Help creating custom help files to include in a patch
I would like to includes help buttons in my patch, whereby a user could click on it and read a text document containing some instructions. Is there a way to do this?
At present, I am using [open] [text 'and then the file name.txt] but the text file opens in the Max text window with the numbered lines – I just want a plain text document.
One way is to have a subpatch with the help text in it (in one or more comment objects for example) . Check [thispatcher] especially the ‘front’ and ‘window’ messages.
If you want the user’s default text program to open your text file, use the message to max:
;max launchbrowser name.txt
The "browser" part is a little misleading—it can open a browser if you send it an URL, but if you specify a filetype, it should open with the default application specified in the OS preferences.