Chapter 7 - Implementing Online User Assistance in a Distributed Application

(Contents)

The basic idea behind this chapter is to display the Help information to the user.

Assuming that a standard HTML Help or WinHelp file already exists for your application, VB makes it easy for you to link up the Help file's topics (which have unique internal identifying numbers that you must know) to various types of context-sensitive help in VB. You can set special VB properties to change the Help file and to cause Help to appear in various ways when the user presses the F1 key or performs other actions.

This chapter also briefly discusses how to create an HTML Help file that you can use in your VB applications. HTML Help is Microsoft's new standard for Help file formats.

The third subobjective listed, "Implement messages from a server component to a user interface," is more appropriate for a discussion of COM components. We therefore discuss that subobjective in Chapter 12, "Creating a COM Component that Implements Business Rules or Logic" in the section, "Sending Messages to the User from a COM Component."

Contents

1. Two Types of Help Files
          HTML Help Files
          WinHelp Files

2. Referencing Help Through the HelpFile Property of an Application
          Setting Help Files at Design Time
          Setting Help Files at Runtime

3. Context-Sensitive Help for Forms and Controls
          Context-Sensitive Help With the HelpContextID Property
          Adding ToolTips to an Application
          Providing WhatsThisHelp in an Application
                 WhatsThisHelp Property
                 WhatsThisMode Method
                 WhatsThisHelpID Property
                 WhatsThisButton Property
                 ShowWhatsThis Method

4. Creating HTML Help
          HTML Help Source File Structures
          Creating and Compiling an HTML Help File Project With HTML Help Workshop
                 The HTML Project Header File
                 HTML Help Source Files for Extensive Help (HelpContextID)
                 Topic Files and the [FILES] Section
                 Mapping Files, Topic IDs, and the [ALIAS] and [MAP] Sections
                 The Index File
                 The Contents File
                 HTML Help Source Files for WhatsThisHelp