How can I store a .CHM Help File as text with Python?

Question

I am using Pastebin to store the code of my python program to keep it updated on several computers. I am now trying to similarly maintain an updated help window. I saw that I could use .chm files to keep a full help dialog in a single file, but the files do not translate to text well.

I used a sample .chm file from Microsoft, I opened the file ("Viewhlp.chm") with notepad and copied the text to Pastebin, and then used the script below to attempt to recreate the .chm file. This does not work. It gives a "cannot open the file" message when opening directly and is simply ignored with PyWin32. Is there another single file format for help dialogs that I can load with python?

import urllib2, sys

helpUrl = "http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=a8rF2i8a"
originalPath = "Viewhlp.chm"
newPath = "NewHlp.chm"

try:
    helpData = urllib2.urlopen(helpUrl)
except urllib2.URLError:
    sys.exit()

currentHelp = helpData.read()
with open(newPath, mode="wb") as helpFile:
    helpFile.write(currentHelp)

# briefly display using PyWin32 or just open the chm files directly
import win32help
win32help.HtmlHelp(0, None, win32help.HH_INITIALIZE, None)
link = win32help.HH_AKLINK()
link.indexOnFail = 1
link.url = ""
link.msgText = ""
link.msgTitle = ""
link.window = ""
win32help.HtmlHelp(0, originalPath, win32help.HH_KEYWORD_LOOKUP, link)
win32help.HtmlHelp(0, newPath, win32help.HH_KEYWORD_LOOKUP, link)

Answer 1

Notepad won't display the non-printing characters properly. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to base64 encode the .chm, then open the encoded version in notepad before you copy it to pastebin. Then unencode it when you read it:

currentHelp = base64.b64decode(helpData.read())

Answer 2

One way I convert things/documents like this is by installing a "Generic / Text Only" printer on my Windows system, and then selecting it and picking the "print to file" option in the printing dialog that appears when I try to print something from the associated application.

This results in a plain text file with what would have been printed in it. There's probably some way to automate it, although I've never tried.