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#229509 08/02/11 01:16 AM
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MrEen Offline OP
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Files with the .hlp extension are still listed in Help->Help Files, but clicking one only brings up a brief hourglass, then nothing.

//run $mircdirfilename.hlp still opens the file.

Tested with two computers both running XP and 7.17.

One computer still has an older mIRC (6.3 I believe) that will open the files via the help menu.

I even changed the name of one to make sure there wasn't a conflict with an existing alias, but still no luck.

MrEen

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Hoopy frood
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Help files is just going to list whatever files you have in your mircdir. mIRC switched to .chm quite a few versions ago and no longer uses the .hlp files. If you have them, you can delete them. This is probably partly why they aren't loading. That being said, I'd expect them to load if /run will load them.

Keep in mind that .hlp files are pretty much obsolete these days and most people are moving to .chm for help files. Support for .hlp files will continue to fade.


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MrEen Offline OP
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I understand support for .hlp is shrinking everywhere, but mIRC's current help file still refers to opening .hlp files via the Help menu as well as making an alias (filename minus the extension) for easy access.

I would think that when mIRC's support for this file type ends, the menu would no longer be propagated with this file type.

Anyway, even though I'll probably just go ahead and convert the few we still have (specific script help files,) I thought I would mention the behavior here as it seems rather bug-like.

Thanks for your response,
MrEen

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Hoopy frood
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I'm sure the menu is propagated with .hlp just to offer support for awhile before being removed entirely. But I do agree that if it doesn't open the .hlp files and you can with /run, then that's a bug. I know Windows 7 doesn't support opening .hlp files, but I'm guessing you're not on Windows 7 or /run wouldn't work either.


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MrEen Offline OP
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It seems closing mIRC and opening it up again fixed the issue. I should have tried that before reporting here.

Thanks again for your response,
MrEen

EDIT: I was wrongish. After re-opening mIRC, the .hlp files would open UNTIL I used the menu to open a .chm, then the .hlp's won't open any more! Anyhow, I'm done on this topic.

Thanks again,
MrEen

Last edited by MrEen; 08/02/11 10:19 PM.
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Hoopy frood
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Quote:
EDIT: I was wrongish. After re-opening mIRC, the .hlp files would open UNTIL I used the menu to open a .chm, then the .hlp's won't open any more! Anyhow, I'm done on this topic.

I reported that behavior years ago and indeed, the problem still exists :

1) You need one .hlp file in the same directory as mirc.exe
2) Run mirc, (consider the file name is "bug.hlp")
3) Both the help menu and the command "/winhelp bug.hlp" (including /winhelp's feature : /bug and /bug.hlp) works as expected : mirc ask windows to run that .hlp file correctly.
4) Type /help
5) Here you can't run a .hlp file anymore with the menu or with /winhelp until you reboot mirc.

I still really doubt that windows is the problem since I'm on win7 now, which can't run .hlp file by default (a program is needed), these steps clearly show a problem with mIRC.


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Hoopy frood
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A problem that mIRC probably shouldn't bother to fix, as .hlp files are deprecated and mIRC no longer releases help files in this format anyway.

A user on a clean install of 7.x should not have .hlp files-- the only way to get such files is through upgrades from older versions of mIRC without removing old files. And the only way those help files would run in the first place is on an archaic, barely supported, version of windows. IMO this bug will disappear on its own.

Seems like wasted effort to fix a minor bug that will eventually (very soon) no longer be possible to reproduce.


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MrEen Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: argv0
A problem that mIRC probably shouldn't bother to fix, as .hlp files are deprecated and mIRC no longer releases help files in this format anyway.

A user on a clean install of 7.x should not have .hlp files-- the only way to get such files is through upgrades from older versions of mIRC without removing old files. And the only way those help files would run in the first place is on an archaic, barely supported, version of windows. IMO this bug will disappear on its own.

Seems like wasted effort to fix a minor bug that will eventually (very soon) no longer be possible to reproduce.


While I certainly can agree it's not really worth the effort to "fix" this problem, you are wrong on a couple of your points.

Many scripts in the past included THEIR OWN help files in .hlp format. If the script still works as intended, chances are good there are still people using it. (i.e. We're not talking about mIRC's own help files here.)

Also, EVERY version of Windows can open .hlp files although newer versions don't have the viewer built into the OS. One download from the Microsoft Download Center (WinHlp32.exe) and Windows 7 users can open .hlp files.

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Quote:
A problem that mIRC probably shouldn't bother to fix, as .hlp files are deprecated and mIRC no longer releases help files in this format anyway.
It's really not a annoying problem, but it's still inconsistent
Quote:
A user on a clean install of 7.x should not have .hlp files-- the only way to get such files is through upgrades from older versions of mIRC without removing old files
Well, two users reported that problem and the fix is probably not hard..


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Hoopy frood
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Yeah, that menu lists any help files (.chm or .hlp) in the $mircdir regardless whose help file it is. If it lists them, it should run them (within the ability of the OS, of course). The text files also lists every text file in the folder, which is actually much more useful than the help file menu.

In any case, mIRC should either not list them or else fix it so they run if they are listed. If it works with /run, then it should be an extremely easy fix to make.


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Hoopy frood
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Thanks this issue has been fixed for the next version.


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