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How does FlexHelp Work? FlexHelp allows you to "attach" buttons and information panels to 3rd party applications (for which you do not have the source code or knowledge of the program internals). FlexHelp requires two main components, an authoring tool
(FlexHelp Author) which can be used to create FlexHelp systems, and a run-time component
which is installed on end-users' computers and allows FlexHelp buttons and panels to be
displayed. Does FlexHelp Modify the user's
Applications/Windows itself/the Registry/etc? Will FlexHelp Work with any Windows Application? FlexHelp will work with almost all Windows applications. This includes major productivity applications like Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint, as well as applications from smaller venders and custom programs written in-house. FlexHelp can also be used with components of Windows itself--such as the Control Panel or Windows Explorer. FlexHelp will also work with older 16-bit (Windows 3.1) programs as long as they are running on a 32-bit Windows platform (Win NT/9x/2000/XP). How does FlexHelp differ from technologies
like Windows Help, HTML Help and JavaHelp? FlexHelp is not intended to be a replacement for these technologies, and in fact can be used in conjunction with them. WinHelp and HTML Help are primarily designed to be a vehicle for creating "production" help systems that ship with Windows applications. Implementing context-sensitive help systems with these technologies requires collaboration between the help author and the programmer, and it is generally necessary to modify the program source code and/or recompile the application to implement the help system. In contrast, FlexHelp requires no access to the source code or need to recompile. Context-sensitive help can be added to virtually any 3rd party Windows application without any knowledge of the program internals. While FlexHelp topics appear to be "attached" to applications, in fact they run as a completely separate program. Therefore, no modifications are made to the host application and there is no danger of corrupting program files. Can I maintain the FlexHelp files on a
network so that buttons and panels can be added/removed/updated without the need to change
the files on the end users' computers? For example, suppose that a major application like Microsoft Word is upgraded and users experience problems with a particular feature which has changed in the update. As soon as the first calls come into the help desk, the staff can develop a technical note to deal with the issue and then attach it to the specific Microsoft Word dialog box where the problem is occuring. The help desk staff can do this simply by updating a network directory--it is not necessary to change the files on end user's systems. The updated information will propagate over the network and all users will see the new information.
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