Test a help topic without recompiling

December 11th, 2008

If you have a large HTML Help system, it can take a few minutes to compile.

Say you make a change to a topic and you just want to check quickly that it'll work correctly within the compiled help. For example, the topic might reference a JavaScript file that only works in the context of the Help Viewer, so if you just open the topic in a browser the page doesn't look and/or behave like it does within the help system. So you need to check it in the help system, but you don't want to recompile the help system.

The solution is simple. Just open the existing .chm file, right-click the title bar and choose Jump to URL.
jump-to-url

In the Jump to URL dialog box, enter the path to the file you want to test:
jump-to-url-dialog 

Click OK.

The topic is displayed in the Help Viewer just as if you compiled it in there.

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