Introducing TinyHelp

TinyHelp started as an in-house HTML-based Help system, and is built around the excellent QHTM dll control. It is the Help system used by Lynx. The complete PowerBASIC 6 source code for the project is now in the Public Domain, and is available here for download.

Why bother ? There are so many Help tools around !

Sure there are, and some are excellent. TinyHelp arose because of my continuing frustration both with 'mainstream' Help, and with the tools I had been using for building Help systems. Is it just me ? Possibly.

The nice thing about having source code for your own Help system is that you can bend it in pretty much any direction you want. And hopefully, by releasing this code into the Public Domain, people will contribute enhancements which we can all enjoy the benefit of.

An example - Lynx Help

How does TinyHelp compare with WinHelp and HTML Help ?

Well for a start, it is much less sophisticated. If you compare its capabilities with WinHelp / HTML Help, it will appear to fall far short - no question about it. However, the question you might want to ask yourself is "Is it suitable for providing Help for the systems that I write ?". In my case, the answer is a definite YES.

Feature List

Ultra-fast document display with treeview index (hideable)

Can open at topic ID, for context-sensitive Help

Page links can be to other pages, bookmarks, web pages, e-mail addresses and virtually any other kind of resource (including program code)

Lightning fast, intuitive text search system

Font scaling of displayed pages

Unlimited back / forward navigation

Topmost / non-topmost

Locate in tree feature

Hassle-free distribution : one exe file (containing pages and images internally) + QHTM dll

Printing - single page, or whole system as a book, with program-generated Table of Contents (licensed version of QHTM only)

Totally extendable !

Note that TinyHelp will work with both the freeware version of QHTM (qhtmlight.dll) and with the licensed version of QHTM (qhtm.dll). Printing is not available with qhtmlight.dll

Included Code

The TinyHelp project includes PowerBASIC 6 source code for -

Using QHTM (light- and licensed versions)

Using the treeview control

Custom splitter control

Custom flat button control

TinyHelp versions

This site will maintain a TinyHelp distribution, identified with a 'version number', as a centralized reference point for the system. If you build any enhancements to the system that you wish to share, please submit them here, and we will make them available. It is anticipated that general enhancements would become part of the TinyHelp system, whereas those enhancements that were say of a specific nature would simply be included with the distribution as optional code.

You can view the TinyHelp Version History here

You can download the current TinyHelp distribution from the downloads page

If you do not have a copy of QHTM (either freeware or licensed), you will need to obtain a copy of one or the other for TinyHelp to work. You can do that here