Creating custom help files in LabWindows/CVI 2017?

[AllenInIowa]

I have been asked to add help to our LabWindows-based program.

I see how LabWindows can create documentation help files, but I'd need to create custom documentation with an index, etc. like a standard windows help file.

Is this possible? If not, is it possible to launch external help from LabWindows somehow?

[RobertoBozzolo]

Adding help to my programs is a task I never tried to address, but I have found this discussion that can at least give you a path to start with in your search for a solution (warning: it's 14 years old! Architectures and frameworks may have changed but probably not basic principles).

[RobertoBozzolo]

A side note on your question that came to my mind after posting my first answer.

The procedure described in the link I posted starts from generating help files from documentation tags: this is really more oriented to the programmer than to the user, since tags are added to functions in the programs and their parameters. This may not be a solution to your goal if you are trying to add help functions from a operator point of view.

In this case one possibile solution that need no external resources is adding some tooltip text (either programmatically or in the UIR editor) to elements in the program panels: this permits to show a tooltip when the user hovers over a control.

[gdargaud]

I concur with Roberto, Documentation Tags are for programmers, not for the user.

I used to create HtmlHelp .chm files for the user (with appropriate contextual links from within the program), but nowadays I prefer the dual approach:

- ToolTips for instant pain relief

- Possibly a specific panel with often needed help (like how to zoom into a graphics...)

- An external wiki that the users can also modify. Just put a link to it in the program.

[AllenInIowa]

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@RobertoBozzolo wrote:

In this case one possibile solution that need no external resources is adding some tooltip text (either programmatically or in the UIR editor) to elements in the program panels: this permits to show a tooltip when the user hovers over a control.

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Funny you mention tool tips. I just added them to a test program, yesterday, learning how they work.

And, for a big DLL project I worked on, I used the documentation tags to generate the API help. That is what prompted me to ask if there was another way to make those files, custom, as opposed to just letting the user search through a PDF or whatever.

I did find some really old posts here that referred to a Microsoft tool -- but when I went to get that tool, it appeared to have been discontinued and no longer supported.

[AllenInIowa]

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@gdargaud wrote:

...

- ToolTips for instant pain relief

- Possibly a specific panel with often needed help (like how to zoom into a graphics...)

- An external wiki that the users can also modify. Just put a link to it in the program.

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In this case, they asked if we could make help files to replace a manual that is hundreds of pages long. Tool tips like "Click this to turn RF on" over a button that says "RF On" is not that helpful. But I do find them amusing.

Due to the goal or replacing hundreds of pages of manuals with a standard "help file" I don't think I want to volunteer to create that many help panels 😉

I am a huge fan of wikis. Sadly, anything requiring Internet access (such as a website/wiki) would not work for most of our customers. The equipment is disconnected from the net (and, in many cases, in remote locations without internet, or in secure laboratories without internet).