Microsoft KB Archive/142249

= How To Implement "What's This?" Help in Visual Basic =

Article ID: 142249

Article Last Modified on 7/1/2004

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Learning Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 32-Bit Enterprise Edition

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This article was previously published under Q142249



SUMMARY
Starting with Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51, it is possible to right- click on items and get the "What's This?" window to appear. To set this up in Visual Basic, you need to use a pop-up menu.



MORE INFORMATION
This sample uses the help file "Msdev.hlp." You will probably want to create your own help file. This sample also uses a full path listing to where the help file is located. As you cannot know where the user will install the program, you might want to use some dynamic means for determining the path, such as using App.Path.

Step-by-Step Example
 Create a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default. Set the WhatsThisHelp and WhatsThisButton properties for Form1 to True.  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"

  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

 Indent "What's This?" to make it a sub-menu of WhatsThis by pressing the right-arrow button on the Menu Editor.  Add the following code to the General Declarations section of Form1: Public ThisControl as control

</li>  Add the following code to the mnuWhatsThisHelp_Click procedure: Private Sub mnuWhatsThisHelp_Click ThisControl.ShowWhatsThis End Sub

</li> Add a Command Button control to the form and set the following Properties:

WhatsThisHelpID = 1

HelpContextID = 5</li>  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

</li> 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.</li></ol>

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