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Articles / Desktop Programming / Windows Forms

Context Help Made Easy

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2 Feb 2007CPOL10 min read 267.1K   2.7K   274  
This article introduces a new way of instrumenting your code that enables help authors associate help topics with the application’s visual contexts at any time - even post-compilation – and to do so using the application’s user interface without the involvement of the developer.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace ContextHelpMadeEasy
{
    static class Program
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// The main entry point for the application.
        /// </summary>
        [STAThread]
        static void Main()
        {
            Application.EnableVisualStyles();
            Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
            //add message filter
            MessageFilter oFilter = new MessageFilter();
            System.Windows.Forms.Application.AddMessageFilter((IMessageFilter)oFilter);

            Application.Run(new FTestApplication());
        }
    }

    internal class MessageFilter : IMessageFilter
    {
        bool IMessageFilter.PreFilterMessage(ref Message m)
        {
            switch (m.Msg)
            {
                case 0x100: //MSG.WM_KEYDOWN
                    if ((int)m.WParam == (int)Keys.F1)
                    {
                        // Call the help handler.
                        HelpUtility.ProcessHelpRequest(Control.FromHandle(m.HWnd));
                        return true;
                    }
                    break;
            }
            return false;
        }
    }
}

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License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Product Manager
United States United States
I've been programming in C, C++, Visual Basic and C# for over 35 years. I've worked at Sierra Systems, ViewStar, Mosaix, Lucent, Avaya, Avinon, Apptero, Serena and now Guidewire Software in various roles over my career.

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