It's now working and here is the code fragment:
Qt Code:
  1. def actionHelpTriggered(self):
  2. with open('helpfile.html', 'r') as datafile:
  3. result = datafile.read()
  4. self.helptext = QtGui.QTextEdit()
  5. self.helptext.setHtml(result)
  6. self.helptext.setReadOnly(-1)
  7. self.helptext.resize(800, 500)
  8. self.helptext.show()
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It hasn't got an [OK] button and it would be better if it had to be closed before the main window is, but it is just about adequate.