HelpProvider and HTML Help interaction

[Manfred Z.]

I have an application with a .chm help-file.
But I have some questions about the behaviour of the help-window.

I use a modal application window and I can start the help.
The help windows appears but it is allways in foreground of my application
window.
I can set the input focus on my window, the help window becomes inactive but
I cannot move my window over the help window.
So I have to close the help window or minimize it or move it aside of my
application window when I want to go on in my application.

The other problem is when I minimize the help window and then open a dialog
window in my application and call the help again , the help windows resize
and become visible again.
But when I try to set the focus on the help window, it becomes invisible
again.

Is this a configuration problem of the help window settings in the html help
workshop?
Is there any documentation aviable about the interaction between my
application (vb-basic net) and the html help window.
I mean not how to navigate to help topics or so, my problem is to control
the behavior of the help window.

Or must I manually control the help window using its process and window
handle.

Thanks

Manfred

 

[Dennis]

Manfred:

I had the same problem and solved it by creating (but not showing) a new
Form in my application's Load method.

Private Shared m_helpForm As Form
...
m_helpForm = New Form()
m_helpForm.CreateControl()

And I added a method to my application's main form.

Public Shared Sub RequestHelp(ByVal p_topic As String)
Help.ShowHelp(m_helpForm, "myhelp.chm", HelpNavigator.Topic, p_topic)
End Sub

Then, whenever I need to pop up a help window I just call this method.

Making this invisible form the parent of the help window solves the
problem for me.

If there is a better solution for this behavior I would invite someone
to post it.

 

[Dennis]

Just to add...

You also may need to add handlers for Me.HelpButtonClicked and
MyBase.HelpRequested.