helpfile setting

This setting is a string value and specifies a help file containing help on the formula. The help file can be accessed by clicking the More button in the Layer Properties tool window, and then clicking Help.

This setting can be used in the default section of all types of formulas.

The help file can be a Windows HTML Help file (*.chm), a Windows Help file (*.hlp), a collection of HTML files (*.htm or *.html), an Adobe Acrobat file (*.pdf), a Microsoft Word file (*.doc), or a plain text file (*.txt). The file name specified can be absolute (specifying the full path) or relative.

If the file name is a relative path, Ultra Fractal searches for the help file in the folder where the formula is installed, and in the Help on Formulas folder set in the Options dialog. The Help on Formulas folder is the preferred location for installing help files for formulas.

With Windows HTML Help files, Ultra Fractal shows the topic specified by the helptopic setting. This should be the path to the topic file within the compiled help file. If the helptopic setting is not specified, the default topic is shown.

With Windows Help files, Ultra Fractal also shows the topic specified by the helptopic setting. If the helptopic setting is not specified, the Contents topic in the help file will be shown (if no Contents topic exists, this defaults to the first topic in the help file). The helptopic setting should be equal to the topic identifier. It should not be a mapped topic ID.

With HTML files, Ultra Fractal opens the specified HTML file using the default browser (the browser associated with the .htm or .html extension). If the helptopic setting is specified, it is used to jump to a name identifier within the HTML file (name identifiers are specified using the <A NAME="identifier"> tag).

Because a help system based on HTML usually needs many separate HTML files and images, it is recommended to group these files into a separate folder in the Help for Formulas folder. The name of this folder should be equal to the formula file. The helpfile setting should then be something like "MyFormulas\index.html".

Of course, you can also place your HTML help files on the Internet and specify the location using the helpfile setting, such as "http://www.myformulas.com/". In this case you must use the full URL, with the http:// prefix.

With Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word, or plain text files, Ultra Fractal opens the file with the associated application, such as Acrobat Viewer. The helptopic setting is not used.

Examples:

default:
  helpfile = "MyFormulas.chm"
  helpfile = "MyFormulas\index.html"
  helpfile = "MyFormulas.hlp"
  helpfile = "http://www.myformulas.com/"
  helpfile = "MyFormulas-Help.pdf"