KeyWorks Software

KeyHH 1.1

KeyHH is a program that augments HTML Help, the help development environment that Microsoft has created for its HTML-based online help systems and electronic books. KeyHH can be used in addition to or as a complete replacement for HH.EXE. KeyHH provides all of the functionality of HH.EXE, offers solutions for some known bugs in HTML Help, and provides additional functionality as well.

KeyHH helps you to resolve these problems with HH.EXE:

Open a standalone HTML Help window

You can use KeyHH to create a standalone HTML Help window. This window remains open until the user closes it. Once this window is created, you can open new topics in the window without creating a new window, just as you can with WinHelp. You can use this functionality from an HTML Help window, a program, or a WinHelp file.

Open an HTML Help topic from a WinHelp topic

Although you can easily link from an HTML Help (.chm) file to a WinHelp (.hlp) topic, the opposite is more difficult. KeyHH is designed to help you to open a .chm file from a WinHelp topic. This feature is especially useful if you're creating hybrid (mixed WinHelp and HTML Help) documentation sets. For example, suppose you decided that you want to use WinHelp topics for What's This? help, since WinHelp popup topics are more feature-rich than HTML Help popups. However, you also want to link from the What's This? help topics to a more complete explanation in a .chm file. KeyHH allows you to do this without creating multiple HTML Help windows.

Open an HTML Help window based on a keyword search

A common way of linking topics in a help system is through keyword and associative links--KLinks and ALinks, in WinHelp terminology. Both HTML Help and KeyHH support this linking capability. However, KeyHH also allows you to open the new topics in a window that is already open. In addition, KeyHH allows you to use ALinks and KLinks in ways that HH.EXE doesn't support. For example, you can:

Run KLinks and ALinks that are in a WinHelp topic that is linked to your .chm file.
Create a standalone window from an ALink or KLink, rather than just from a specific URL (although you can do that, too)
From a program, open a particular topic through ALinks or KLinks, even if your program doesn't handle structures or the HtmlHelp API)

Open an HTML Help 1.1 window using a mapped id

HTML Help 1.1 requires you to open a mapped topic in the default window set up in the project. (Mapped topics allow programmers to open a topic in an HTML Help window without having to know the URL. Instead, all they need to know is the id you have mapped to the topic.) HTML Help 1.1 ignores a window type associated with a mapped topic and attempts to open the topic in the default window in your project. If you don't specify a default window, HTML Help attempts to create a default window but doesn't always do a good job. Using KeyHH, you can open a mapped HTML Help topic in any window that you have set up in your project. This doesn't have to be the default window.

If you're using HTML Help 1.2 or later, you don't need to worry about this problem.

KeyHH is free. You may download it and install it on as many machines as you want for no charge. But first, let's get the legal stuff out of the way:

BECAUSE THIS PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THIS PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM ``AS IS'' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Whew. Okay, the download file is about 49K. You must have either Internet Explorer 4, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 installed or the setup program won't run -- but you can download it with whatever browser you want. When you click the download link, you can either save it to disk and run it later, or just open it and have it run immediately.

Click download to begin.