Article: Q66771
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 7.00 7.10
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | SR# S901105-139 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 8-NOV-1990
HELPMAKE.EXE is designed to allow you to decode/encode the Help files
included with BASIC PDS, and to create your own Help files for use
with BASIC, QuickHelp, and other products that use these files.
This information applies to Microsoft BASIC Professional Development
System (PDS) versions 7.00 and 7.10 for MS-DOS and MS OS/2.
To decode a BASIC Help file, use the following command:
HELPMAKE /D <HelpFileName> /O<OutputFile>
You may now modify (customize) the decoded Help file.
To re-encode the Help file after you have edited it, use the following
command:
HELPMAKE /E <SourceFile> /A: /T /W78 /O<HelpFileName>
The options on the above encode line are explained below:
/E Encode the file. /E with no value gives the maximum
compression. /E may optionally be followed by a value
specifying the amount of compression to use:
0 - No Compression
1 - Run-length compression
2 - Keyword compression
4 - Extended keyword compression
8 - Huffman compression
These values may be added together to combine compression
types. For example, /E5 will generate Run-length and Extended
keyword compression.
/A: Specifies a colon as the control character. This is the default
value so it may be omitted.
/T Translates dot commands. This is required to re-encode the
BASIC Help files.
/W78 Specifies the width of the resulting Help file. BASIC uses a
width of 78 characters. The default is 76 so this option must
be included.
For a more detailed discussion of HELPMAKE, refer to Chapter 11 of
"Microsoft BASIC 7.0: Programmer's Guide" for versions 7.00 and 7.10.