Last month, you learned how to add hidden ActiveX controls to HTML Help topics. These controls opened programs and launched secondary windows. This month, you learn to use a hidden ActiveX control that allows users to take notes in HTML Help.
Because HTML Help was designed without a method for creating user notes (unlike WinHelp, which uses annotations to record user notes), note taking was left to the creativity of the end user. Help authors have been bombarded with requests for notes, but no practical solution has been developed since HTML Help was release more than 3 years ago.
This month -- a way to create user notes in HTML Help by using Notepad "LOG" files. LOG files are special Notepad files that automatically stamp a date and time at the end of a Notepad text file.
Users may not be so enthusiastic about the time & date stamp (or maybe they will), but as the file gets longer, they will appreciate the automatic scrolling feature.
This tutorial consists of three steps:
Create a Notepad LOG file and save it in the same location as the .CHM file.
Create a topic with a hidden ActiveX Shortcut control that launches the LOG file.
Add a "Notes" button
to the main HTML Help window.
When the button is clicked, it launches the topic, executes the hidden
script, and -- viola -- it opens the LOG file.