Ross Sheppard High School
Computer Programming 30
Student Learning Guide
Creating a Help File

  When you have finished this project you will be able to:
create a Windows help file
compile a Windows Help file into a Stand-alone application
integrate the Help file into a Visual Basic program
describe the structure of a Help file 
describe the components of a Help file 
  1. For this assignment, you will add a help system to your INF2170 Final Project.
  2. There are at least two ways in which you can construct a Windows Help file:
  3. You will be using a third-party Windows Help construction program for this project. When you create the Help files (there are several components that are associated with a Help file) be sure to save in your INF2170 Final Project folder. It is imperative that all the Help file components reside in the same folder as the program!
  4. There are three steps involved in creating a help file for your program:
  5. Find the program called Windows Help Designer.
  6. A demonstration version of this program is available on the World Wide Web at Visage Software if you wish to download your own copy at home.
  7. When the program has started, you will see the main working screen.
  8. The first item you need to change is the Help File Name. The name should be related to the name of your Visual Basic Project. For example, if this help file was for the Calculator program, then you might want to call the help file Calculator. To change the name, right click on Contents, then select Properties. Type in a new name for the Help file.
  9. Next, change the title of the New topic by right clicking on it and selecting properties.
  10. Click OK when you are done.
  11. Click the Topics Tab to get to the Topics list.
  12. Next, right click the first topic and select properties.
  13. Give the topic a Topic Title.
  14. Click the Keywords tab, then select New.
  15. Type in a keyword in the Add item box. A keyword will be used in the Help file when the user does a search for help. It is important that you use keywords that a user might type in when they are looking for help, but don't know exactly what to look for. For this project, there may not be very many keywords, but for a more complex program there will be many keywords.
  16. Click OK to return to the Topics page.
  17. Click in the yellow text area and type the help text for each topic.



    The more specific your help text is, the more useful it is to the user.
  18. Continue to build your help file so you have five topics complete with keywords. The topics and keywords should be related to your INF2170 Final Project.
  19. Save the Help file - in the INF2170 Final Project folder - as INF2170Help.
  20. Next, you need to compile the Help file. Do this by clicking on Project in Menu Bar, then selecting Compile.
  21. Exit the program and find the help file in your INF2170 Final Project directory.
  22. Double click the .hlp file, and you should see a typical Windows Help file. Exit the Help file.
  23. The next step is to integrate the Help file into your Visual Basic Program. Open your INF2170 Final Project in Visual Basic.
  24. Add a Common Dialog box to your project. The name property should be set to dlgHelp.
  25. Add a menu item that the user could select to get help. Look at some other programs to determine the menu structure for this - that is, where it is located on the Menu Bar.
  26. Add the following code to the Help menu item (be sure to add the appropriate comment as well):
  27. Save your program and run it - the help menu should work.
  28. NOTE: you have created a very basic Help file at this point. Go back into the Windows Help Designer program and make your Help file very extensive.

  29. You are expected to add Help to all of your programs from now on.
  30. Click here to see the marking guide for this project.
  31. When you have finished, send an email to your teacher asking that this project be marked.

© 1998-2000 N.F. Mathew, EdD
File name: GettingHelp.htm
Last updated on October 19, 2000