CHM

How do you get a CHM help file to open from bmax?

I just got the BlitzMax help one to open by using:

system_("c:\windows\hh BlitzMaxHelp v118a.chm")

That makes some assumptions about the paths to hh.exe and the .chm file, but those could be handled more carefully.

Hm, What version of bmax are you using? ( 1.18 here )

I tried these and none work:

system_("C:\PROJECTS\Gellyware\games\sudoku6\2006_0330\help.chm")

system_(AppDir+"/help.chm")

system_(AppDir+"\help.chm")

I'm using 1.18 as well.

The reader program is hh.exe (located in the Windows directory, at least in XP), so that's what's really running, with the .chm as a parameter. I just tried this (which is a little clearer about "hh") and it works with the BlitzMaxHelp file in the same directory as the calling program:

system_ "c:\windows\hh.exe " + AppDir + "\BlitzMaxHelp v118a.chm"

It starts the BlitzMaxHelp CHM file and freezes the calling program until the CHM is closed, then returns control (which may or may not be a good thing). A recent thread discusses ways to avoid that if you prefer: http://blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=53370

But it's hh.exe that seems to be the key to viewing .chm files.

Good Find!

That does the trick, now to only solve the problem of locating hh.exe without using c:\windows

What if the user has windows on D:

Yeah, that's a tricky bit. Blitz3D had the nice SystemProperty ("windowsdir"), but I don't know of an equivalent in BlitzMax (that doesn't mean there isn't one lurking somewhere, though <g>).

There's a recent thread on enumerating all drives on a PC. Perhaps you could check each one to see if it contains "\windows\hh.exe": http://blitzbasic.com/Community/posts.php?topic=57747

Or -duh- it just hit me that since hh.exe is in the \Windows dir, I didn't need to specify a path to it. This should work regardless of which drive Windows is on (as long as hh.exe exists somewhere within the set of Windows paths):

system_ "hh.exe " + AppDir + "\BlitzMaxHelp v118a.chm"

That worked! :) I tried it but I forgot the neccessary space AFTER the hh.exe(space goes here)

Thanks WendellM