Accessing the AutoIT Help Documentation (vs 3.3.6.1)

[CE101]

I have some legacy applications running on a Win2000 machine. And I have been running AutoIT vs3.3.6.1 on that machine. Unfortunately I cannot upgrade to the current version of AutoIT on that computer as Win2k support was discontinued in version 3.3.10.0.

On my Win7 computer (which uses AutoIT vs3.3.12.0) I continue to make changes to my AutoIT programs that are used on Win2000 (however I have to be careful not to use features that are not backwards compatible to vs3.3.6.1).  

These AutoIT programs (written for the Win2k machine) reference many of the UDFs contained in the old "excel.au3" include-file. Many of these UDFs were removed from the new include-file. Others were renamed and changed in substantial ways. As such I still need access to the old Help documentation.

I find it very troublesome to go to the Win2k machine each time I need to access the old Help documentation. So I created a shortcut on my Win7 machine to the Help file on the Win2k machine
      \\ PC-Win2k\C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\AutoIt3Help.exe
 
When I open the file, I get the standard interface:
(1) Menubar:    Hide, Locate, Back, Forth, Print
(2) Tabs:          Contents, Index, Search, Favorites

The Contents tab contains all the sections and subsections, however they have no content. For example the first section is "AutoIT" and it contains
(1) Introduction
(2) License
(3) Installation Directory
(4) FAQs

However if I click any of these subsections nothing displays.

Incidentally I believe that the files comprising the old Help system are:
    AutoIt3Help.exe
    AutoIt.chm
    AutoIt3.chm
    UDFs3.chm

QUESTION:
How can I have access to the old Help documentation (vs 3.3.6.1) from my Win2000 machine.  

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[water]

Here you find all older versions of AutoIt.

[CE101]

Hi Water:  

Thank you very much for the links.  Very good!
Especially https://www.autoitscript.com/wiki/Excel_UDF regarding the differences between the old and new Excel UDFs.

However, I want the complete documentation for each old Excel UDF.
This includes the description, parameters, error codes and examples.

For example, the old UDF  --  _ExcelBookClose   
The documentation looks something like this:  

expandcollapse popup

#cs
_ExcelBookClose
===============
Closes the active workbook and removes the specified Excel object.


USAGE: 
    #Include <Excel.au3>
    _ExcelBookClose($oExcel [, $fSave = 1 [, $fAlerts = 0]])


PARAMETERS:
$oExcel Excel object opened by a preceding call to _ExcelBookOpen() or _ExcelBookNew() 
$fSave [optional] Flag for saving the file before closing (0=no save, 1=save) (default = 1) 
$fAlerts [optional] Flag for disabling/enabling Excel message alerts (0=disable, 1=enable) (default = 0) 


RETURN VALUE:
    Success: 1 
    Failure: 0 and set @error 
    @error: 1 - Specified object does not exist 
    2 - File exists, overwrite flag not set 

REMARKS:
    None

EXAMPLES:
#ce

; ***************************************************************
; Example 1 - Open a new Excel Window and Close it, with default parameters
; *****************************************************************
#include <Excel.au3>
$oExcel = _ExcelBookNew() ; Example 1 - Create a Microsoft Excel window
_ExcelBookClose($oExcel) ;By default, this method Saves the file under the "My Documents" folder

; ***************************************************************
; Example 2 - Open a new Excel Window and Close it, with default parameters
; *****************************************************************
#include <Excel.au3>
$oExcel = _ExcelBookNew() ; Example 1 - Create a Microsoft Excel window
_ExcelBookClose($oExcel, 0) ;This method will either: 1) Close the file, or 2) if a change has been made to the Excel 

Window, then Prompt the user

; ***************************************************************
; Example 3 - Open a new Excel Window and Close it, with default parameters
; *****************************************************************
#include <Excel.au3>
$oExcel = _ExcelBookNew() ; Example 1 - Create a Microsoft Excel window
_ExcelBookClose($oExcel, 1, 0) ;This method will save then Close the file, without any of the normal prompts, 

regardless of changes

How do I get to access to this from my Win7 computer??

Edited July 10, 2016 by CE101

[water]

Grab the CHM files from the installation. They contain everything.

[CE101]

> Grab the CHM files from the installation. They contain everything.  

I forgot to mention in my last post that I did copy the CHM files from the Win2k to the Win7 machine. When I open the copied-files on Win7, I get the standard interface:  
(1) Menubar     Hide, Locate, Back, Forth, Print  
(2) Tabs:          Contents, Index, Search, Favorites

The Contents tab contains all the relevant sections and subsections, however they have no content.

Any suggestion???

[water]

IIRC that's a permission problem because the file was downloaded from the web.
RIght click the file, open properties and click the "unblock" button.
http://www.howtogeek.com/70012/what-causes-the-file-downloaded-from-the-internet-warning-and-how-can-i-easily-remove-it/

[CE101]

Hi Water:

Thank you for your response. You write:

Quote

IIRC that's a permission problem because the file was downloaded from the web.
RIght click the file, open properties and click the "unblock" button.
http://www.howtogeek.com/70012/what-causes-the-file-downloaded-from-the-internet-warning-and-how-can-i-easily-remove-it/

The HowToGeek article you reference shows a screen shot of the FileProperties/GeneralTab, in which the security warning appears at the bottom (following Attributes). When I check the FileProperties/GeneralTab for the CHMs files (I took from my Win2k machine) there is no security warning.

So I guess that security is not the issue here.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[water]

How do you call the help file? Double click a CHM file or run AutoIt3Help.exe?

[CE101]

23 minutes ago, water said:

How do you call the help file? Double click a CHM file or run AutoIt3Help.exe?

Thank you for your quick response. You ask:
In answer to your question.... I copied AutoIt3Help.exe and the CHM files from the Win2k machine to a temp folder on the Win7 machine.

When I double-click the AutoIt3Help.exe, I see the regular interface:
(1) Menubar     Hide, Locate, Back, Forth, Print  
(2) Tabs:          Contents, Index, Search, Favorites

And the Contents tab contains all the relevant sections and subsections, however the subsections have no content.
 
For example the first section is "AutoIT" and it contains
(1) Introduction
(2) License
(3) Installation Directory
(4) FAQs
   
However if I click any of these subsections nothing displays.

Likewise when I  double-click the individual CHM files, the results are basically the same.
I see the regular interface (menubar and tabs). And the Contents tab contains all the relevant sections and subsections, however the subsections have no content.

 

[water]

Sorry, then I have run out of ideas
Maybe some more experienced users chime in and solve this mystery?

[PACaleala]

It seems that your case is covered here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/while-trying-to-open-chm-files-i-get-an/81e2a82a-d2f7-44f5-9f6a-9126c8fa91bd?auth=1

good luck

 

[CE101]

Hi  PACaleala:

Thank you for the Microsoft article.
A lot of people seem to have had this problem and a number of resolutions are suggested.
One person suggested putting the Help files on a local drive.
I did it and it worked!

Thanks for all your help!!!

[water]

Glad you were able to solve this mystery