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#11
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
Lostgallifreyan wrote:
"Bill in Co" wrote in : I just opened a .HLP file in Quick View Plus, where one can do a select all and copy operation, and then paste that mess into a text editor, and then filter it, but this is admitedly pretty primitive. I guess if one were really desperate to get at least some text out of the .HLP file, it could work in a pinch, however. :-) Did you see my answer? I posted a way to do it based on stuff Franc Zabkar posted. There is no way a human can copy/paste the file I was working on. A 1.2 GHz machine took nearly twenty minutes of processing time all in. If I'd had to do it by hand I'd have died of old age long before I'd got around to analysing the linkage I wanted. Sorry, I think I was asleep at the switch. :-( And the .HLP files I was thinking of were pretty tiny in size to begin with. |
#12
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
"Bill in Co" wrote in
m: Sorry, I think I was asleep at the switch. :-( It happens. I was asleep at it most of the evening... I figured out file creation in W98 with C, from the API, but not before I asked someone. He pointed me right back to the API.... I got there. In the end... Sometimes I wish someone would just give me the answer. I would if asked. Saves time letting them hang themselves reaching for un-needed complexity, or wondering if a thing ever worked right. As a kid I learned best from breaking stuff, but I only learned a lot fast if it worked in the first place. That's a hell of a motivator, especially when the stuff wasn't mine because the sooner I fixed it, the less trouble I'd be in. Re HLP files, I agree, most of them ARE tiny. I wasn't prepared for 20 MB. |
#13
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
On Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:29:05 -0600, Lostgallifreyan
put finger to keyboard and composed: Franc, did you get any good CHM-maker? I can't recall exactly what I did, but my requirements weren't particularly special. IIRC, I merely decompiled the HLP file, translated the Russian text, and then recompiled the result. I didn't go any deeper than that. In any case it appears that you've sorted yourself out. :-) - Franc Zabkar -- Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email. |
#14
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
Franc Zabkar wrote in
: I can't recall exactly what I did, but my requirements weren't particularly special. IIRC, I merely decompiled the HLP file, translated the Russian text, and then recompiled the result. I didn't go any deeper than that. In any case it appears that you've sorted yourself out. :-) Yep, thanks, your suggestions were spot on, made short work of finding the end of the trail. |
#15
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
In message ,
Lostgallifreyan writes: "Bill in Co" wrote in om: [] Sometimes I wish someone would just give me the answer. I would if asked. Saves time letting them hang themselves reaching for un-needed complexity, or wondering if a thing ever worked right. As a kid I learned best from breaking Any good teacher will say it's better to guide you until you find the answer for yourself; you'll be much more satisfied, and know _why_ it's the answer as well as just what the answer is. stuff, but I only learned a lot fast if it worked in the first place. That's a hell of a motivator, especially when the stuff wasn't mine because the sooner I fixed it, the less trouble I'd be in. (-: Re HLP files, I agree, most of them ARE tiny. I wasn't prepared for 20 MB. (That's a minor novel - or did it include some images?) -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf The reason for the oil shortage: nobody remembered to check the oil levels. Our oil is located in the North Sea but our dip-sticks are located in Westminster. (or Texas and Washington etc. - adjust as necessary!) |
#16
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
: Sometimes I wish someone would just give me the answer. I would if asked. Saves time letting them hang themselves reaching for un-needed complexity, or wondering if a thing ever worked right. As a kid I learned best from breaking Any good teacher will say it's better to guide you until you find the answer for yourself; you'll be much more satisfied, and know _why_ it's the answer as well as just what the answer is. That's true, but takes time. Coders seem to dislike spending time on anything other than their work, even when willing to help, so will usually give a terse collection of function details, arguments for them, etc. (And occasionally, RT(F)M should be taken to mean 'I don't know, and don't want to admit it or spend time discussing it'). I recently got the impression that coders who use C++ may not even know how to open a file in ANSI C. The API references usually just give the calls in an abstracted manner, parts to assemble, without working context. The wxWidgets guide goes further, it does exactly this too, but almost always gives a short example of actual code where you can see contexts like path specifiers to file-open type functions, stuff that may not be explained otherwise, or known to the newcomer who looks at the documentation. By