no-reply@allegro.cc (Wilson Saunders) — Sat, 26 May 2007 03:57:24 +0000

Can any one tell me how to launch a windows .hlp file from within an allegro program? Specifically what function calls I need to make and what #include is that function in. Also helpfull would be how to flip to a specific page in that help file.

no-reply@allegro.cc (BAF) — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:32:30 +0000

system("start helpfile.hlp"); ?

no-reply@allegro.cc (Wilson Saunders) — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:42:15 +0000

Thanks BAF that was what I was looking for. You have been a lot more helpfull than google and msdn on this topic. By the way do you know how to make it open on a specific page of that help file?

no-reply@allegro.cc (BAF) — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:44:27 +0000

There are more "friendly" ways, like using the Windows API (they may have specific help stuff, as well) like CreateProcess or whatever, but system will work just fine in most cases.

no-reply@allegro.cc (Wilson Saunders) — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:52:50 +0000

Since I am not too knowlagable in the windows API or even this magical "system" command. I was wondering if I could append any arguments to the string to get the help file to open to a specific page.

no-reply@allegro.cc (Matthew Dalrymple) — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:57:47 +0000

Quote:

I am not too knowlagable in ... this magical "system" command

They system() function will execute any command you can in the dos-prompt.
It's like you're actually typing the command into the prompt.

To go directly to a certain page in a help file, I don't know if that can be done.

Here is what you can do with the start command though

1Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.
2 
3START ["title"] [/Dpath] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE | /SHARED]
4      [/LOW | /NORMAL | /HIGH | /REALTIME | /ABOVENORMAL | /BELOWNORMAL]
5      [/WAIT] [/B] [command/program]
6      [parameters]
7 
8    "title"     Title to display in  window title bar.
9    path        Starting directory
10    B           Start application without creating a new window. The
11                application has ^C handling ignored. Unless the application
12                enables ^C processing, ^Break is the only way to interrupt
13                the application
14    I           The new environment will be the original environment passed
15                to the cmd.exe and not the current environment.
16    MIN         Start window minimized
17    MAX         Start window maximized
18    SEPARATE    Start 16-bit Windows program in separate memory space
19    SHARED      Start 16-bit Windows program in shared memory space
20    LOW         Start application in the IDLE priority class
21    NORMAL      Start application in the NORMAL priority class
22    HIGH        Start application in the HIGH priority class
23    REALTIME    Start application in the REALTIME priority class
24    ABOVENORMAL Start application in the ABOVENORMAL priority class
25    BELOWNORMAL Start application in the BELOWNORMAL priority class
26    WAIT        Start application and wait for it to terminate
27    command/program
28                If it is an internal cmd command or a batch file then
29                the command processor is run with the /K switch to cmd.exe.
30                This means that the window will remain after the command
31                has been run.
32 
33                If it is not an internal cmd command or batch file then
34                it is a program and will run as either a windowed application
35                or a console application.
36 
37    parameters  These are the parameters passed to the command/program
38 
39 
40If Command Extensions are enabled, external command invocation
41through the command line or the START command changes as follows:
42 
43non-executable files may be invoked through their file association just
44    by typing the name of the file as a command.  (e.g.  WORD.DOC would
45    launch the application associated with the .DOC file extension).
46    See the ASSOC and FTYPE commands for how to create these
47    associations from within a command script.
48 
49When executing an application that is a 32-bit GUI application, CMD.EXE
50    does not wait for the application to terminate before returning to
51    the command prompt.  This new behavior does NOT occur if executing
52    within a command script.
53 
54When executing a command line whose first token is the string "CMD "
55    without an extension or path qualifier, then "CMD" is replaced with
56    the value of the COMSPEC variable.  This prevents picking up CMD.EXE
57    from the current directory.
58 
59When executing a command line whose first token does NOT contain an
60    extension, then CMD.EXE uses the value of the PATHEXT
61    environment variable to determine which extensions to look for
62    and in what order.  The default value for the PATHEXT variable
63    is:
64 
65        .COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD
66 
67    Notice the syntax is the same as the PATH variable, with
68    semicolons separating the different elements.
69 
70When searching for an executable, if there is no match on any extension,
71then looks to see if the name matches a directory name.  If it does, the
72START command launches the Explorer on that path.  If done from the
73command line, it is the equivalent to doing a CD /D to that path.

no-reply@allegro.cc (X-G) — Sat, 26 May 2007 04:58:50 +0000

Just ShellExecute is more straightforward and pretty damn simple too, y'know.

1	Starts a separate window to run a specified program or command.
2
3	START ["title"] [/Dpath] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE \| /SHARED]
4	[/LOW \| /NORMAL \| /HIGH \| /REALTIME \| /ABOVENORMAL \| /BELOWNORMAL]
5	[/WAIT] [/B] [command/program]
6	[parameters]
7
8	"title" Title to display in window title bar.
9	path Starting directory
10	B Start application without creating a new window. The
11	application has ^C handling ignored. Unless the application
12	enables ^C processing, ^Break is the only way to interrupt
13	the application
14	I The new environment will be the original environment passed
15	to the cmd.exe and not the current environment.
16	MIN Start window minimized
17	MAX Start window maximized
18	SEPARATE Start 16-bit Windows program in separate memory space
19	SHARED Start 16-bit Windows program in shared memory space
20	LOW Start application in the IDLE priority class
21	NORMAL Start application in the NORMAL priority class
22	HIGH Start application in the HIGH priority class
23	REALTIME Start application in the REALTIME priority class
24	ABOVENORMAL Start application in the ABOVENORMAL priority class
25	BELOWNORMAL Start application in the BELOWNORMAL priority class
26	WAIT Start application and wait for it to terminate
27	command/program
28	If it is an internal cmd command or a batch file then
29	the command processor is run with the /K switch to cmd.exe.
30	This means that the window will remain after the command
31	has been run.
32
33	If it is not an internal cmd command or batch file then
34	it is a program and will run as either a windowed application
35	or a console application.
36
37	parameters These are the parameters passed to the command/program
38
39
40	If Command Extensions are enabled, external command invocation
41	through the command line or the START command changes as follows:
42
43	non-executable files may be invoked through their file association just
44	by typing the name of the file as a command. (e.g. WORD.DOC would
45	launch the application associated with the .DOC file extension).
46	See the ASSOC and FTYPE commands for how to create these
47	associations from within a command script.
48
49	When executing an application that is a 32-bit GUI application, CMD.EXE
50	does not wait for the application to terminate before returning to
51	the command prompt. This new behavior does NOT occur if executing
52	within a command script.
53
54	When executing a command line whose first token is the string "CMD "
55	without an extension or path qualifier, then "CMD" is replaced with
56	the value of the COMSPEC variable. This prevents picking up CMD.EXE
57	from the current directory.
58
59	When executing a command line whose first token does NOT contain an
60	extension, then CMD.EXE uses the value of the PATHEXT
61	environment variable to determine which extensions to look for
62	and in what order. The default value for the PATHEXT variable
63	is:
64
65	.COM;.EXE;.BAT;.CMD
66
67	Notice the syntax is the same as the PATH variable, with
68	semicolons separating the different elements.
69
70	When searching for an executable, if there is no match on any extension,
71	then looks to see if the name matches a directory name. If it does, the
72	START command launches the Explorer on that path. If done from the
73	command line, it is the equivalent to doing a CD /D to that path.

How to launch a windows help file ?