WHY does AHK Help Open Maximized?

[chrisw63]

Please end the insanity. I have a 2k screen, many people have 4k screens. There is No Reason for this, and even after clicking Restore it takes up the whole screen, then you have to resize it. It's Annoying!! Just about every other Windows program remembers the size it's set to, and opens that way next time. I realize this help thing looks retro because it IS, but that's a little TOO retro.

Please fix.

[safetycar]

I think this has been talked about before and it wasn't so easy, but I can't find the post.
Anyway, my experience with it has been that it does remember the position when restored. If you resize the last window of it's kind and then close it, the next time it will open with that size.
But if you try to maximize it it will never reopen maximized, it will open with the same size as maximized, but not actually maximized.

[lmstearn]

Time is running out for HTMLHelp!
To change the window position and size, modifying the hh.dat file (located in A_Appdata\Microsoft\HTML Help) is an option with RawRead or similar. Here's the structure for windowtype copied from chmspec:

0 DWORD Size of the file in bytes (44)
4 Signed DWORD Position of the left edge of the window.
8 Signed DWORD Position of the top edge of the window.
0xC Signed DWORD Position of the right edge of the window.
0x10 Signed DWORD Position of the bottom edge of the window.
0x14 DWORD Width of the navigation pane in pixels.
0x18 DWORD Non-zero if search highlight is on.
0x1C DWORD Unknown. Not font size, printing options or show state.
0x20 DWORD Non-zero if there is no text of the toolbar buttons.
0x24 DWORD Non-zero if the navigation pane is initially closed.
0x28 DWORD Which navigation tab is currently open.

By the looks of it, that's located at the beginning of the file, in which case no seek is necessary.

[Ragnar]

Time is running out for HTMLHelp!

I agree to no longer use CHM for help, at least for AutoHotkey v2. Unfortunately, MS doesn't offer a viable alternative, so I would suggest just including the raw help files in the installer/zip, as the help works offline as well. The nav bar and everything related to it is based on JavaScript and works without CHM. Basically, CHM serves only as a "browser" for the help for a while now.

And if you need it for IntelliSense programs or similar (i.e. to get the help page for a function, command etc.), you can use docs/search.htm?q=query&m=mode where query is the search term and mode can be 1 for index tab or 2 for search tab. &m=mode is optional and defaults to index tab.

[TAC109]

I, for one, hope that you can continue to produce .chm help files in the current format for as long as possible. I use a .chm-reading app on my tablet and it is most useful to be able to look up AutoHotkey syntax, etc in offline mode, when needed.

Cheers

[Ragnar]

But what makes this better than having the help uncompressed in a folder and opening an HTM/HTML file such as index.html with any browser?

[TAC109]

In answer to your question:

• When updating it is easier to copy just one file rather than the multitude of files and folders that comprise the raw help.
• As my tablet and phone don’t handle the as-issued AutoHotkey help correctly, I generate a standard help .chm using the instructions in the compile_chm .ahk file and use that on my devices. I presume this ability would be lost if the proposed change takes place, if not immediately then after a period of time.

Cheers

[lexikos]

WHY does AHK Help Open Maximized?

1. It doesn't.
2. "AHK Help" is essentially just a set of documents in a compressed file. The program you're using to view it is an OS component, made by Microsoft.
3. If you want to change where it opens, it is trivial to write a script which opens help and moves it. You can also customize the tray menu if you tend to access "Help" there, but I'd just use a hotkey.
4. If you don't like the CHM viewer, you can use online help or download the source (HTML) from GitHub (Code -> Download Zip; switch to v2 branch first if appropriate).

I had some doubts, so I tested it on my work computer, which has two screens of different sizes in a non-rectangular layout. What I found was:

• It does not open maximized if I didn't maximize it last time.
• It does not open maximized even if I did maximize it last time...
  It just fills both screens.

With only one screen, it behaves as safetycar described.

[A Keymaker]

Please end the insanity
[...]

For me that insanity has the opossite vector, as I need my Help to be maximized 99% of the time: viewtopic.php?f=76&t=113468

And I use a 3840 x 1600 38" display