The Custom Help development methodology for Microsoft® Office Editions 2003 has not changed significantly from that of Microsoft Office XP. This article highlights a few changes developers should be aware of, along with a specific tip about how to avoid a problem with the Answer Wizard Builder.

 Important    The print version of the Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit incorrectly lists the Answer Wizard Builder as a component of the Office Resource Kit toolset. Because there were no changes made to the tool for Office 2003 Editions, it was not included in the current release of the toolkit.

For specific information on developing custom help solutions in Microsoft Office, see the Creating Custom Help Topics, Making Custom Help Content Accessible, or Customizing Error Messages in the Office XP Resource Kit Web site. These topics show how to create custom Help by using the HTML Help compiler and the Answer Wizard Builder.

Before creating a custom help solution, administrators should consider the sections below.

Registry change

All registry and policy references to the edition value of “10.0” needs to increment to “11.0” wherever it is found. For example, the following registry entry in the Office XP reference should be changed (the ApplicationName reference is replaced with the product name reference, such as Access, Excel, FrontPage, InfoPath, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio, or Word):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\ApplicationName

\Answer Wizard

The parallel registry entry for Office 2003 Editions is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\ApplicationName

\Answer Wizard

Extended Error Messages (with additional help) feature

Extended Error Messages are a new feature to Office 2003 Editions and are updated automatically when new ones are available from Microsoft, if users are participating in the Customer Experience Improvement Program. While you can continue to use custom extended error messages, you should not create a new one where Microsoft has already provided one.

Answer Wizard Builder tip

Administrators should be aware of a complication with the Answer Wizard Builder when a CHM file created by HTML Help is built in the same folder as the source files, or in a parallel folder or subfolder of the source files. The CHM file must be built in a folder one or more levels above the HTML source files, and the CHM file should not be built in the root folder of the hard disk drive the project is stored in. That is, when creating an HTML Help project, store the source files for the resulting CHM file one folder or more below the folder where the resulting CHM file is built. For instance, if the build folder for your HTML Help project is C:\MyHelpProject, the source files should be in one folder below that folder; for example, in C:\MyHelpProject\SourceFiles. If this build structure is not enforced, the resulting Answer Wizard file will not find the related Help topics in the compiled CHM file.