modified Win32.chm

[marpon]

To Mike
I've opened a new topic because I've not been able to reply on your's.

Thank's a lot for your win32.chm , i've used it as source .

 I've decompiled it to make the QuickInfo working.

To do that I've used the Precision Helper software, after I've used my own utility to modify the .htm files ( done with freebasic) according that steps :

On each  file with  <TITLE>(Untitled)</TITLE> and with >Import Library<
i've changed the title by the first bold text  (the real topic)  adding  __QI as suffix to avoid duplicated title name and i've also recorded in a array the name of that file related to that topic,

and on each file with   /images/bm1.gif  without link before that image, wich is the file topic , I've put  the link to the relevant file recorded previously .

I've recompiled the modified files and voila : the win32.chm  with all the hlp file features.

the link is here : https://db.tt/JTTNo1yP   it is from my DropBox public file

because I was not able to use the attachment !  ( to big ?)

hope it can help,  Charles can put it in  permanent vision, as he decides !

Marc

[Charles Pegge]

Hi Marc,

Welcome to our forum!

There is a copy of Mike's prior version (7.5 Meg) on this page of the website:

http://www.oxygenbasic.org/reference.html

Should I replace it with yours? (9.1 Meg)

[marpon]

Hi Charles

You can decide, yes I noticed also , my evolution is bigger but the QuickInfo links are working now ...
because it's the Mike base job, let him to say what he thinks.

I'm not sure Precision Helper software is the best to reduce compiled size , as I've said , I've used the Mike's Compiled version as source , my adjustments were only adding links to the QuickInfo .
It does not reflect the size increase, so I think Mike used different soft to compile the files,
 I can provide all the modified decompiled files to recompile again with other tool if needed.

[Charles Pegge]

Okay, I'll place your version.
Many thanks Marc

[Aurel]

I'm not sure Precision Helper software is the best to reduce compiled size

no is not ..better option is wahelp

[Mike Lobanovsky]

Hi Marc,

Thanks a lot for your work! The help file is now definitely better. Can I also upload it for FBSL users with references to your enhancements? Uploads are permanent on the FBSL site, so the file will stay there for as long as the site remains intact. (it did in the past 14 years... )

[Charles Pegge]

And thanks Mike, for all your work on this help file.

[marpon]

Mike , sure you can post it where you want , as I said , you have done the main job, no interest to notify my evolutions.

But, I am curious how did you convert the .hlp to .chm  ( with HelpScribble ? ), I've tested with it but not working.
And wich is your chm compiler, it's more efficient on size compression than  Precision Helper , I use.

In the mean time , I post the help file in FreeBasic ; José Roca ; Firefly Forum wich could be also interested.

Again thank's for your job !

Marc

[Mike Lobanovsky]

Hi Marc,

So, I will also upload it on the FBSL site and I think I should do it on the MASM32 forum too since this is exactly where the old Win32.hlp file originated from.

As for the workflow,

• There are NO free third-party programs that can decompile a .HLP file of such size to its equivalent .CHM or a set of constituent .HTM files in one go. Suffice it to say that there are 16K topics in there and the corresponding content file in the MS Word .RTF format is about 50MB large.
• There are absolutely NO free third-party programs that can re-create automatically old-school help popups and non-scrollable areas in any equivalent HTML form. The ones that claim such functionality (e.g. HHPMod) are simply lying to their users.
• The only practical way to go is as follows:
  • decompile the .HLP file to its original old MS Help Workshop .HPJ project file and its accompanying .RTF (content proper), .MVP/.MRB/.BMP/.ICO (multimedia), .PH (phrases) and .CNT (help contents) files with a free and open-source HELPDECO.EXE command-line tool;
  • use new MS HTML Help Workshop that can convert automatically the old .HPJ project and its constituents into a new .HHP project and its equivalent constituents;
  • use MS HTML Help Worshop to compile the resultant .HHP project into a modern .CHM file.

MS HTML Help Workshop seems to generate smaller .CHM files than its competitors. Use it whenever you can, even though its interface is somewhat outdated and not particularly user-friendly.

The main problem with the old .HLP file was that it contained no structured contents tree so that the resultant .CNT file was a mere unclassified list of 16K topics. I spent two working days adding folders to topics manually according to my understanding of Win32 SDK structure. Therefore some subfolders' contents may not exactly reflect Microsoft's own vision of the same.

Below please find a zip with the HelpDeco utilities. Note that in order to obtain a valid .CNT file, you have to make a separate run of HELPDECO.EXE on the original .HLP file. This peculiarity isn't mentioned anywhere in the accompanying text or source code files. See the bottom of HELPDECO.C for the command-line switches usable with this utility.

You can download MS HTML Help Workshop directly from Microsoft for free.


[UPDATE] Attached please also find my recompilation of your .CHM file in MS HTML Help Workshop. I've taken the liberty of changing the style of your notes just a little and the file is now only 4.38MB large.

The new file seems to have all its components intact including the pictures. But please recheck it again, just in case.


@Charles:

Will you please re-upload this new smaller recompilation  instead of the huge old one to http://www.oxygenbasic.org/reference.html once its integrity and usability is verified?


[UPDATE 2] The .CHM file was found defective and was removed from here. A new larger but fully functional version comes further below in this thread.


.

[Charles Pegge]

Done! Thank you Mike.

[marpon]

Hi Mike

Sorry but the size reduction is mainly because you skip the full text search , in that version you are not able to get all the topics.

It's a reduced size version but also with reduced features. ( your previous version was with full text search )

I've also almost same size (5.1 Mb vs 4.8 mb) without the full text search, I think it's better with.

Thank's also for the HELPDECO.EXE, but I've already get it , even with its Gui companion ...

I've also tested the HHPMod tool and  HelpScribble, without success...

Finally, I am doing like you for smaller hlp files , but I simply did not want to spend the time for the TOC for this huge file : You did It !  Thanks a lot.

before finding your version , i've also used the one made by chr1x  on http://tuts4you.com/
but it was without Toc for obvious reason ( He did not spend the time), and less features than your previous version.

Mike : could you try to recompile but with full text search to see if is significant size reduction

and Charles , I think it's better to wait a little

Marc

[Mike Lobanovsky]

No problem Marc,

Thanks for pointing it out to me. It's funny that the full text search list is included in the project but somehow fails to compile into the project.

[UPDATE] So here it goes at 6.68MB with full text search functionality. I've also deleted my earlier submission that appeared too ascetic to your taste. Thanks again for improving, testing and spreading this file around.



@Charles:

Can you change the recently uploaded version again for this larger but fully functional attachment? And sorry for having been so messy with this submission. But again I stressed that the file might need some more attention before uploading...

.

[marpon]

Mike
Great !!!

Now it's THE real reference : I will use and spread it arround.

Thanks again for your job and reactivity, and I'm happy to have contributed to that

Marc

[Charles Pegge]

Any time, Mike

[marpon]

Mike

Sorry again, I was surprised for the reduction of size , so I checked after decompiling again:

And i've found only 11063 html files versus  16108 original html files.

What the reason for killing these files ? Did you find them not useful ?
And what criteria , have you selected ?

Thanks in advance for your answers
Marc