HelpPC 2.10 Quick Reference Utility Copyright 1991 David Jurgens

                           HelpPC Text File Format

       HelpPC in its standard form can handle 1800 indexed topics
       and 16 independent help files.  If you find you need a larger
       capacity, please contact me at one of the addresses below.
       Each file must have its own title which will show up in the
       main menu.  Each topic following the file title (see below)
       will show up in the subtopic menu.  Also note that HelpPC
       will adjust the menu format based on the screen height and
       the number of items in the main menu.

       HelpPC text files are simple ASCII files that contain control
       codes in column one.  Each file must contain a title in the
       first line.  The remainder of the file consists of keyed lines
       and help text.   Each line must end with a CR/LF pair (standard
       DOS format) and shouldn't be longer than 70 characters.  Tabs
       position the text using 8 character tab positions.  The following
       is a list of keys and special characters:

       '@'  in column 1 indicates a file title which will appear in
            the main topic menu.  This must be the very first line
            in the file and has a maximum length of 40 characters
            (excluding the '@').
       ':'  in column 1 indicates a subtopic key.  Multiple keys
            separated by colons ':' can be entered on the same line.
            Single spaces are allowed in a key, multiple spaces are
            compressed to single.
       '%'  in column 1 indicates to highlight the entire line
       '^'  in column 1 indicates to center and highlight the line
       ' '  (space) normal text
       '~'  Tilde, used to mark text as a subtopic link.  Use two
            tilde characters to represent an actual tilde in the data.
            A word or phrase enclosed between tilde's will become a
            subtopic link for the current topic.
       TAB  start text in column 9
       any other character in column 1 is invalid an will not display


       Use the BUILD command to index/reindex the default help text
       files.  To add your own files to the index use the command:

               BUILD [fname [file2 ...]]


               Limits of the HelpPC program

               Max items in main topic menu:          16
               Max items in subtopic menu:           512
               Max topics in index:                 1800
               Max size of topic text:             16384 bytes
               Max lines of text per topic:          512
               Max topic key length:                  20
               Max file title length:                 40
               Max subtopic links:                   120      
               No limit on text file size


       Example help file:


       @This title appears in main menu
       :key1:key2:key3
       ^This line will be displayed centered and highlighted
       
       %This line will appear highlighted
       
       These lines are normal text.  All three topic keys will point to
       this same database entry.  The following phrase ~SUBTOPIC LINK~
       is a link to another topic.  The tilde characters will cause it
       to be highlighted and selectable.

Esc or Alt-X to exit HelpPC format Home/PgUp/PgDn/End ←↑↓→