Problem with rtf files for Help topics

[Anthony Zhang]

I have been adding an rtf file to the VC++ AppWizard created Help project without success and
therefore my added help topics were ignored. The added rtf file was created in MS Word 97. I am
wondering whether MS Word 97 created rtf files are compatible with VC++5.0 Help compiler.
When I compiled it with the Help Workshop 4.01 available in VC++5.0, It saids "too many
opening braces". As the file can be read by MS Word 97, the opening and closing braces should be
balanced. I have also double-check the file. I am not sure what is wrong with the rtf file.
Could somebody give me some advice? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

Anthony Zhang

[leolin@]

i think you don't make the correct
rtf file, you can find samle that include
the topic and complie with the help workshop,
if that success, you can check your rtf file
leolin

[Anthony Zhang]

Hi leolin,

Thanks for your tips. I tried the Scribble sample step 6. It is OK. The problem is now my rtf file.
When I compiled it with the Help Workshop. It also says " the rtf file is corrupted at offset 367".
What does offset mean here. I check the help in HelpWorkshop. It does not explain it. Is it a line
number or some other things. Do you happen to know anything about this "offset"? I have checked
my rtf file many times and could not find the error, nor can I figure out what "offset" means.

Regards,


Anthony

[Rick Blommers]

I have the same problem with RTF files and Office97. I saw something a while ago at the Microsoft Site: it's a bug. I don't know if it's a bug of the help compiler or Office97. But as I can recall it is the helpcompiler, The compiler should ignore unknown RTF-codes, and it doesn't do that correctly....
Try to look at the microsoft site for a sollution !!
Good Luck !!

Rick Blommers

Rick Blommers rick@brainwave.demon.nl
homepage:http://www.brainwave.demon.nl/programmer/

Hi!

I faced the same problem and here is the workaround I used.

The workaround to get the .hlp file is as follows. Install Word 95 and copy and paste the contents typed out in the Word 97 file into a new Word 95 document.Insert the footnotes here all over again. Save as rtf file in Word 95.
Compile the Help project with the new Word 95 rtf file added to it. You should get your help file. It worked for me. Do let me know if this works for you.

Regards,
Sukanya Swaminathan
Software Engineer
Aditi Technologies
Email : suganyas@aditi.com
Blore - 80

[Anthony Zhang]

Hi, Sukanya and Rick,

Thanks a lot for your help. Indeed MS Word97 RTF file is not compatible with the Help compiler.
I have fixed the problem with Sukanya's workaround. Because my file is a little bit big, what I did was: save the RTF file as Word 6 document in Word97 and then open it with Word95 and save it again as RTF file in Word95. It works without any further editing.

Regards,


Anthony

[Rich Peters]

Download the new help compiler (at least version 4.02 I think) from MS, and you can use word 97. Or upgrade to VC6 which ships with the new help

[pkraman]

hi,
if you want to create Help files, use help builder. it is available in www.winhelp.com. you can find lot of utilities for creating help files in that site. Help Builder is really good. you can give text file as input and it will generate the RTF and .hlp files. search that site.

regards,
Kalyan