How to Create Help File for

Delphi Application in
Dr.Explain
Installation of Dr.Explain
Download the distribution package of the Dr.Explain from the Download section of the official
product website athttp://www.drexplain.com/ and pass the standard procedure of installing the
software to start using it.

Use of unregistered version of the software without time limits is available for free. Functional
features for free and licensed versions of Dr.Explain match, but all images in the final free version of
help file will be marked with a watermark.
 Picture 1. Dr.Explain Installation Wizard

Creating and Setting up a New

Project
To create a new help file in Dr.Explain, select Create a new project in the start screen, or go to
the section File -> New of the main menu.
 Picture 2. Start-up screen of Dr.Explain

Go to menu Settings -> Project Settings and in the dialog box, go to CHM export -> Manage
Help ID. For follow binding Delphi project to topics of help file, flag Export Help ID in CHM.
Press OK to apply the settings to the project.
 Picture 3. Project settings window

After applying the settings for each topic and each new topic created in the future a unique numeric
identifier Help ID will be automatically assigned.

Creating Topics in the Help File

Easy help file structure is achieved by creating topics for the forms and objects of the described
application.
Create help file topics by going to the menu section Settings -> Add topic, or right-click on the
project tree on the left, then from the menu select Add -> Add topic. For making the complete
description of Delphi-application, create a topic for each of its object. In this case, the application by
pressing the F1 key will open the information about the focused object.

Picture 4. Dr.Explain project tree

In the project tree, specify the name of the created topics and determine their order using the
appropriate menu sections.

Navigate to the desired topic in the project tree and in the editor window type the contents of the
section in free form. The editor provides a standard functionality for text formatting.

In the tab Keywords select a set of keywords to search for the help file. To associate a keyword to
a specific topic, select the topic in the project tree and flag the selected keyword.
 Picture 5. Keywords

To create a description of a particular object of Delphi-application (including application forms) you

can also use the Screen Capturebutton.

Picture 6. Screen capture window

In the dialog box click the icon Accessible-object or Win32-screen, and then go to the Delphi
application and select the object described in section in one of following ways:

Press PrtScr key;

Click the object, holding Ctrl key;

Alternately click the mouse two buttons at the window.

As a result of selecting an object in the section editor a topic containing screenshots of both the
object and its dependent objects of the application will be automatically created. Editor interface
allows deleting information about a section objects and rearrange them without leaving the editor by
pressing one button.
 Picture 7. Result of screen capture

Customizing Help ID values

Dr.Explain gives a possibility to customize Help ID. To change the value select the desired topic and
click on cell Help ID in the properties windows. Enter your value and remove the mouse focus
from the field for value setting.
 Picture 8. Help ID value change in the Page Properties window

Go to menu Tools > Check Project for Errors to check the uniqueness of the amended Help
ID. In the case of matching of this value in several topics a message about duplicate values appears.
To properly create and link Help file CHM to the project Delphi, eliminate duplication by changing
one or more values of Help ID, without departing from the Validation tool by clicking a cell in
the Value field.
 Picture 9. Project validation tool window. Help ID duplicate values

Export Project to CHM-file

When editing finished, save the project and go to the menu Settings -> > Export to CHM.
Flag Run the validation tool before exporting for pre-screening project for correctness.
Flag Open CHM file to open the CHM file after it is created and check the boxSilently
overwrite to overwrite the existing project without the Save As... dialog. Click Start Export.
Export log will be displayed in the Export to CHMwindow. At the end of the export, click Close.
 Picture 10. Export to CHM window

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Setting the Path to CHM-file in
Delphi Project
For loading CHM help-file in Delphi project you have to specify the path to this file. To do this,
perform one of the following operations (available for versions after Delphi 7):

Go to menu of Delphi Environment Project -> Options and in tab Application, specify the
path in the field Help file.

Note: If you specify a full path to a file, the Delphi application, running on any machine will search
the help file in the specified directory that may not exist on the machine that is running. Therefore,
the optimal solution is a relative path to the Help file.

Picture 11. Setting a relative path to a CHM Help file in Delphi

Go to menu of Delphi Environment Project -> View Source in the window opened enter the
code:
Application.HelpFile:=ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName) + 'Helpdrexplain.chm,

'Helpdrexplain.chm - CHM.

Picture 12. Setting of relative path to a CHM Help file in code

CHM Help file Topic Binding to

Delphi Application Form
It is possible in Delphi project to specify individual help file for each of the forms of the project. For
this, perform one of the following steps:

Type this string to the project code

HelpFile:=ExtractFilePath(Application.ExeName) + 'Helpdrexplain.chm'

Picture 13. Setting of a relative path to the CHM Help file for TForm

In the Object Inspector, specify the appropriate value for the form in the field HelpFile
 Picture 14. Setting of a relative path to the CHM Help file for the object TForm in the Object
Inspector

CHM Help File Topic Binding to

Delphi Application Objects
CHM file format and Delphi applications allow assigning for each object a Help file topic, which will
open when you press F1 in case if this object is focused. To do this in the Inspector object in the
field HelpContext set your HelpID from the created CHM file. If the help file is missing a topic with
HelpID with value set in HelpContext, the help file will open a topic associated with the parent
form.
Additional Ways of Loading CHM-
file from a Delphi Application
There are several alternative ways to load help from your Delphi application:

Perform the command ShellExecute(Application.Handle, 'open', Help/drexplain.chm', nil, nil, 0); by

button pressing or other action. Before that register in box Uses extension ShellAPI. This action
opens main page of help file. With this method to call the Help file it is not necessary to pre-
associate help file with the application.

Picture 15. Calling a help file using the command ShellExecute

Perform the command Application.HelpCommand(HELP_FINDER,0); by button pressing or other

action.

Picture 16. Calling a help file using the command Application.HelpCommand

Peculiarities of Help File Integration

in Delphi 7 Applications
To use a CHM Help file CHM in projects in Delphi version 7 or previous you have to use third-party
add-ons.

Download and place in a directory of your project file *.pas of one of selected extensions:

HtmlHelpViewerEx (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/201788/Projects/HTMLHelpViewerEx.zip);

HtmlHelpViewer (https://github.com/darrincedwards/SESComponentsNW/blob/master/HTMLHelp
Viewer.pas);

StoHtmlHelp (http://pyscripter.googlecode.com/svn/tags/Release_1.7/StoHtmlHelp.pas);

Specify the name of the linked extension in any Uses section in Delphi project.

Picture 17. Linking a third-party extension to project in Delphi 7

Further work with a help file in applications in Delphi version 7 or previous is performed in ways
described above similar to other versions of Delphi.