Generating the help system

When you are ready to include your help content in your application, you can generate the complete help bundle. You can also export your help as html to include on the web, or print your help content .

To generate the help bundle:

Choose the File > Generate help menu item (or press ^ G)
If prompted, enter the document properties (this is only required the first time you generate help).
Select the location and name of the folder that will contain the help
Press Save to save generate the help

Tip: the first time you save your document, Help Crafter remembers the location so you don’t have to choose it again. If you want to choose another location, choose File > Generate help to… ( ⇧^ G) and you will be able to choose the location.

To add the help file to your app:

To add your help file to your app, you should follow the instructions in the Apple Help Programming Guide, available on the Apple developer site. For current versions of Xcode, the following steps will work.

Drag the help bundle into your application’s Resources folder in Xcode.
Make sure the “Create folder references” radio button is checked
Press Finish
Edit the info.plist for your app:
Add the “Help Book directory name” key, and set it to file name for the bundle (e.g. MyApp.help)
Add the “Help Book identifier” key, and set it to the bundle Id you set in the project’s Help book settings.

To generate as Html:

Choose the File > Export as html… menu item (or press ⇧⌘ H)
Choose a folder to store your Html content in.
Press OK

You will see a confirmation alert giving you the name of the folder the content was stored to. You can click on the alert before it disappears to open the folder in Finder.

Tip: If you have multiple localizations, there will be a folder for each language in the output. The root of the output contains an index.html file that will open the content for your default language. If you have more than one language, you may wish to replace that file with one that can redirect to any supported language.

Still need help? Please email us with any questions .