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PRB: Installing Compaq Visual Fortran Changes the Visual Studio Help

Article ID: 288927 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q288927

SYMPTOMS

Installing Compaq Visual Fortran changes the default Help file of Visual Studio.

After installing Compaq Visual Fortran, using the Help menu in Visual Basic/Visual C++ or pressing F1 will bring up Help for Visual Fortran.

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CAUSE

This happens because they both use the same registry keys to determine the current help file.

All the available HTML help collections are stored under the registry key:

HKLM
  software
    Microsoft
      HTML Help Collections
        Developer Collections
          0x0409

Visual Studio uses:

HKCU
  software
    Microsoft
      HTML Help Collections
        Developer Collections
          0x0409
            Preferred

Visual Fortran uses the same keys as Visual Studio, which causes this problem.

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RESOLUTION

Because these products share common Help resources, it is necessary to choose one or the other Help system as the preferred collection prior to using the product's Help. To toggle between the two from within Visual Fortran, from the Tools menu, select Options, and then choose Help System to select the proper HTML help file. Microsoft Visual InterDev, Microsoft Visual J++, Microsoft Visual C++, and Microsoft Visual FoxPro also offer the ability to change the preferred collection from within the integrated development environment (IDE). Microsoft Visual Basic does not.

For Visual InterDev, Visual J++, and Visual C++, go to the Tools menu, choose Options, and on the Help System tab, select Preferred Collection. For Visual FoxPro, from the Tools menu, choose Options, and click the File Location tab. Double-click Help File. After making the correct selection, such as D:\Program files\Microsoft Visual Studio\msdn\2001Jan\1033\msdn100.col, click Set as Default.

As an alternative to selecting the preferred collection from within the IDE, a batch file or script could be developed from the registry key information provided earlier, but this is beyond the scope of this article. The preferred and safer method is to use the IDE selections.

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