Helpkit1.ZIP information
========================

Written by Jezar at Psion

You have a royalty free right to use
and distribute this software in any
way you see fit, provided that you
agree that neither Psion nor Jezar will
be held liable for the consequences of
you doing so.

This kit is comprised of the following
files:

Helpcomp.opl - The help compiler.
Helpshow.opl - Example of using help.
Helpxmpl.hlp - Sample help source.
Helptext.txt - This file.
Help.als     - Just a word alias.

The help compiler will run on a Series
3 and a Series 3a. However, at present
you can only use the inbuilt help
system on a 3a. I may write some code
to use the inbuilt help on the Series
3 Classic if time permits. Until then,
please DO NOT attempt to modify 
Helpshow.opl to run on the Classic, as
the program will abort immediately
with exit code 48

History
=======
A brief investigation of the internals
of the Series 3a code revealed that a
mechanism for using the inbuilt help
system was already in place. All that
was required was for someone to
document it. So here we go...

You only need to do two things:
1) Set the help filename
2) Start the help, with the help topic
   resource number, and the number of
   the initial help screen to show.
   
Obviously, from the above description
you can see that you can perform 
context-sensitive help, by choosing
which help page to show initially.

Interestingly, there is NO NEED to use
LOCK ON and LOCK OFF while calling the
inbuilt help system, as it does it for
you automatically.

The help compiler
=================
This takes a plain text file, and 
compiles it into a genuine Psion ".rsc"
file. The resource file writer engine
is designed to be re-usable and can
write any type of resource to a file.

The source file format used, is the
Tom Dolbilin standard. This was chosen
partly because it is a nice, easy to
understand format, and also because
there may be many people already using
this standard. The format should be
clear from the sample one supplied, but
basically:
	1) The first line is the help title
	2) The second line (optional) is the
	   path and/or filename of the
	   compiled help.
	3) Then topics and text are listed,
	   bracketed by #begin/#end keywords.
	4) A hash (#) followed by THREE
	   digits becomes a single character.

Note that if you prefer PC development,
you can use the Psion resource
compiler on a normal .rss file, and
use the constants generated to launch
the help system.

I hope you find this code useful.

Best wishes,
jezar@cix.compulink.co.uk

End of file - Helpkit1.txt