Viewing the Sample .DBF-Style Help File

Article
10/23/2006

To view the Ttrade.dbf sample Help file, in the Command window, with the default directory set to the directory containing Ttrade.dbf, type:

SET HELP TO TTRADE.DBF
HELP

Visual FoxPro displays the Ttrade .DBF-style Help in its own window.

The .DBF Help window has two modes, Topics and Details. The Topics mode displays a list of all the topics in the Help file. Note that the font for the .DBF Help window is MS Sans Serif and cannot be changed.

.DBF Help window in Topics mode

When you double-click a topic, the contents of that topic appear in Details mode.

.DBF Help window in Details mode

Help Table Requirements

Help tables hold a maximum of 32,767 records and must contain at least two fields. The table may have an optional first field for context sensitivity. The following example shows you the setup of a typical Help table:

TTRADE table in Browse mode

There are no requirements for the field names. The field types are, in order:

Numerical This field is optional and contains the Help context ID used with context-sensitive Help.

Character This is the topic name that appears in the Topics mode of the Help window.

Memo This field holds the information displayed in the Details mode of the Help window.

Beyond these requirements, you can add as many additional fields as you wish.

Understanding Ttrade.dbf

Ttrade.dbf is a small example of a .DBF-style Help file. You can pattern your Help file after Ttrade.dbf, or you can create your own design. Because a Help file is a table, you can create your own Help file by creating a new table or by copying and changing an existing one.

To view or edit the Ttrade.dbf table, open it and browse through it as you would any other table. If you've previously run the command SET HELP TO TTRADE.DBF, you must first use the SET HELP OFF command before opening Ttrade.dbf.

TTRADE Topics

Several kinds of topics are included in Ttrade.dbf, including:

Step-by-step instructions.
Interface topics for context-sensitive Help, including menu commands and dialog boxes.
General information.

You might consider these and other categories for your own Help file.

TTRADE Details

When a user selects a topic from the Topics mode, the Help window displays the contents of the memo field named Details.

TTRADE Cross-References

See Also cross-references appear at the end of the Details information for most Help topics. These references are displayed automatically in the See Also box and act as direct links to related topics.

To create a See Also cross-reference

At the end of the memo field, type See Also followed by a colon and optional spaces.
On the same line, type a comma-delimited list of the desired topics.
Enter a carriage return to signal the end of the list.

Case doesn't matter in the See Also list, and Visual FoxPro trims leading and trailing spaces from each referenced topic. For example, cross-references for the Overview topic appear in the following illustration.

Contents of the Overview topic's memo field

Tip Add lines above and below your See Also section at the end of your topic to separate it visually from the contents of the topic.

When locating a topic in the See Also box, Visual FoxPro tries to match the user's selection with the first Help topic that consists of or begins with the same text string. If Visual FoxPro cannot find a match, it displays "No help found for topicname" in the status bar.