Fundamentals of C++

Fundamentals of
C⁺⁺

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About this Course

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This course is intended for serious computer hobbyists, IT students, and IT professionals. You need Windows and Visual C++ installed.

The free online textbook for this course is Visual C++ 6 Unleashed . Read the Introduction to the book.

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Lesson 33. Adding Windows Help

Perhaps one of the most important features of a user-friendly Windows application is a good help system. This is especially important when you consider how many people never take the time to read a manual before diving right in to your application. In a way, this is a good sign; if your application interface is similar to other applications, users will feel right at home. However, eventually, users will want a bit more information about what a particular widget does or how to create a certain type of gizmo.

This is where online help comes in handy. If properly implemented, your help system can quickly and easily tell the user what he wants to know. Fortunately, Windows has standardized the user interface to Windows help. In this chapter, you will see how to implement Windows help in your applications, including how to add context-sensitive help to give your users the easiest access to relevant help topics.

Reading Assignments

Read the following sections from your free online textbook:

Windows Help Basics; Help Options in AppWizard; Help Project Components; Authoring Help Topics Using WinHelp; Managing Help Projects; Calling WinHelp from Your Applications; Adding Context-Sensitive Help; Using HTML Help with Visual C++

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