running the example, more useful deductions can be made, and even on the page, it's more self-explanatory. I remember that the 'worked example' was a major part of even the driest textbooks from schools in the last quarter of the last century, the idea being that study of it would show one context, and the aim being to understand how to modify it to fit others. People now seem to think that asking for this is asking for fish when we should learn to fish. It's not, it's like asking for a working fishing rod. Which is reasonable, If we break it, we learn more than if we never see it work to start with. In a situation where teachers are at hand (most coders probably had good teachers, maybe went to universities too) there are people to call on regularly for help. Fortunately the wxWidgets CHM manual doesn't assume this. It's much more aimed at people from independent situations who need to code to solve a problem, rather than those who are part of an academic network. I think the reason why that method is lacking in older API references may be because when the MSDN network was new, the assumption was that coders would get together and ask each other. When that happens, people don't think to log working details as if the supply will dry up otherwise, let alone organise a coherent record fit to publish. Stuff like that usually came out of book shops. I remember that a reduced set of that MSDN stuff was released on multiple CD's but it was a rambling set of disparate output, far from the organised publication that wxWidgets manuals are. But we do at least HAVE a Win32API reference, which counts for a lot. stuff, but I only learned a lot fast if it worked in the first place. That's a hell of a motivator, especially when the stuff wasn't mine because the sooner I fixed it, the less trouble I'd be in. (-: The lessons were memorable. Re HLP files, I agree, most of them ARE tiny. I wasn't prepared for 20 MB. (That's a minor novel - or did it include some images?) It did, but not many (and most of them tiny). Even novels are fairly small. A scan of The Time Machine (H.G. Wells) is less than 0.5 MB in DOC format, and 90.5KB zipped. If it were plain text it would be smaller. This API reference is nearly 60MB when fully unpacked and converted to either RTF with images, or HTML. (Actually I keep wondering if stuff got left out, in that 7MB CHM. Looks complete though, as far as I can tell). |
#17
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
In message ,
Lostgallifreyan writes: "J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in : Sometimes I wish someone would just give me the answer. I would if asked. Saves time letting them hang themselves reaching for un-needed complexity, or wondering if a thing ever worked right. As a kid I learned best from breaking Any good teacher will say it's better to guide you until you find the answer for yourself; you'll be much more satisfied, and know _why_ it's the answer as well as just what the answer is. That's true, but takes time. Coders seem to dislike spending time on anything other than their work, even when willing to help, so will usually give a terse collection of function details, arguments for them, etc. (And occasionally, RT(F)M should be taken to mean 'I don't know, and don't want to admit it or spend time discussing it'). I recently got the impression that (-: indeed! coders who use C++ may not even know how to open a file in ANSI C. The API references usually just give the calls in an abstracted manner, parts to assemble, without working context. The wxWidgets guide goes further, it Yes. I remember a DOS C compiler/system - I'm pretty sure it was Microsoft! - that had examples in its help system; I think it even made it not particularly difficult to use their example code in whatever you were coding. (It was a split screen thing, blue text on white IIRR as lots of things were in those days.) I agree, things that give the abstract answer without context are irritating: IIRR "The Algol report" was like that, and I was _going_ to say K&R (all hail) too, but I think they _did_ give examples. (The canonical "Hello world" for example.) [] I remember that the 'worked example' was a major part of even the driest textbooks from schools in the last quarter of the last century, the idea being that study of it would show one context, and the aim being to understand how to modify it to fit others. Indeed. People now seem to think that asking for this is asking for fish when we should learn to fish. It's not, it's like asking for a working fishing rod. Which is reasonable, If we break it, we learn more than if we never see it Indeed. (I seem to be using that word a lot today!) Of course, the third line of "give a man a fish ..." is "show him the internet, and he'll never bother you again" - though whoever wrote that meant that it will waste his time for ever, rather than educate him, I think! [] stuff, but I only learned a lot fast if it worked in the first place. That's a hell of a motivator, especially when the stuff wasn't mine because the sooner I fixed it, the less trouble I'd be in. (-: The lessons were memorable. Circum-oral clips? [] -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf If it's pretentious, then at least it's not the sort that wears a horned helmet and shrieks about trolls. - Stuart Maconie in Radio Times, 14-20 November 2009. |
