Declaring Character Set, Fonts, and Colors

When you create a topic file, you must ensure that the entire contents of the file are enclosed in braces ({  }). The first statement in the file must be the \rtf statement; it immediately follows the first opening brace. You should follow the \rtf statement with an \ansi statement (or a similar statement) that specifies the character set used in the file. The following example shows the general form for a topic file:

{ \rtf1\ansi
    .
    .
    .
}
 

You must declare the names of the fonts you use in the file by using a \fonttbl statement. The \fonttbl statement, enclosed in braces, contains a list of font and family names and specifies a unique number for each font. You use these numbers with \f statements later in the file to set specific fonts. The following \fonttbl statement assigns font numbers 0, 1, and 2 to the TrueType  fonts Times New Roman, Courier New, and Arial, respectively:

{ \fonttbl
\f0\froman Times New Roman;
\f1\fdecor Courier New;
\f2\fswiss Arial;}
 

You should also use the \deff statement to set the default font for the file. Windows Help uses this default font if no other font is specified. The following example sets the default font number to zero, corresponding to the Times New Roman font specified in the previous \fonttbl statement:

\deff0

If you use specific text colors or choose not to rely on the default text colors set by Windows, you must define your colors by using a \colortbl statement. The \colortbl statement, enclosed in braces, defines each color by specifying the amount of each primary color (red, green, and blue) used in it. The statement implicitly numbers the colors consecutively starting from zero. You use these color numbers with \cf statements later in the file to set the color. The following example creates four colors (black, red, green, and blue):

{ \colortbl
\red0\green0\blue0;
\red255\green0\blue0;
\red0\green128\blue0;
\red0\green0\blue255;}
 

Although it is not shown here, you can put a semicolon immediately after the \colortbl statement to define the default color as 0.