Hello everyone…
I’m looking for a way to write a manual and use it as a help file in Clarion.
Is the CHM format obsolete?
How do you do this?
Thanks!
Check out a product called help and manual.
Also have a look in the Clarion discord AI chat, I think Charles posted an interesting thing there about AI helping
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Do you have an url for the discord chat?
I can’t find Clarion on discord.
Thanks!
See your PM for a link to join Clarion Discord.
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CHM is still the only Windows help file type.
Clarion has full support, see docs for HELP() and HLP().
Do NOT use the CHM Help template, it was for C5.5 to 7.
The CHM cannot be opened from a Network Drive because Microsoft thinks it’s a security risk. The workaround is to copy it to the User’s Temp folder.
Search here on Hub for CHM and Help and you’ll find more discussion.
Dr Explain is another help authoring tool.
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Another good aspect of Help & Manual is that you can use the same source code to generate CHM help, generate a PDF, and generate web page help.
Web page help can be great. When you get a support question, you can reply with a link to the specific help page that’s relevant.
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Hello,
You could check out HelpSmith. I have been using the pro version for many years and updates are regular: https://www.helpsmith.com/
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Also you can extend and enhance the help topic when you realize it needs more. You can link to other context like videos and publications.
In Clarion you can hook the help call and instead of CHM open your Web Help using the Help Engine Interface.
There’s an example “Help Check” that pressing Ctrl+Shift+F1 will show you all the HLP() context strings on a window. Useful for a help author to see the HLP() the developer coded.
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Below is a link to my DevCon 2017 presentation “Programming Help in Clarion” slides in a PDF. While the file name implies it’s about the Help Engine it covers everything on coding help and help’s history.
This Hub topic has a link to my 2017 Help presentation video. If it does not work you’ll have to ask @Bruce to fix it
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Also, the CHM files are containers like a zip. It contains html files. You can extract them and do what you want with them.
We’re getting ready to release a new tool called ProHelp Studio (https://www.prohelpstudio.com).
It lets you write your documentation in Markdown, so you can focus on content instead of wrestling with HTML, CSS, or formatting details.
Here’s an example of the documentation we created for our vuFileTools template using ProHelp Studio:
https://clarionproseries.github.io/docs/vuFileTools/
And here’s a short overview page about ProHelp Studio itself:
https://clarionproseries.github.io/docs/vuFileTools/prohelpstudio.html
If you want to see how simple it is to create clean, consistent documentation, take a look at this side-by-side comparison:
https://prohelpstudio.com/lessismore.html
Both the left and center columns in that example produce the identical output shown on the right. Writing in Markdown is basically just writing, with a few extra characters that tell the ProHelp Studio engine how to render the content.
No more HTML
No more CSS
Just clean, professional-looking documentation that stays consistent no matter who writes it.
(As a side note, the post editor here on ClarionHub also uses Markdown.)
ProHelp Studio can render your content as CHM files, but we’re also introducing a new help format designed to replace CHM. It works even inside Clarion programs. It reads cleaner, scales perfectly on high-resolution monitors, and is not blocked by Windows security restrictions like CHM files often are.
You can apply different themes, and users can switch between light and dark modes at runtime for easier reading. You can also embed live help panels directly in your Clarion applications, displaying help content alongside the running program.
ProHelp Studio can:
- Publish directly to GitHub (like our vuFileTools docs)
- Export to HTML for websites
- Export Markdown (.md) for static site builders like Hugo
- Generate high-quality PDF files
I originally created ProHelp Studio because I got tired of fighting traditional help editors like Help & Manual (a great tool, but finicky about fonts, bullets, and formatting). I wanted something that always looked consistent, was easy to use with AI, and worked well for both technical writers and developers.
With ProHelp Studio, I can hand AI a sample page, and it will generate or revise new content that matches the rest of the documentation perfectly. I’ve used it to convert our old ProPath help files to Markdown. It’s fast, consistent, and easy to fine-tune.
In the vuFileTools docs, I added front matter for SEO and AI indexing, zipped the files, sent them to AI for bulk updates, and had more than 200 pages refreshed and ready to drop back into ProHelp Studio within minutes.
We’re also developing a Clarion template that will scan your app and generate starter help topics automatically for browses, forms, fields, and more. You’ll be able to freeze your edits so future regenerations don’t overwrite your custom changes.
That’s a quick preview of what’s coming.
ProHelp Studio will make creating and maintaining help files faster, simpler, and far more enjoyable, especially for Clarion developers.
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Sounds good, but it’s depend on the price.
I don’t want to sacrifice my firstborn and a kidney… 
Everything I’ve seen so far doesn’t fulfill all of my wishes.
Easy to use, easy to maintain when changes are made, with a history. Integration with Clarion, etc., is inexpensive or even open source.
I know, a lot of wishes…but sometimes dreams come true.
You’re absolutely right, price matters, especially for most of us who work solo or in small shops.
The good news is that ProHelp Studio is not going to be anywhere near the “sacrifice your firstborn and a kidney” range.
We’re setting it up with a few editions so people can start small and grow into it as they need more. Here’s roughly how that will look:
Indie Edition – around $199
This one is for anyone who just wants to write and publish documentation without fighting HTML or CSS. It lets you write in Markdown and compile to CHM, export Markdown or HTML, and preview everything locally. Perfect for creating simple, professional-looking docs without a big learning curve.
(GitHub integration and Clarion template support start at the next level up.)
Standard Edition – around $399
This will be the version most Clarion developers will want. It adds the Clarion Jumpstart Template that can automatically generate help topics from your app (forms, browses, fields, and so on) and lets you freeze your edits so they do not get overwritten when you regenerate. It also adds PDF output, full HTML export with navigation and metadata, theme support, and built-in GitHub integration for version history and publishing. It also supports the new .ProHelp format that replaces CHM and is not blocked by Windows security settings.
Professional Edition – around $599 to $699
This one adds the runtime integration so you can embed live help panels directly inside your Clarion programs. It supports the full .ProHelp file structure, interactive user feedback, and the ability to let your end users suggest edits, report issues, or add enhancements that feed right back into your help repository.
For example, imagine if SoftVelocity used this system for the Clarion docs. They could publish all of their help in Markdown format on GitHub, and the Clarion community could contribute improved examples, corrections, or new tips directly into that same ecosystem. That kind of collaboration is exactly what this edition is designed to enable.
It also uses SQLite internally for faster indexing and searching and can publish updates to GitHub or a website for shared access.
Enterprise / Team Edition – around $995 and up
For larger teams that need shared authoring, floating licenses, and role-based collaboration. This one is aimed more at companies that want multi-user documentation control and integration with internal systems.
The skeleton files used by the Clarion template will be open source and on GitHub so anyone can modify or extend them however they like. That keeps the help framework open for anyone who wants to extend or improve it.
Our goal is to make something that is easy to use, easy to maintain, and actually fun to work with, not another over-priced or over-complicated help authoring tool.
Sometimes dreams really do come true.
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