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POSetting up help for a Delphi app
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copied!<p>What's the best way to set up help (specifically <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms670068(VS.85).aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HTML Help</a>) for a Delphi application? I can see several options, all of which has disadvantages. Specifically:</p> <ol> <li>I could set HelpContext in the forms designer wherever appropriate, but then I'm stuck having to track numbers instead of symbolic constants.</li> <li>I could set HelpContext programmatically. Then I can use symbolic constants, but I'd have more code to keep up with, and I couldn't easily check the text DFMs to see which forms still need help.</li> <li>I could set HelpKeyword, but since that does a keyword lookup (like Application.HelpKeyword) rather than a topic jump (like Application.HelpJump), I'd have to make sure that each of my help pages has a unique, non-changing, top-level keyword; this seems like extra work. (And there are HelpKeyword-related VCL bugs like <a href="http://qc.codegear.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=31175" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a> and <a href="http://qc.embarcadero.com/wc/qcmain.aspx?d=69784" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this</a>.)</li> <li>I could set HelpKeyword, set an Application.OnHelp handler to convert HelpKeyword requests to HelpJump requests so that I can assign help by topic ID instead of keyword lookup, and add code such as my own help viewer (based on <a href="http://www.helpscribble.com/delphi-bcb.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HelpScribble's code</a>) that fixes the VCL bugs and lets HelpJump work with anchors. By this point, though, I feel like I'm working against the VCL rather than with it.</li> </ol> <p><strong>Which approach did you choose for your app?</strong></p>

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