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When a delphi component installer like the Developer Express components runs, it registers html-help files into the Delphi IDE, using h2reg and an INI file, and some macro-magic. If I was an open source or commercial author of a Delphi component, and I wanted to ship an installer that registers html-help, how would I do it?

In very very old versions of Delphi (pre-2007) there was a tool for registering extra winhelp stuff. But in recent years, while many large vendors (like developer express) still ship help for their components which can be accessed using the IDE context help (hit F1 key), it does not seem like in Delphi 2007 and up, including XE6, that the process by which this is done is well documented and this leaves component authors usually ignoring the Delphi IDE built in help.

I have discovered that a third-party utility called h2reg may have something to do with this, but I am unable to discover the secret of making something show up here:

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I believe I know a FEW pieces of the puzzle, and I have a sample working .ini file from a Developer Express component, but I am unable to figure out how to put the pieces together. I think that this would be a useful fact for all Delphi component developers to know, so I'm asking this question here.

A related question asks how to repair the built in stuff. I'm asking further, how to register your own html-help (.hxs,.hxc,*.hxt) documentation.

Update:

Part of the solution seems to be knowing H2REG's syntax which looks like this:

   c:\path\to\H2Reg.exe -r cmdfile=c:\path\to\MyH2Reg_Cmd.ini

A remaining unknown is what goes in that INI file, so that it shows up in Delphi XE6.

Community
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Warren P
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1 Answers1

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There is some minimal documentation on Embarcadero's site (and yes, it does involve h2reg):

Installing dexplore.exe Help Content Files

Which has a link to this product site:

H2Reg

Which has this KB page:

H2 & Borland Help

Not exactly what you are looking for, but should get you close. It sounds like you are trying to itegrate your help files into DExplorer manually instead of using a pre-existing solution to install your help files properly.

Remy Lebeau
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  • Sadly neither this documentation page nor the code-central article that mentions h2reg is complete. Nowhere does it specify how to make an INI file that works, nor how to invoke H2Reg, or to add your own help files. I'm hoping that together we can build a proper answer. The link above really covers "how to repair the html-help registration for the files that ship with the product". Closely Related, but not quite the same. – Warren P Jul 04 '14 at 15:59
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    the links on the page I mentioned lead me to the [h2reg site](http://www.helpwaregroup.com/products/h2reg), where I see the following page: [H2 & Borland Help](http://kb.helpwaregroup.com/mshelp2/borland-h2-help) – Remy Lebeau Jul 04 '14 at 16:26
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    That's awesome, but in the spirit of StackOverflow "content is better than links", I think a minimal working example would be great. I'll whip one up based on that site, if nobody beats me to it. – Warren P Jul 04 '14 at 17:21
  • @Warren Did you ever get your a final solution ironed out? If so, I would be very interested in seeing your working example. Thanks – Jason Enochs Jul 08 '14 at 03:08