Visual C++ 6 Unleashed

Visual C++ 6 Unleashed

By MICKEY WILLIAMS and David Bennett

Help Options in AppWizard

When creating applications with AppWizard, you might have already noticed that the AppWizard gives you the option to automatically add context-sensitive help to your applications. This option is available for any application that you create with the MFC AppWizard, whether it is a dialog-based single document or a multiple document application. If you choose to add context-sensitive help, the AppWizard will set up the basic framework that you will need to add effective help to your application, including some basic help information on the standard menu items.

For a document-based application, selecting the context-sensitive help option will create a Help Topics menu item to the Help menu, which would otherwise only contain the About menu choice. The Help Topics command is set up for you to open the Contents page of your help file. Strictly speaking, this isn't context-sensitive help, but if you don't select the context-sensitive help option in AppWizard, only the About box will be created for you.

For real context-sensitive help, your new application will include support for the Shift+F1 keystroke, which will put the application in Help mode. The user can then click any particular control to see help text for the particular button, edit box, and so on. In addition, the default toolbar will contain a Context Help button, which has the same effect as pressing Shift+F1. You will see just how the code generated by the AppWizard implements these features later on in this chapter.

If you have chosen the context-sensitive help option for a dialog-based application, a Help button will be added to your application that will open the index for your help file. However, true context-sensitive help isn't implemented for you, so Shift+F1 won't be functional in your project.

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