Cannot execute Microsoft HTML Help file from within Eclipse managed app.

Question

I took an easy solution and created a help system for a large Java application using the Microsoft HTML Help Workshop as the IDE. The Help System does exactly what the client wants, but when I tried to integrate it into the application I ran into a brick wall.
I wrote a very small Java app to see if I could execute the compiled help file (RAS_Help.chm) under the simplest circumstances. The code, which runs fine under VJ++ throws the following exception when run from Eclipse
e: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess: RAS_Help.chm error=193
* Created on Mar 20, 2004
* To change the template for this generated file go to
* Window>Preferences>Java>Code Generation>Code and Comments
package pkgTesting;
import java.io.*;
* @author Owner
* To change the template for this generated type comment go to
* Window>Preferences>Java>Code Generation>Code and Comments
public class ExeTest {     
     public static void showHelp() {
          Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
          String prog = "C:\\SCA\\RAS_Help.chm";
          try {
               rt.exec(prog);
          } catch (IOException e) {
               System.err.println("e: " + e);
     public static void main(String args[]) {
          showHelp();
I assume the problem is in launching .chm files, since if I change the program I want to execute from the RAS_Help.chm file to the Windows Solitare game (sol.exe) the program works like a charm with no errors thrown.
Can anyone give me some guidence on this? If it is impossible to run the HTML Help file I created, I'd be ammenable to redoing it in some other package, if that would guarentee my being able to use it in the client's large application.

Answer 1

Try this;-*/class OpenBrowser{
   final String WIN_ID = "Win";
* @throws java.lang.Exception
   OpenBrowser(java.io.File file){
      if(isWindowsPlatform() ){
         try{
            Runtime.getRuntime().exec(tryCommand1()+file);
         }catch(Exception exc1) {
           try{
               Runtime.getRuntime().exec(tryCommand2()+file);
            }catch(Exception exc2) {
               try{
                  Runtime.getRuntime().exec(tryCommand3()+file);
               }catch(Exception exc3) {
                  if(MainEditor.getOpenBrowserHelper() ) new OpenBrowserHelper(file);
      else {
         try{
            Runtime.getRuntime().exec(tryCommand3()+file);
         }catch(Exception exc4) { if(MainEditor.getOpenBrowserHelper() ) new OpenBrowserHelper(file); }
* @return true if this is a Windows OS
   private boolean isWindowsPlatform(){
      String os = System.getProperty("os.name");
      if ( os != null && os.startsWith(WIN_ID))
         return true;
         return false;
* @return String path /protocal to open the Internet Explorer browser
   private String tryCommand1(){
      return "C:\\Program Files\\Internet Explorer\\Iexplore.exe file://";
* @return  String path /protocal to open the default browser
   private String tryCommand2(){
      return "start rundll32 url.dll,FileProtocolHandler file://";
* @return  String path /protocal to open the default browser
   private String tryCommand3(){
      return "file://";
}