Visual Studio Help Files / Visual FoxPro 6 (VFP 98) Help File (FOXHELP.CHM)

[Cecil Champenois]

I copied the whole set of 2 cd's for my Visual Studio 6.0 Professional to my desktop and then installed it. I then copied the FOXHELP.CHM file directly to the folder where my VFP 6 resides. However, when I tried running VFP 6.0 Help, although it sort of came up, there was no information there to review. What other files are necessary to make it display help info? Or where does that CHM file need to be copied to? I put the CHM file in the same folder as the VFP6.exe file.

 

[Chris Miller]

Long story short: Install MSDN library and you have the help besides more help files.

If you want to concentrate on foxhelp only: Did you also copy over the CHW file?
Edit: I also find by google there should be a foxhelp.chi and more files. All in all the Help for VFP6 was not installed with VFP6 but with the MSDN library installation (I now made this the first point).

Another technical reason is described in KB892675:

https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_KB_Archive/892675

Since a security update 896358 CHM files can only be viewed when they are local. So I guess you didn't intall to a local drive?!
Update: I now rather think you didn't do the MSDN library installation.

Chriss

 

[GriffMG]

Am I right thinking windows from 8 onwards do not like the chm format and you need another reader?

Regards

Griff
Keep [Smile]ing

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[Chris Miller]

The VFP9 help (dv_foxhelp.chm and dv_foxhelp.chw) works on Win95-Win11. No, that's not the reason. There were different help file versions and the problem with the trust zone, but before VFP7 ws standalone the help of VFP was part of the MSDN library and VFP6 help association was pointing to a MSDN home directory outside the VFP directory.

Anyway, some help files are single files, but the majority of versions just like DBFs with an index or memo file are mullti file documents. So it's not really surprising foxhelp.chm doesn't work standalone.

Chriss

 

[Cecil Champenois]

I do have the CHM, CHI, and CHW files, called FOXHELP for VFP 6, gotten from MSDN. They are all within the folder C:\VFP6, as is VFP6.EXE.

When I try to open the Help file from within the VFP 6 IDE, it's a no go so far.

I can definitely open the CHM outside of VFP's IDE. I did not know that when you click on the CHM file that it also needed the FOXHELP.CHI file. So, I got that. Then when I double clicked on the FOXHELP.CHM file to execute it, the FOXHHELP.CHW file was created and VFP 6 FoxHelp started up. I just am not yet able to call it from within the IDE.

Cecil

 

[Chris Miller]

In options, in the File Location tabs there is one entry for Help file.

Chriss

 

[foxmuldr3]

Another option I've used successfully if you have a license for it, is to get older copies of Windows and run them in VMs when you need certain things. With VirtualBox you can use the seamless integration option to have windows from those VMs appear as top-level apps on your desktop. With copy-and-paste they work just like normal.

After you get everything setup, make sure you don't enable pass-thru networking on them. Only setup a network between host and VM, and only enable it when you need it. They have not been patched for years and may be vulnerable. But for general use in a self-contained environment, like popping up help files, or having some test programs in windows you can copy-and-paste code from into your main machine ... it's a great solution because everything there works like you remember. I use Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 daily to this day for those purposes.

--
Rick C. Hodgin

 

[Chris Miller]

Surely an option,

but even on Windows NT at the time VFP6 and VS98 were new you had to install the MSDN library to get the VFP6 help after installing VFP6. It all was part of VS98 and the intention of it was to install the whole studio and MSDN library anyway.

I guess before you change the file location to the VFP help the setting for it is where the MSDN library istallation would put the vfp6 help file and it would simply work, plus you have a lot more documentaiton, for example about common dialogs, common controls, etc. It would be the simplest solution. There are other hurdles installing VFP6 on later versions of Windows than NT,95 or 98. And it seems to me you overcame them, too. One hurdle I remember was about installing service packs, especially SP5, needing MDAC 2.5 or higher.

This lattter issue speaks for using WinNT to run vfp6, but all in all VFP6 can at least also run on Vista and then it's likely even Win11 doesn't break it to work.

Chriss

 

[mJindrova]

Cecil,

Did you run register foxhelp.exe?
Did you have hh.exe in c:\vfp6 folder too?

mJindrova