The contents of the A-Shell/Windows Help menu are easily configurable. It is recommended that you take a minute to set up documentation and other help links appropriate for your type of installation. Configuration is accomplished via the text file ASHELP.MDF, which is installed into the DOC subdirectory. A sample copy of the file, as it is included with A-Shell, is shown below.
The documentation set-up step is entirely optional; the presence or absence of documentation files will not affect the operation of A-Shell. If the documentation files are missing, or if the set-up file ASHELP.MDF is damaged or contains invalid data, or even if the entire documentation folder/directory is missing, A-Shell will run without problem—although also without, of course, documentation.
;This file sets up the selections on the A-Shell Help menu.
HELP,"h1",SEP
HELP,"&A-Shell Setup Guide (online HTML)",REG,"http://www.microsabio.net/dist/doc/setup/00ashsetup.htm"
HELP,"A-Shell &Setup Guide (local CHM)",REG,"ashsetup.chm"
;HELP,"A-Shell Setup &Guide (PDF)",REG,"ashsetup.pdf"
;HELP,"&Command Reference (CHM)",REG,"ashcmd.chm"
;HELP,"Co&mmand Reference (PDF)",REG,"ashcmd.pdf"
HELP,"&Command Reference (online HTML)",REG,"http://www.microsabio.net/dist/doc/cmd/00ashcmd.htm"
;HELP,"&XCALL Reference (CHM)",REG,"ashxcall.chm"
;HELP,"Xcall &Reference (PDF)",REG,"ashxcall.pdf"
;HELP,"&Development Guide (CHM)",REG,"ashdev.chm"
;HELP,"De&velopment Guide (PDF)",REG,"ashdev.pdf"
;HELP,"&ATS (Telnet Service) Setup Guide (CHM)",REG,"atssg.chm"
;HELP,"&INFLD Parameter Reference (CHM)",REG,"infld.chm"
;HELP,"IN&MEMO Parameter Reference (CHM)",REG,"inmemo.chm"
HELP,"&Release Notes (online HTML)",REG,"http://www.microsabio.net/dist/51dev/doc/ashdevnotes/00ashdevnotes.htm"
HELP,"Release &Notes (online TXT)",REG,"http://www.microsabio.net/dist/51dev/ashdevnotes.txt"
;
HELP,"h2",SEP
HELP,"Readme.txt",REG,"readme.txt"
HELP,"A-Shell &Online Docs",REG,"http://www.microsabio.com/documents.html"
;
;Add your app's docs here...
HELP "h3",SEP
;HELP,"Ash&LPD Setup Guide",REG,"ashlpd.chm"
The above ASHELP.MDF produces the following help menu:
The lines that start with semicolons are comments and are ignored. As you can see, we have included references to several types of files (PDF, CHM, HTML) both on-line and local. Most of the lines are commented out.
The first field on each line (HELP) indicates that it applies to the Help menu. The second field indicates the text that will appear in the menu item, unless the menu type (third field) is “SEP” (i.e. separator), in which case the second field just needs to be a unique string used internally for identification. The third field indicates the type of menu item. The most likely choices are SEP (separator) or REG, which means that the file or URL in the fourth field will be launched according the Windows file-type association in the Registry. The fourth and last field is the document file or URL to be launched. If it is a file spec, you must include the complete path, unless it is in the DOC subdirectory (where the ASHELP.MDF file itself is.)
You can (and are encouraged to) edit this file, using any text editor. For turnkey end-user applications, you may want to eliminate all of the A-Shell documentation links (except perhaps the Setup Guide, which contains handy reference information to the miame.ini and printer configuration files). End users that do some work at the dot prompt will appreciate the Command Reference, while programmers will appreciate the XCALL Reference and Development Guide.
In addition to removing or commenting out links that you don't want, you should add links for your own application documentation, as well as any links to sites frequently referenced by A-Shell users, such as government, shipping, legal, search, dictionary, etc.
Refer to the MIAMEX function 71 in the A-Shell XCALL Reference for complete details on the format of ASHELP.MDF file, as well as on other techniques for modifying the A-Shell/Windows menus dynamically.
Note that the A-Shell Setup Guide help file, ashsetup.chm, must reside in the /doc subdirectory where A-Shell is installed. This is required because various menus and options within A-Shell offer a "Help" button and these need to link to the help file that is in a specific and known location.
Notes
The A-Shell documentation is continually evolving. Regardless of whether you update A-Shell rarely or frequently, you should try to stay reasonably current with the documentation—if only to see what features may have been added to A-Shell that will benefit you. The best way to do this is to point all the references in ASHELP.MDF to the on-line/HTML versions of the help files.
As of January 2009, the four documents that constitute the main A-Shell documentation have been consolidated into one file. It is called The A-Shell Reference, its filename is "ashref," and it is available in both help-file (CHM) and on-line (HTM) versions. You can download a copy from the web site mentioned above. If using one file instead of four would be more convenient for you, then insert a line referring to "ashref.chm" or the on-line equivalent into your ASHELP.MDF file.