Open a .CHM file to a Specific Topic?

Question

I have created a .CHM file and then when I open it in c# I get the First topic. I want to open it to a specified topic. This is the code I use right now to open it.

Help.ShowHelp(this, "./Resources/ServerHelp.chm");

I want to be able to open it to a specific topic like Audio. I tried using

Help.ShowHelp(this, "./Resources/ServerHelp.chm", HelpNavigator.Topic, "Audio");

and it showed me page not found. Can i get some Help with my Help please !! :P

Nauplius

possible duplicate of open specific part of table of contents of chm file c# or vb.net – Gibbs

Please, do not include information about a language used in a question title unless it wouldn't make sense without it. Tags serve this purpose. – Carbonado

okay, I searched here on stack overflow and still couldn't get it to work cause all the steps where not clearly explained. So when I figured it out, I thought I would just put it out here, now I realize I could have just answered the other persons question. ill keep that in mind for future reference. – Nauplius

Answer 1

This can be achieved by the following steps:

1. Identify what names the chm uses to refer the internal topics. This is done by

   • Open the CHM file, and right click in the topic page and select Properties.
   • The property called: Address (URL) Contains the topic page name at its end.

   Here is an example:

   mk:@MSITStore:C:\Program%20Files\Silsila%2011\Silsila.chm::/Audio.htm
   

   Here the topic page name is "Audio.htm"

2. Call the Help.ShowHelp() function with the correct parameters as shown below

   Help.ShowHelp(this, "./Resources/Silsila.chm", HelpNavigator.Topic, "Audio.htm");
   

That should do it. you can fine the topic name of the pages you want using Step 1, and then use Step 2 to open the help file on that page.

Nauplius

Thanks. What about when your "context" is now a form and you still want to trigger to display the CHM at the default topic? In that context "this" is not accepted because "this" is not a winform etc.. – Loughlin

Answer 2

The same also works to create a windows shortcut opening a specific page. Use that as "target" command line :

C:\Windows\hh.exe ms-its:[file_name.chm]::[page_name.htm]

If you do not know [page_name]: from the chm help viewer, try to print the target page on a virtual printer like PdfCreator. The output filename automaticaly generated will probably contain [page_mane].

With thanks to sazr for the intial syntax !

Durazzo