Version 21 of Microsoft .chm Help Format

Updated 2004-02-02 16:39:27

This page contains information on how to create Compiled Help Module (.chm) files for applications that run under Windows. An alternative help system for Tcl developers is to use a Wikit in local mode as a help system. Tom Krehbiel


tjk TJK: I'm no expert but the following items may be helpful to others. Please add your own comments, tools and links.

  • A description of the file format can be found here [L1 ]
  • Abee Chm Maker is a program for making chm-files. It is free and can be downloaded from here [L2 ]. It has a simple and comprehensible interface that allow you to make CHM-files(with contents). I tried it on a simple problem and it worked and seemed to be easy to use.
  • An X-Windows viewer for .chm files can be downloaded from here [L3 ]

Comments on .chm files.

DKF: "Isn't it HTML+postprocessing?"

PT: "Yes. MS issue a HTML compiler. You can take a web site and turn it into a chm file quite easily. You have to dig around in MSDN to find the package to download though. It used to be on the Platform SDK disk."

PT: It's called the MS HTML Help 1.4 SDK and you can download it from [L4 ] and view the documentation there.