Control help

  • Thread starter Thread starter DebbieG
  • Start date Start date
D

DebbieG

I am creating a form and want a way to give the user more information than
will fit in the Status Bar. I would like to have the user be able to
right-click on a control to get more information on what is needed in that
field. Do any of you have an easy way to get this? Would a msgbox work for
this?

Just wanting to pick your brains!

Thanks,
Debbie
 
I am not so sure that the status bar would be so great, at least if I
was your user. I almost don't notice the status bar, especially that
most of the time it says "calculating...".
I use control tips for quick reminders, and for more details on the use
of controls I use context sensitive help (with the little "?" button on
the form's window bar).
Pavel
 
How do I create my own help text for my controls?


I am not so sure that the status bar would be so great, at least if I
was your user. I almost don't notice the status bar, especially that
most of the time it says "calculating...".
I use control tips for quick reminders, and for more details on the use
of controls I use context sensitive help (with the little "?" button on
the form's window bar).
Pavel
 
I created my first ones directly in HTML, then converted them to Windows
help files using HTML Help Workshop, a free download from MS. But there
are much better authoring tools available, for example Help&Manual. You
can use FAR (a shareware), which is quite capable, too, once you have
the text written up.

Pavel
 
OK, I've spent all afternoon on this and I need help!

I downloaded the HTML Help Workshop. The way it looks, you have to create a
HTML file for every help topic you want. But then I found that you should
be able to use SPLIT FILE so that you can put multiple topics in one HTML
file. But I cannot get it to work!!!!! What am I missing?

I will have many topics and didn't want to have so many HTML files.

Has anyone else used it in this way?

Debbie


I am creating a form and want a way to give the user more information than
will fit in the Status Bar. I would like to have the user be able to
right-click on a control to get more information on what is needed in that
field. Do any of you have an easy way to get this? Would a msgbox work for
this?

Just wanting to pick your brains!

Thanks,
Debbie
 
Debbie,
I downloaded the HTML Help Workshop. The way it looks, you have
to create a HTML file for every help topic you want. But then I
found that you should be able to use SPLIT FILE so that you can
put multiple topics in one HTML file. But I cannot get it to
work!!!!! What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Here's a small example that may help. The following are the contents
of the HTML file:

<html>

<head>
<title>Topic 1</title>
</head>

<body>

<p>Contents of the first topic.</p>

<object classid="clsid:1e2a7bd0-dab9-11d0-b93a-00c04fc99f9e">
<param name="New HTML file" value="topic2.htm">
<param name="New HTML title" value="Topic 2">
</object>

<p>Contents of the second topic.</p>

</body>
</html>

This is the project (.hhp) file:

[OPTIONS]
Compatibility=1.1 or later
Compiled file=filename.chm
Contents file=filename.hhc
Default Window=$global_main
Default topic=topics.htm
Title=Title Bar Text

[WINDOWS]
$global_main=,"filename.hhc",,"topics.htm","topics.htm",,,,,0x23520,222,0x1046,[10,10,780,560],0xb0000,,,,,,0

[FILES]
topics.htm

And this is the contents (.hhc) file:

<HTML>
<BODY>
<UL>
<LI> <OBJECT type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic 1">
<param name="Local" value="topics.htm">
</OBJECT>
<LI> <OBJECT type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic 2">
<param name="Local" value="topic2.htm">
</OBJECT>
</UL>
</BODY>
</HTML>

By the way, the free HTML Tidy utility provides a simple means to
split a large HTML file into multiple smaller ones. (It breaks the
file whenever it encounters an <H2> element.)

http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/
 
Pete,

Thank you for a detailed answer. However, it still doesn't work. I
assigned the Help Context ID to a control. But when I press F1, I get this
error message:

HH_HELP_CONTEXT called without a [MAP] section.

Also, my contents (.hhc) file does not look like yours.

I feel so stupid that I can't get this to work. I'm about ready to give up
and just give the user written help.

Thanks,
Debbie


Debbie,
I downloaded the HTML Help Workshop. The way it looks, you have
to create a HTML file for every help topic you want. But then I
found that you should be able to use SPLIT FILE so that you can
put multiple topics in one HTML file. But I cannot get it to
work!!!!! What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Here's a small example that may help. The following are the contents
of the HTML file:

<html>

<head>
<title>Topic 1</title>
</head>

<body>

<p>Contents of the first topic.</p>

<object classid="clsid:1e2a7bd0-dab9-11d0-b93a-00c04fc99f9e">
<param name="New HTML file" value="topic2.htm">
<param name="New HTML title" value="Topic 2">
</object>

<p>Contents of the second topic.</p>

</body>
</html>

This is the project (.hhp) file:

[OPTIONS]
Compatibility=1.1 or later
Compiled file=filename.chm
Contents file=filename.hhc
Default Window=$global_main
Default topic=topics.htm
Title=Title Bar Text

[WINDOWS]
$global_main=,"filename.hhc",,"topics.htm","topics.htm",,,,,0x23520,222,0x10
46,[10,10,780,560],0xb0000,,,,,,0

[FILES]
topics.htm

And this is the contents (.hhc) file:

<HTML>
<BODY>
<UL>
<LI> <OBJECT type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic 1">
<param name="Local" value="topics.htm">
</OBJECT>
<LI> <OBJECT type="text/sitemap">
<param name="Name" value="Topic 2">
<param name="Local" value="topic2.htm">
</OBJECT>
</UL>
</BODY>
</HTML>

By the way, the free HTML Tidy utility provides a simple means to
split a large HTML file into multiple smaller ones. (It breaks the
file whenever it encounters an <H2> element.)

http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/
 
Debbie,
Thank you for a detailed answer. However, it still doesn't work. I
assigned the Help Context ID to a control. But when I press F1, I get this
error message:

HH_HELP_CONTEXT called without a [MAP] section.
Click to expand...

Have you set up [MAP] and [ALIAS] sections in your project file? These
are required in order to map the individual topics in the .chm file to
the help context integers in your application. For information on how
to set up these sections, see:

http://www.mvps.org/htmlhelpcenter/htmlhelp/hhtutorials.html#mapping
http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/how_to_context.htm
Also, my contents (.hhc) file does not look like yours.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind sending me all the source files for your help
project, I'd be happy to take a closer look.
 
It's a great day! I finally figured it out!!!!!

In order to use the SPLIT FILE, you have your cursor after the </BODY> tag,
and you have to add <BODY> and </BODY> after the <OBJECT> tag. It's working
like a charm!

So for those of you wanting to use this, the order of the tags would be:

<DOCTYPE ...>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>
</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
</BODY>

<OBJECT TYPE= ...>
<param name="New HTML file" value=...>
<param name="New HTML title" value=...>
</OBJECT>
<BODY>
</BODY>

</HTML>

Thanks so much for all who answered my call for help.
Debbie


Debbie,
Thank you for a detailed answer. However, it still doesn't work. I
assigned the Help Context ID to a control. But when I press F1, I get this
error message:

HH_HELP_CONTEXT called without a [MAP] section.
Click to expand...

Have you set up [MAP] and [ALIAS] sections in your project file? These
are required in order to map the individual topics in the .chm file to
the help context integers in your application. For information on how
to set up these sections, see:

http://www.mvps.org/htmlhelpcenter/htmlhelp/hhtutorials.html#mapping
http://helpware.net/htmlhelp/how_to_context.htm
Also, my contents (.hhc) file does not look like yours.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind sending me all the source files for your help
project, I'd be happy to take a closer look.
 
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