Creating a Help system

[Dazzy]

Hi Folks

Which method do you use for creating a help system within your DB's?

1. Series of tabbed forms/reports
2. Or compile a help file

Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Dazzy]

Thanks for your insight Gizmo.

 

[Mihail]

I think that the Help system depend very much from the environment.

Once, for a program installed on a bending machine computer that use a touch screen and no keyboard, I created a toggle button tglHelp.
In the pressed state, all the functionality of the form's objects stopped and a message box pop up with a description about what is / do the object.

Example (pseudo code) for a button cmdFindBendingProgram

Private Sub cmdFindBendingProgram_Click
  If tglHelp is pressed Then
    MsgBox "Find a bending program and load it into the working memory"
Exit Sub
  End If

  Code for cmdFindBendingProgram here

End Sub

 

[Dazzy]

Thanks for this AccessBlaster this is an ideal solution for me.

 

[Dazzy]

Thanks, sorry for my ignorance, but wasn't the browser control changed in Access 2010 along with almost all the other ones?

I am wondering this because in the video he says use

Webbrowser.navigate

but with Access 2010 I have to use this

Me.myWebBrowserControl.Object.Navigate myUrl

The old activex controls seem to have been deprecated and while still available to use they are tucked away. Given ActiveX is a thing of the past is the 2010 control still ActiveX?

Thanks

 

[Dazzy]

No worries, I came across this http://www.microsoft-questions.com/microsoft/Access/36138941/access-2010-webbrowser-control.aspx

I am using 2013 at home and 2010 at work, but we will be updating at work in the next few months.

 

[Dazzy]

Hey all

I am trying to achieve the following.

I have placed help buttons on my main forms and when clicked I want to load a form called Help and set the webbrowser (WebBrowser2) (Access 2010 Webbrowser control) sourcecontrol in vba when I open the form.

This way I can just call a different part of the help file that is correct for any part of the database. So rather than loading the index file all the time it would go to specific pages.

Any ideas?

 

[Dazzy]

Hi Sorry maybe I didn't explain it well enough but that video doesn't show me anything that I haven't already got.

On my main hub form their is a help link, which loads the Help form and goes to the index.htm page. Which is basically what the video shows.

On other forms, ie Students, I'd like when I click on the Help button, the Help form opens, but opens with students.htm not index.htm.

Or maybe I am missing something very obvious here.

 

[Dazzy]

Yes in effect setting the controlsource of the webbrowser control on the fly.

 

[Mihail]

Open the form by using OpenArgs.

 

[Dazzy]

OpenArgs sounds interesting, I'm out of the office today so wont get back to the Database till tomorrow.

So theorising, would this work

DoCmd.OpenForm "Help", , , , , , "C:\Users\Gary\OneDrive\Work\Central Database\Help\students.htm"

Placed on the command button to open the help form.

And then on the Help form's onload event

 If Not IsNull(Me.OpenArgs) Then
Me.WebBrowser2.ControlSource = Me.OpenArgs
Else
 ' if no value in OpenArgs open help's index file
Me.WebBrowser2.ControlSource = "C:\Users\Gary\OneDrive\Work\Central Database\Help\index.htm"
End If

Thanks

 

[Dazzy]

Been fooling around with an example on the bus and getting nowhere, have to run to meetings now.

Would someone please take a look and tell me where I am going wrong?

Thanks

 

[JHB]

First you need to apply the open arguments:

    DoCmd.OpenForm "Help", acNormal, , , , acNormal, "Students.htm"

Second the WebBrowser0 Control Source need to start with the "=" sign and the drive, path and file name must be enclosed in quotation marks.

Me.WebBrowser0.ControlSource = "='TheDriveAndPathToTheOpenArgsFile[COLOR=Red][B]\[/B][/COLOR]" & Me.OpenArgs & "'"
An example, if the OpenArgs file was on c drive in directory MyHelpFile
Me.WebBrowser0.ControlSource = "='C:\MyHelpFile[COLOR=Red][B]\[/B][/COLOR]" & Me.OpenArgs & "'"

 

[Dazzy]

Thanks JHB that got it working.

Working example attached below.

Thanks all