FAR HTML - VS Help Authoring & Integration

FAR HTML 5 by The Helpware Group

Home page: FAR HTML Home page | Change notes

FAR HTML is a toolbox full of various authoring, file and HTML utilities. Version 5.x now fully supports Unicode.

• Created .HxS help for VS 2002\203\2005\2008 help integration.
• Create .mshc help for VS 2010\2012 help integration.
  FAR HTML 5 license also covers our mshcMigrate utility.
• Create .chm HTML Help for your application help.
• Create web help with full JavaScript TOC, Index and Search.
• Advanced TOC and Index editor.
• Batch compilers & decompilers.
• Create\View Zip and Cab files.
• Advanced file utilities - Find & Replace; File Encoding etc
• etc.

Download the full working version of FAR HTML today.

About FAR

We first started working on FAR in the late 1990's, when HTML Help was first shipped with IE4 and Win98.

Since then it has greatly expanded and become an indispensable multipurpose tool to many users. Companies like IBM, Intel, Microsoft, ESRI, Sony, Component One, Borland, HP, Agilent, Boeing, Exceed... (the list goes on) all use the tool. We get a lot of fan mail encouraging us to maintain the tool.

FAR is clever in that it fills many of the gaps left by other main stream tools. Yet FAR is capable of holding its own when it comes to creating and maintaining industry standard documentation and help. Many of our clients, sick of the cost and problems associated with some large authoring tools such as RoboHelp, have dumped them for FAR and are now very happy (and not so poor).

Some of these other tools are more than 20x the cost of FAR but do less and are less reliable. 

We hope you are more productive in your day because of FAR Tools. 

Screen Shots

Note that you create\maintain your help web (a bunch of HTML pages) using your favourite HTML editor. Once you have a help web, use any of these commands to create and maintain your help.

Express Help

Express Help - Select your help web folder, click "Create help" and you have a .HxS or .Chm help file.

Alternatively right click your help folder in Explorer and select "Compile to HTML Help with FAR"

Help Wizard

Help Wizard - More control. Guides you step-by-step. Create either .HxS (MS Help 2 for VS help integration) or .Chm (for your application help).

Advanced TOC & Index Editor

Edit .hhc\.hhk HTML Help project files, or .HxT\.HxK MS Help 2 project files. Also edit MS Help 3 (VS 2010 help) TOC and Keyword files.

FAR Uncompressed Help (Web Help)

Create help to run in your browser. Add JavaScript based TOC, Index, Search to your HTML files.

Press Generate and you have web help -- See example

FAR HH Project Editor

Advanced .HHP project editor. Take full control over your help project.

Help Utilities

For .Chm and .HxS help files. View help file contents; Decompile help files; Test help API calls; Insert HH ActiveX code snippets; Check help file links.

Help Explorer

Explore the insides of your .Chm and .HxS help files.

MS Help 2 Project Editor

Maintain your VS 2002\2003\2005\2008 compatible help. Creates .HxS help, TOC, Index files. Test your help. Wizards for creating support files.

MS Help 2 Utilities

Manage the regististration of MS Help 2 help files. Decompile ,HxS help files. Plus more.

Help 2 Viewer

VS 2002\2003\2205\2008 DExplore alternative Viewer. H2Viewer is also available as a free standalone viewer.

VS 2010 Help Integrations

Migrate HH and H2 help to .mshc help for integration into VS 2010 help. This is not application help.

HTML Tag Editor

Add, remove & modify HTML tags across hundreds of files at a time. First drop your help project onto the FAR (main window) file list.

Batch Decompile

Decompile many .Chm & .HxS help files in one pass. All ITS help files in the FAR file list will be decompiled to the selected folder.

Batch Compile

Compile all your help projects in one pass. All output is sent to a single log file.

File File Report

Create advanced reports on all files dropped on that FAR file list. This is a fast way for writing batch files that work on 1000's of files.

FAR Find and Replace

Powerful Find and Replace command. Safely update 1000's of files in a single sweep.

FAR Copy

Copy all files in the file list to another location while maintaining folder structure. Handy since you can filter out files first.

FAR Zip

Create and View Industry standard .ZIP and .Cab files. Now Unicode friendly.

Other File Commands

The Commands menu contains a lot of handy file commands that work on the files in the file list.

• Set file create and modify time stamps.
• Set file encoding - UTF-8, Unicode (UTF-16), ANSI.
• Set file attributes.
• Batch rename files.
• Line breaks - Count line breaks. Convert between CRLF <-> CR <-> LF line breaks.
• Convert all HTML files to XHTML.
• etc

Batch Mode

FAR can also run many of the above commands in batch mode (from the command line).

Try FAR Today

FAR has been developed over many years and is now a mature reliable collection of authoring and file utilities.

Try FAR today. The download is a full working version that will freely run for 30 days so you can explore the many commands. Purchase a licence to a allow the trial to run beyond 30 days.