#18
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in
: Any good teacher will say it's better to guide you until you find the answer for yourself; you'll be much more satisfied, and know _why_ it's the answer as well as just what the answer is. That's true, but takes time. Coders seem to dislike spending time on anything other than their work, even when willing to help, so will usually give a terse collection of function details, arguments for them, etc. (And occasionally, RT(F)M should be taken to mean 'I don't know, and don't want to admit it or spend time discussing it'). I recently got the impression that (-: indeed! I always deliberately remember that Einstein would give a plain answer in basic language. The fact that he could, and did, was part of what made him good at what he did. As far as I know, this didn't mean a terse bit of formula, the plain answer likely took more time and effort. Or would have done, from anyone with less understanding. coders who use C++ may not even know how to open a file in ANSI C. The API references usually just give the calls in an abstracted manner, parts to assemble, without working context. The wxWidgets guide goes further, it Yes. I remember a DOS C compiler/system - I'm pretty sure it was Microsoft! - that had examples in its help system; I think it even made it not particularly difficult to use their example code in whatever you were coding. (It was a split screen thing, blue text on white IIRR as lots of things were in those days.) I agree, things that give the abstract answer without context are irritating: IIRR "The Algol report" was like that, and I was _going_ to say K&R (all hail) too, but I think they _did_ give examples. (The canonical "Hello world" for example.) Sounds good. The wxWidgets ones are still a step removed for anyone converting to wxLua. This is why the closer it is to actually working, the better. I suspect the older guides may be better, newer ones often make assumptions about what people should already know. Which is not the best way for a teacher or professor to behave... If it were all organised into yearly advances in a syllabus, sure, but I never say a coding guide like that. I like code to work fast, to solve a problem, to give a working example before a pupil gets bored and frustrated and their mind clouds with it. Imagine Orville and Wilbur Wright's frustrations if someone had told them to study feathers, and refused to let them see a bird fly! People now seem to think that asking for this is asking for fish when we should learn to fish. It's not, it's like asking for a working fishing rod. Which is reasonable, If we break it, we learn more than if we never see it Indeed. (I seem to be using that word a lot today!) Of course, the third line of "give a man a fish ..." is "show him the internet, and he'll never bother you again" - though whoever wrote that meant that it will waste his time for ever, rather than educate him, I think! Indeed. I will always remember somethign from a Doctor Who story, where the third Doctor (Pertwee) goes to Tibet and debates with a lama there, and the lama says something about how happy a goldfish would be if the bowl were emptied into the ocean. The codtor says, yes, but how much happier that fish would be if you could empty the ocean into the bowl. Which is basically what academia is about. The net isn't a good teacher, it's just a new manifestation of the world. Sink or swim. Telling a person to go out there and RTFM is about as useful as telling kids in England that if they want to eat, they must forage in the hedgerows. As most of the real food is in private land, or hothouses, that's a stance that is both cruel and foolish. That's a hell of a motivator, especially when the stuff wasn't mine because the sooner I fixed it, the less trouble I'd be in. (-: The lessons were memorable. Circum-oral clips? No, no, just a mighty dread of being found out. I was a very secretive kid, and hated being caught out failing or breaking something. I got the feeling that my parents didn't care if I got into something I shouldn't so long as I got myself out of it without them having to know. |
#19
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
Lostgallifreyan wrote:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in : Sometimes I wish someone would just give me the answer. I would if asked. Saves time letting them hang themselves reaching for un-needed complexity, or wondering if a thing ever worked right. As a kid I learned best from breaking Any good teacher will say it's better to guide you until you find the answer for yourself; you'll be much more satisfied, and know _why_ it's the answer as well as just what the answer is. snip So just out of curiosity, what was the upshot of all this, since I've lost track? Is there any converter app (for Win9x or XP) that can fully convert a .HLP file into a .CHM file *and* preserve the layouts and images, etc? (Not a ..RTF file, but a real CHM file, that is just as good as the original .HLP file). |
#20
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Wextech Papertrail (Or other HLP file disassembler.)
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