File Help properties

Author-it Objects

The Help tab contains properties that define how each File object will be inserted into the Windows 95/98 or Windows NT/2000 on-line Help system. The properties define things like the type of file, the file itself, its size, special options for WinHelp graphics, and even a set of special options for AVI video files.

File - Help Tab

File Source Type

Type of source file to be used in your Windows Help output. Other options may enable or disable when you choose a file type, as some properties are not applicable to some file types. The types available are:

  • Embedded Picture or OLE object: Uses the embedded picture. At the time of publishing, the embedded picture is extracted to the format specified in the Output as field and linked to the Windows Help system.
  • Linked Picture files: valid Windows Help picture file formats. These are; bitmaps (.bmp), Windows metafiles (.wmf), device independent bitmaps (.dib), segmented hypergraphics (.shg), multi-resolution bitmaps (.mrb).
  • Linked Video multimedia files: windows AVI files.
  • Linked Coded RTF document: precoded Windows help RTF documents. These will be inserted in the published document. This is a way of inserting complex formatting.
  • Linked URL file: links to images located on a web server. At the time of publishing, this file is inserted into the document.

Directory

This is the directory containing the source file. This property supports relative folders. This property is ignored if you are using an embedded file.

Filename

This is the name of the source file. This file must be of the Source Type and it must be in the specified Directory.

Embedded pictures are saved with this filename using the extension of the embedded file type or the output format specified. It ignores any path or extension specified. If you do not specify a filename then the object Code will be used.

Output Format

Output file format of the external file used in your Help output. "(source format)" uses the file format specified in the Source Type.

Paragraph Style

Sets a relationship to the Style object defining the style applied to the paragraph in Windows Help for this file.

Note: This property is only used when the File object is placed in the contents of a book, and ignored when it is in the text of a topic. If you set it to "(auto)", the Style of the last paragraph in the preceding topic is used.

See also: File object properties