[RESOLVED] using WhatThisButton

[Harsh Gupta]

hi all,

how can i use the WhatThisbutton property of the form? i changed the from to fixed dialog and set this property to TRUE, but how can i show the yellow box when i use this button during runtime?

thnx

[HanneSThEGreaT]

1) Create a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default. 
2) Set the WhatsThisHelp and WhatsThisButton properties for 
   Form1 to True. 
3)Add the following code to reference the Hotspot Editor 
  help file to the Form_Load procedure:
 
      Private Sub Form_Load()
      '  your machine
      '  Change this path to where ever Msdev.hlp is located on
         App.HelpFile = "C:\Program
         Files\DevStudio\Common\MSDev98\Help\Msdev.hlp"
 
4) Add two menu items to Form1 using the following as a guide:
 
      Menu                   Property            Value
      ----------------------------------------------------
      WhatsThis              Caption            WhatsThis
      WhatsThis              Name               mnuWhatsThis
      WhatsThis              Visible            False
 
      What's This?           Caption            What's This?
      What's This?           Name               mnuWhatsThisHelp
 
5) Indent "What's This?" to make it a sub-menu of WhatsThis 
   by pressing the right-arrow button on the Menu Editor. 
6) Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1:
 
   Public ThisControl as control
7) Add the following code to the mnuWhatsThisHelp_Click procedure:
 
   Private Sub mnuWhatsThisHelp_Click()
      ThisControl.ShowWhatsThis
   End Sub
 
8) Add a Command Button control to the form and set the following Properties: 
 
   WhatsThisHelpID = 1
   HelpContextID = 5 
 
9) Add following code to the Command1_MouseUp event:
 
   Private Sub Command1_MouseUp(Button As Integer, _
   Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
       If Button = vbRightButton Then
           Set ThisControl = Command1
           PopupMenu mnuWhatsThis
       End If
       Set ThisControl = Nothing
   End Sub
 10)Run the application. Right-click on the Command button and then 
left- click on the "What's This?" popup to bring up the Help file

[Harsh Gupta]

thnx HanneS,

but there is no MsDev.hlp file on my system. i checked it.

[HanneSThEGreaT]

thnx HanneS,

but there is no MsDev.hlp file on my system. i checked it.

Hi, the MsDev.hlp was just an example file - you must use your own helpfile there.

[Harsh Gupta]

Hi, the MsDev.hlp was just an example file - you must use your own helpfile there.

thank you very much HanneS. could you please explain the values of

WhatsThisHelpID = 1
HelpContextID = 5.

i mean how to determine these values?

[GrimmReaper]

WhatsThisHelpID
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ThisHelpID.asp

HelpContextID
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...pContextID.asp

Also have a look here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...pplication.asp

[Joacim Andersson]

The help ID's and context ID's are something you set to each topic when you design the help file. The box that comes up is a page from the help file.

[Harsh Gupta]

thnx Joacim and GrimmReaper.

just one more question. can .chm file can be used instead of .hlp?

if no then how can i make .hlp file?

[Joacim Andersson]

Yes you can use a CHM file.

[HanneSThEGreaT]

Well, the easiest way would be to use the HTML Help Editor

You could also look at the Help Compiler Workshop, there should be a tool called HCW in your VB 98 directory (somewhere) or on the VB6 cd

[Harsh Gupta]

all right. thank all of you.