Editing the Help Registration Merge Module
To ensure that your Help files are properly registered at installation time, you must edit MSHelp2_RegTables__RTL_---_ ---.msm and add unique information about your Help project. This file is installed in \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Help 2.0 Compiler\Redist. You can edit this file by using any application that supports editing Windows Installer files, such as the Orca tool that is included in the Platform SDK. You must then merge the updated copy of MSHelp2_RegTables__RTL_---_ ---.msm into your Windows Installer package (.msi file). For more information, see Consuming Help Registration Merge Modules.
The information you must provide for each Help file that you want to install and register is described in the following tables. Each table represents a data table in the .MSM file that must be updated. The information you provide corresponds to the data required by the Microsoft Help registration components.
HelpFile
Contains information used to register each compiled Help (.HxS) file in the project.
Column name |
Description |
|---|---|
HelpFileKey |
Primary key used by the installer to identify an .HxS file. It is recommended to use the file name without the .HxS file extension. |
HelpFileName |
Unique identifier used by Help to register the .HxS file on the target computer. It is recommended to use the file name without the .HxS file extension. |
LangID |
Language identifier (decimal LCID) used by Help to register the .HxS file on the target computer. For example, 1033 is the LCID used for English. |
File_HxS |
Data for the .HxS file, taken from the File table of the .MSI file for the project. An easy way to find this information is to open the .MSI file and search for the file name. |
File_HxI |
Data for the compiled Help index (.HxI) file, taken from the File table of the .MSI file for the project. An easy way to find this information is to open the .MSI file and search for the file name. If no file of this type exists, this can be left blank. |
File_HxQ |
Data for the merged query (.HxQ) file, taken from the File table of the .MSI file for the project. An easy way to find this information is to open the .MSI file and search for the file name. If no file of this type exists, this can be left blank. |
File_HxR |
Data for the combined attribute index (.HxR) file, taken from the File table of the .MSI file for the project. An easy way to find this information is to open the .MSI file and search for the file name. If no file of this type exists, this can be left blank. |
File_Samples |
Data used by Help to register uncompressed samples. |
HelpNamespace
Contains information about each namespace and collection definition (.HxC) file in the project.
Column name |
Description |
|---|---|
NamespaceKey |
Primary key used by the installer to identify the namespace. |
NamespaceName |
Name of the namespace, used by Help during registration. Typically, identical to the value used for NamespaceKey. |
File_Collection |
Data for the collection definition (.HxC) file, or compiled Help (.HxS) file, associated with the namespace, taken from the File column of the File table. An easy way to find this information is to open the .MSI file and search for the file name. |
Description |
Descriptive string for the namespace, used by Help during registration. |
HelpFileToNamespace
Used to map each compiled Help (.HxS) file, as defined in the HelpFile table, with a namespace, as defined in the HelpNamespace table.
Column name |
Description |
|---|---|
HelpFile_ |
Data from the HelpFileKey column of the HelpFile table. |
HelpNamespace_ |
Data from the NamespaceKey column of the HelpNamespace table. |
HelpPlugIn
Contains information about Help collections that are to be nested, or plugged-in.
Column name |
Description |
|---|---|
HelpNamespace_ |
Name of the namespace to be nested (child). This data is taken from the NamespaceKey column of the HelpNamespace table. |
HelpNamespace_Parent |
Name of the parent namespace. This data is taken from the NamespaceKey column of the HelpNamespace table or use the literal MS_VSIPCC_v80 to use the Visual Studio 2008 combined help collection. |
File_HxT |
Name of the collection-level table of contents (.HxT) file for the child namespace. This data is taken from the File column of the File table. |
File_HxA |
Name of the collection-level attribute definition (.HxA) file for the child namespace. This data is taken from the File column of the File table. |
File_ParentHxT |
Name of the table of contents (.HxT) file for the parent collection. This data is taken from the File column of the File table. |
HelpFilter
Contains information about Help filters to register. For more information, see Creating and Registering Filters.
Column name |
Description |
|---|---|
FilterKey |
Name of the filter to register. |
Description |
Description text for the filter. |
QueryString |
Query string for the filter. |
HelpFilterToNamespace
Used to map each Help filter to a namespace.
Column name |
Description |
|---|---|
HelpFilter_ |
Data from the FilterKey column of the HelpFilter table in this .MSM file. |
HelpNamespace_ |
Data from the NamespaceKey column of the HelpNamespace table in this .MSM file. |