Activating HTML Help from you application using code

See also Web based help

First, download First, download the appropriate demo zip file from http://www.helpgenerator.com/downloadcnethelp.htm (bottom of page) which contains modules to implement a variety of ways to start help using code.

After generating the help, if you put the .chm next to your application.exe, when running the .exe, on each open form if you press F1, the help should open automatically without having to add any code. In the demo this is what we call ‘Standard Help’ (in CVbHelpDemo.exe).

Alternatively, you can use our modules which you find in the demo project - ‘Custom Help’ :
• basHtmlHelp
• CFormHtmlHelpHandler
• CHtmlHelp

You can then call the help topics in various ways from a button as illustrated in frmCustomers_CustomHelp in the demo.

• Open Topic given its HelpContextId
• Open Topic given its HTML filename
• Open Topic given its HTML filename with bookmark (useful for forms with tabs)
• Open Help Table Of Contents
• Open Help Index
• Open Help Search dialog

The code is reliable (as opposed to code found on the web, calling windows help can be tricky and cause GPF) and easy to use:

HTMLHelp.OpenTopic strBookmark, Me.HelpFile