Help with "Help File"

[Valcon]

Hi all,
I have an almost-complete application to which I'm adding a help file. I am using the a VI called "Online Help file" or some thing to that effect (I would check but this internet station isn't my work station so I don't have access here...). I have created an HTML based help file using "Windows HTML workshop." This file opens correctly on any XP or 2000 system I open it with. However, I created a VI to open the help file when the "Help" tag on the menu bar is activated and this seems to work on my LabView developement system, but not on other systems (after having installed the application). No errors are posted, the help file simply doesn't open. I'm beggining to think that I may be missing some additional installers that I didn't realize were necessary for this application. I currently install LV8.2RTE and the VISA Run-time 4.0. These are the only installers I have been including. Do I need other installers for the help file to work correctly (keeping in mind that this VI works flawlessly in the application on the developement system, but not on other PCs)? If not could someone shed some light on my problem? Thanks a bunch!
Ryan

PS: If needed I can try to post some pics.

[Valcon]

Still waiting on some help for this issue... Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks a bunch.

Ryan

[JLS]

Hello,

I just built a simple app which opens a chm file, and it runs no problem on a machine with just the runtime engine, app and RTE in version 8.2.

I've attached it here so you can give it a try - when it runs by default the first time you open it, it's may not point to a chm file you have on your machine, so just change that on the front panel and run it again.  Also, I attached it with extension txt since exe's cannot be attached directly - just change the extension back to exe after downloading.

Best Regards,

JLS

[Valcon]

Thanks so much. I will try it immediately! I'll post my results.
Ryan

[Valcon]

I ran the application, and it worked. I have had similar results with my help file caller as well. The only thing I'm trying to do differently is to have the help file remain open and the front panel of the VI to close after opening the menu file. Is this possible? I found that even with your application (even when it is not running), if I close the front panel, the help file closes as well. I would like for the VI to open the help file, then close, leaving the help file open. Thanks for your suggestion!
Ryan

[JLS]

Hello,

Ok ok... only 4 stars for that effort... let's see if we can do better 🙂 

First, I see the same behavior upon closing the application I originally attached - the chm also closes 😞

Apparently what's happening is that when we use the online help control VI, the chm file is opening in the calling application's context, in this case the LabVIEW app/runtime engine instance.

We can get around this by making a call which will open the chm file explicity in Windows - we can do this from LabVIEW with the command exec VI.

I have attached the code this time as well - everything is zipped up (lvproj, vi, & exe).  You'll notice I have used a diagram disable structure so you can see both implementations - the previous one is disabled of course.

I hope THIS is what you were looking for 🙂

Best Regards,

JLS

PS - if you want your LabVIEW application to close by itself after it completes execution, you can use the Exit LabVIEW function at the end of the VI and rebuild the exe.

Message Edited by JLS on 04-20-2007 12:25 PM

[Valcon]

Yes,
This method works well. I found also that it is necessary to execute the actual help file reader from the windows folder (I'm posting from a seperate PC, so I can't look and see right now) and execute with the correct parameters (file path), but I also was able to find where my installer was placing the file and I made a static reference to the file in combination with the command line call of the help file reader followed by the static path to the file. Great answer! Thanks for the help.
Ryan