils.td
=C:\WINDOWS,Debugger Utilities Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\helpme!.td
=C:\WINDOWS,Debugger Tips,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\hdwdebug.td
=C:\WINDOWS,Hardware Interface Notes,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\dbgboard.td
=C:\WINDOWS,Hardware Driver Notes,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\dpmiuser.doc
=C:\WINDOWS,DPMI Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\temc.doc
=C:\WINDOWS,Turbo Macro Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\utils.doc
=C:\WINDOWS,Utilities Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\manual.tv
=C:\WINDOWS,Turbo Vision Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\helpme!.tsm
=C:\WINDOWS,Turbo Assembler Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\readme.tsm
=C:\WINDOWS,PROCDESC PROCTYPE Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
notepad.exe C:\BP\DOC\tcref.tsm
=C:\WINDOWS,TCREF Reference,C:\BP\BIN\help.ico
------------------------------END-OF-FILE----------------------
Additional Information
----------------------
How it works:
The GROUPS.EXE program takes a text file as input and creates
a Windows group according to the data in the file. The text
file is of the form:
ExecuteFile=WorkingDir,Icon Caption,IconFile
The help files will be displayed with NOTEPAD.EXE in the
Windows directory. You can use any Windows editor to display
the files by changing the first field from 'notepad.exe' to
whatever editor you'd like to use.
The WinHelp help files will also be included in
the help group and are proceded by 'WINHELP.EXE'. The help
icon is the same as the original help files, and can be
changed by naming a different .ICO file in the last field.
The GROUPS.EXE program is also the same one used by the
install program to create the Pascal program group. To
recreate the original program group, execute the command
GROUPS GROUPS.B$$
The GROUPS.B$$ is created by the installation process, and
is located in the Windows directory.
Reference:
3/31/99 10:10:53 AM
Last Modified: 01-SEP-99