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VFP9-SP2 Help not appearing 2

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JRB-Bldr

JRB-Bldr

Programmer
May 17, 2001
3,281
US
Based on the TT Search results, this is an OLD problem, but it has "raised its ugly head" once again.

I just set up a new Win10 64-bit workstation with VFP5, VFP7, and VFP9-SP2 on it.

All of the VFP's seem to work fine with the exception of VFP9's Help file not appearing when requested from the VFP9 Command window.

I first confirmed that the VFP7 Help file opens just fine from the VFP7 Command window when requested and it is clearly labeled as the VFP 7 Help.

Next I have confirmed that VFP9-SP2's dv_foxhelp.chm file exists in the directory where the VFP9-Tools-Options-File Locations-Help File 'tells' VFP9-SP2 to look for it.

I then confirmed that if I manually go to that directory and double click on the dv_foxhelp.chm file directly it opens just fine.

Finally I tried to follow the multiple suggestions listed in the various TT Search results for the problem (although most of them were for a down-level version of VFP) and none of them resolved the problem.

When I go to the VFP9-SP2 Command window and type HELP - nothing happens.

After so many years of working with VFP I shouldn't actually need the Help system, but sometimes I still need a reminder.

Any other suggestions on how to get the VFP9 Help working from the Command window?

Thanks,
JRB-Bldr
 
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Thanks Mike. That was one of the SEARCH suggestions I found to check.

No I had not SET HELP OFF, but, Just In Case, I did a SET HELP ON and tried again - No success

Thanks
 
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This might because the program/app you need to read the chm file has been deprecated from Windows 7 (ish)...

The version installed on my machine, HH.exe, is just 15kb and dated 2009.

I forget which version you need though, probably the last one was 6.1 or something.

Looking on my hard drive, I have found a copy of HH.exe in an old version of VFP

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Vfp98\Distrib.src\System


Regards

Griff
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There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

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To make it work, all I had to do was locate a .chm file, do a right mouse click, select open with and then browse to the file in the folder above.



Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Mike - Yes the "Enable Help" check was and is ON in the Change Help Location dialogue.

Griff - thanks for the suggestion.
I just now did a whole system search for the file: HH.EXE and found 5 copies of HH.EXE on the workstation.
* C:\Windows
18KB Modified 7/16/2016​
* C:\Windows\System32
16KB Modified 7/16/2016​
* C:\Windows\SysWOW64
16KB Modified 7/16/2016​
* c:\Windows\WinSxS\amd64_microsoft-windows-htmlhelp_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_none_f5ca622d9b6f1f7b
18KB Modified 7/16/2016​
* c:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-htmlhelp_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.14393.0_none_001f0c7fcfcfe176
16KB Modified 7/16/2016​

Since they all have the same Modified Date and the Created Date matches the Modified, I can't tell which might be for VFP9 and which might be for VFP7.

When I go into the Properties-Details of both size files I find that, despite the file size being different, the Product Version is listed as the same: 10.0.14393.0

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
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That must be the knobbled version.

I could make a copy of the working one available (it's part of the ok to redist list for vfp) if you want.

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Do your own virus check before using!


Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Griff - I manually went to the VFP9 directory and did a Right Click on the file dv_foxhelp.chm and then did an Open With...

It showed as: Microsoft HTML Help Executable - the same as the working VFP7 Foxhelp.chm file showed.
And when I clicked OK, the VFP9-SP2 Help file opened just fine - outside of the VFP environment.

BTW: One of the other SEARCH results suggestions was to run VFPCLEAN.APP which I did - No Success

Any more suggestions?

Thanks

 
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The HH.exe is knobbled from win 7 I think, all the ones on your pc, just exit immediately.

The HH on the link above should work, pop it somewhere you can find it and browse to it when you are doing the open with...

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Griff - thanks for the ZIP file.
I un-zipped it and found that the HH.EXE file, via its Properties-Details, is Product Version: 4.73.8412.0

Of the 5 different workstation directories where I previously found HH.EXE, where would this one go?

As to trying to manually open dv_foxhelp.chm with Open With..., I already confirmed that the current HH.EXE opened it just fine.

Regardless, I did the test you suggested with the HH.EXE version you sent and it also worked just fine too.

Thanks
 
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I think if you try to replace hh.exe windows will pop it back to how it was - I vaguely remember.

I would put it in you VFP.exe folder in ..\program files\ and then associate it with the chm files.

I have taken the zip away now.

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Griff - I moved your copy of HH.EXE into my VFP9 directory.
Then I went to the dv_foxhelp.chm file and did a Right-click Open With...
I checked for it to Always Use This and then browsed to that specific HH.EXE file in the VFP9 directory.
On clicking OK, the file opened fine - outside of the VFP9 environment
But on going back into VFP9, I still get nothing when I type HELP into the Command window.

Thanks
 
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Just another point of reference (maybe relevant, maybe not)....

Everything worked fine on the previous workstation under Win7 32-bit.
Could there be something I have over-looked related to operating under Win10 64-bit?

Thanks



 
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Well, I've just looked in my registry - doing a search for hh.exe and there are entries:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\chm.file\shell\open\command

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\classes\chm.file\shell\open\command

They look like they could be manually redirected

from

"%SystemRoot%\hh.exe" %1

to
"c:\whereiputhh\hh.exe" %1

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Griff - thanks again for the suggestion.

I ran RegEdit both as myself and as Administrator.

I went to:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\chm.file\shell\open\command​
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\classes\chm.file\shell\open\command​

For both of them the values were: "%SystemRoot%\hh.exe" %1
But I was not allowed, no matter how I was running RegEdit, to make the change.
And that was with Win10 UAC turned OFF

Thanks
 
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Oh well, we have probably wasted too much brain-power on this already.
I had hoped that there would be a simple resolution, but apparently NO.

I want to thank everyone who offered advice.
Your suggestions/advice was greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JRB-Bldr
 
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You could try replacing the HH.exe in the systemroot, looks like M$ does not want you to do that though

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
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Probably the only way to do it would be boot from an alternative OS, replace HH.exe and then reboot into windows

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.

I'm trying to cut down on the use of shrieks (exclamation marks), I'm told they are !good for you. ​
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
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