Is there any plan to update the old HLP files in the older Extenders zips?

[dcrane37]

I am unable to open the HLP files in the older exenders under Windows 10.
Microsoft had something to get around this in Win 8 and Win 8.
But there does not appear to be anything for Win 10.
Any chance of an update to them?

[td]

We have our hands full keeping up with the documentation for the latest and greatest so you either need to purchase a new license (gasp) so you can install the latest and greatest versions of each extender or use the on-line version of the extender documentation.  Of course, the on-line versions are for the latest releases of each extender.

[snowsnowsnow]

I take it what we're saying here is that if I have, say, a ZIP file containing the 2006 version of some extender (say, the ZIP extender), that contains a .HLP file, that OP would like you to update that 2006 file on your site to contain a .CHM file instead?  Is that right???

I assume that you, Tony, are saying that the current version of (in our example) the ZIP extender does have a .CHM file (even if the extender itself hasn't been updated since 2006), right???  (I am, of course, not in any way alleging that the ZIP extender hasn't been updated since 2006 - I have no information one way or the other on that).

So, it sounds like, for some reason or another, OP is not able or not willing to download the latest version of the (in our example) ZIP extender.  Right???

In that case, it sounds like the best solution would be to run an earlier version of Windows in a VM and read the docu there.

[snowsnowsnow]

Incidentally, I know of the hack to which the OP refers - that allows to read .HLP files in later versions of Windows.  I use it under Win7.

Best advice from here is just to avoid WinBlows 10.

[td]

There have been 2 updates to the extender since 2006. Both updates contained multiple modifications and fixes. While it doesn't affect the documentation, one change was that the compression/decompression library was updated to a much newer version. However, some of the other changes affected the help file.

The OP can always download the latest version of the extender and extract the CHM help file. Note that the extender will likely error if the setup.exe used to attempt an install. The assumption was that the OP would have just done that if that was acceptable or that they were unaware of the online version of the help file. Many users have not yet noticed the doc website and a few do not like to use online help.

[snowsnowsnow]

Incidentally, I was looking through the Tech Supt database (web page) and happened to see a script that claims to be able to "de compile" a CHM file.  I didn't test it, but would that help the OP in the current context?

[td]

CHM files are not much of a mystery.  Basically they have just compressed HTML files.