How to open a specific topic in a help system?

For a Web Help system:

If you need to integrate a Web Help system, you can find the list of supported URL parameters at the link below.

The easiest way is to link to the .HTML file of a specific topic directly:

https://www.helpsmith.com/webhelp/topics/context-sensitive-help-web-help.htm

Remark:

Please note that for a Web Help system to work properly, it should be located and accessed from a web server via the "http://" protocol, but not via the "file://" protocol.

Otherwise, the Context-sensitive Help and other functions may not work properly due to security restrictions applied by modern web browsers.

For HTML Help (CHM):

If you need to integrate a .CHM help file with your desktop application, it depends on your development IDE that can provide built-in methods to operate with a .CHM help file.

Alternatively, you can use HTML Help API directly: you can search for the HTMLHelp() function in Microsoft documentation.

Also, for HTML Help (CHM), you can find code examples for different IDEs on our website at:

https://www.helpsmith.com/articles.php