Help projects are composed of many files, with many different file extensions. As a Help Author, you should not confine yourself to only one program to do all the work. Some programs make certain tasks easier to accomplish than others. This is especially true with HTML since much of the source code for topics is plain ASCII text. If you want to examine or modify an HTML Help topic or perhaps a WinHelp project file, you can open and change the code directly with a text editor program such as Notepad.
The first tip is one I've used for years, and as I introduce it in training classes, students immediately want to know "how did you do that." So the first part of the August tip is a way to add Notepad to the right-click menu, then later we use this command to quickly change custom icons in the RoboHTML Table of Contents.
In the example below, by right-clicking the Policies.hhc (Table of Contents)
file, and selecting Send To > Notepad,
like the following:
...the Table of Contents sitemap file opens in Notepad where you can examine or modify its contents. The first exercise walks you through the setup of the Send To... menu command.
Notepad provides a fast and easy way to open files on the fly. In the following exercise you create a new Send To... menu item. Try this:
1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Navigate to C:\Windows\Send To in Windows 95/98. In Windows NT/2000 navigate to C:\Winnt\Profiles\YourProfile\Send To folder.
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3. Choose File: New: Shortcut from the Explorer menu..
4. Type notepad.exe.
If necessary browse to the location of Notepad at C:\Windows\System
or C:\Winnt\System 32 and select
Notepad.exe.
5. Click Next and change the
shortcut name to _Notepad and
click Finish.
The underscore places the command at the top of the Send To list when you
right click a file.
When finished, the new shortcut appears. If you right-click any file and choose Send To, you can send the file directly to Notepad (or WordPad if the file size exceeds Notepad's limitations). In the next exercise you use this command to modify the Table of Contents sitemap file.
Next, Customizing TOC Icons easily
