HELP_FILE_VIEW Function

Syntax

V help_file_view([C helptable [,C initial_link [,C dialog_title ]]])

Arguments

helptable: Optional. Helptable is the table to be used. Default = "Help.DBF". The name of the Alpha Anywhere help file. Character
initial_link: Optional. Default = No topic. The chapter and topic in the help file, separated by a colon. For example, " Invoice Form:Lastname " indicates the "Invoice Form" chapter and the "Lastname" topic within that chapter. Character
dialog_title: Optional. Default = "Alpha Anywhere Help". The title of the dialog. Character

Description

HELP_FILE_VIEW() displays a topic from the Alpha Anywhere help system.

A popup help viewer.

Discussion

The Alpha Anywhere help system is an alternative to developers who do not want to purchase a third party help authoring system for creating standard Windows help (.hlp) files. The Alpha Anywhere help system use Rich Text fields in a standard Alpha Anywhere table (.dbf file). It offers the basic features of a help system such as a table of contents, and hyperlinked help topics. Help_Filename is the name of the Alpha Anywhere help file. It is a .dbf file that was specially created using the HELP_FILE_EDIT()command.

The help file may also have been created automatically be Alpha Anywhere if you right clicked on an object on a form, selected the Properties command, and then went to the Help Entry tab and defined help for that object.

Help_Topic is the chapter and topic in the help file, separated by a colon. For example, Invoice Form:Lastname indicates the Invoice Form chapter and the Lastname topic within that chapter. If Help_Topic is blank, Alpha Anywhere opens the help file with no topic open. The user can use the table of contents to navigate to a topic.

In addition to displaying help topics from an Alpha Anywhere help file you can also display topics from a standard Windows help file using the WINHELP_SHOW()command.

Example

The following commands display a topic in an Alpha Anywhere help file.

Help_filename = :a5.get_path() + "\a_invoice_help.dbf"
Help_chapter = "Invoice Form"
Help_topic = "Lastname"
Help_file_view(help_filename, help_chapter + ":" + help_topic)

Limitations

Desktop applications only.