Working with Genesis help files

All help files are stored in text files. The text files include the title, keywords, description, and body, but they don't have any formatting information. The mk_help.pl utility creates the HTML help files based on these text source files, using the template.txt file to format them.

To manage the help files yourself, download www.xav.com/scripts/genesis/help/help.zip. This includes the mk_help.pl utility; all the source .txt help files; the template.txt template; and all supporting images. You can edit the .txt source files as needed, and then run the Perl script to create the resulting HTML files.

By default, each Genesis script will point users to the master help files at xav.com. To point your script to another location - such as to your own local copy - simply go to Admin Page => Manage System Settings => Help Files URL and select the location. Genesis points to many specific help files by name, so make sure that your new location has a complete copy of all files.

The Genesis help files are covered by the same copyright and terms & conditions as Genesis itself.

Creating a New Help Topic

Follow these instructions to create a new help file for your own use.

1. Create a file named "xxxx.txt" where "xxxx" is a 4-digit number. The format of the file is:

   Title: your new title here
   Keywords: your keywords here
   Description: your meta description
   Text:
   
   HTML text of the help article here

2. From the main page or from other help articles, you can link to this new help topic by placing the following in the text source files:

   where "xxxx" is the 4-digit number defined earlier. The mk_help.pl utility will replace the tag %xxxx% with a hyperlink to the new help file.

   See also: %xxxx%

3. Run the utility mk_help.pl. This will create a file named xxxx.html using the data file xxxx.txt and the template file template.txt. It will also update all of the links to the new help file.

4. Change the "Help Files URL" system setting to point to your local copy. Then, from the Genesis source code, you can link to your new help file using:

   See also: <a href="$system_eff{'Help Files URL'}xxxx.html">Help</a>

History: in Genesis version 2.1.0.0029 and earlier, editing the help files URL was done by changing $const{'help_file'} within the Perl code. In build 0030, that variable became a web-based setting.