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1988-02-26
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Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988
Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy
This package is intended for use with the Clipper Summer '87
compiler. Use of any previous versions will NOT work.
If you like what you see and want to use it in your programs,
I am asking $25 (U.S.) or your word as a fellow developer that the
library will either be destroyed or given to someone else to look
at. An extra $25 (U.S.) and you will receive a copy of the source
to modify to your heart's content!! Also, please feel free to
distribute this library to your friends/enemies. And as always,
any comments, suggestions, death threats, etc... are welcome and
will be considered.
Thanks, Richard.
OK, on to more important subjects. This package contains the
following programs/files:
1) INHP11.LIB -- The Instant Help v1.1 Library.
NOTE: The HELP.* files are NOT part of the original package.
They will be made if not currently present.
2) HELP.DBF -- The database for your help screens.
3) HELP.DBT -- The memo file for HELP.DBF.
4) HELP.NTX -- The index created by HELP and INSTAHLP.
5) HLTEST.PRG -- The demo test program. Feel free to look
at it to see how easy it is to use the
system. This program needs to be
compiled by CLIPPER S'87 before you can
link it.
6) INSTAHLP.DOC -- This file you're reading right now.
To link and run the demo;
1) Compile HLTEST.PRG with CLIPPER S'87.
2) Link using CLIPPER.LIB, EXTEND.LIB and INHP11.LIB
With DOS LINK:
link hltest,,,clipper extend inhp11
With PLINK86:
PLINK86 FI HLTEST LIB CLIPPER, EXTEND, INHP11
Execute HLTEST and enjoy!
To link with your program, you will need to do the following:
1) Somewhere (I do it at the beginning) in your program put
the following instructions:
external instahlp, help && For making help screens.
set key 291 to instahlp && Alt-H triggers creating help.
This will cause link/plink86 to look for the modules INSTAHLP
and HELP in the library and set ALT-H to INSTAHLP.
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Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988
Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy
2) Make sure you erase HELP.DBF, HELP.DBT and HELP.NTX from
the current directory (Of course, don't erase HELP if you
are currently working on it) and the programs will create
it the first time you press ALT-H. At any time if you
suspect an index error, simply erase HELP.NTX and the
programs will re-create it.
3) When you are done creating your help screens and are ready
to give the program to your customer, simply remove
"instahlp" from the external statement and delete (I
usually comment it out) the instruction -- set key 291 to
instahlp. When the customer hits ALT-H, nothing will
happen, but when he hits F1 -- WOW!!
** RUN INSTRUCTIONS **
As you probably have figured out by now, to activate the
program, press ALT-H (assuming you have "set key 291 to instahlp"
in your program). A box will appear in the upper left corner of
your screen. Enter the screen number (1-9). A bigger box will
appear to edit/add the help screen specific information.
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ Program: HLTEST │
│ Variable: VAR1 │
│ Box Chars: │
│ Box Color: R │
│ Text Color: B+ │
│ Header: Help for screen │
│ Footer: PgDn, Or any ke │
│ Head Color: W+ │
│ Foot Color: RG+ │
│ Shadow: Y │
│ Sh. Color: N/N │
│ Overlay: Y │
│ Pause Time: 10 │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
NOTE: At anytime while editing, the following keys are
available:
<ESC> Abort.
<ENTER> Accept current field editing.
<CTRL-U> Undo changes of current field.
<HOME> Go to beginning of current field.
<PGDN> Complete all fields displayed for editing.
Program: The name of the program when ALT-H was pressed.
Variable: The name of the variable when ALT-H was pressed.
NOTE: There are different uses for this variable.
By leaving this information blank, the help
screen you define here will be a GENERIC help
screen for that procedure.
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Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988 Instant Help - INSTAHLP (c) 1988
Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy Richard A. Murphy
This allows you to have a combination of
specific and non-specific help for that
screen/procedure. This means if you have three
variables in an edit screen and you define a
specific help for VAR1 and a non-specific help
for VAR2, when F1 is pressed on VAR1, the
specific help you wrote will come up. But when
the user presses F1 on VAR2 OR VAR3, the
generic help you defined for VAR2 appears on
BOTH! You may edit the generic help on any
variable that is not specific on that
screen/procedure. For this reason, I suggest
(it is also good programming etiquette) to have
each entry/edit screen in it's own procedure.
This would allow you to make a generic help for
each screen. If you define more than one
screen per procedure, and have a generic help,
it will appear on ANY wait state in that