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.NET Development
.NET Framework 4
Form Class
Form Properties
 HelpButton Property
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.NET Framework Class Library
Form..::.HelpButton Property

Gets or sets a value indicating whether a Help button should be displayed in the caption box of the form.

Namespace:  System.Windows.Forms
Assembly:  System.Windows.Forms (in System.Windows.Forms.dll)
Visual Basic
Public Property HelpButton As Boolean
C#
public bool HelpButton { get; set; }
Visual C++
public:
property bool HelpButton {
    bool get ();
    void set (bool value);
}
F#
member HelpButton : bool with get, set

Property Value

Type: System..::.Boolean
true to display a Help button in the form's caption bar; otherwise, false. The default is false.

When this property is set to true, a small button with a question mark appears in the caption bar to the left of the Close button. You can use this button to display help for your application. You can create an event handler for the HelpRequested event of the Control class to display Help information to the user when the Help button of the form is clicked.

Important noteImportant

The value of the HelpButton property is ignored if the Maximize or Minimize buttons are shown.

The following code example creates a new instance of a Form and calls the ShowDialog method to display the form as a dialog box. The example sets the FormBorderStyle, AcceptButton, CancelButton, MinimizeBox, MaximizeBox, and StartPosition properties to change the appearance and functionality of the form to a dialog box. The example also uses the Add method of the form's Controls collection to add two Button controls. The example uses the HelpButton property to display a Help button in the caption bar of the dialog box.

Visual Basic
Public Sub CreateMyForm()
    ' Create a new instance of the form.
    Dim form1 As New Form()
    ' Create two buttons to use as the accept and cancel buttons.
    Dim button1 As New Button()
    Dim button2 As New Button()

    ' Set the text of button1 to "OK".
    button1.Text = "OK"
    ' Set the position of the button on the form.
    button1.Location = New Point(10, 10)
    ' Set the text of button2 to "Cancel".
    button2.Text = "Cancel"
    ' Set the position of the button based on the location of button1.
    button2.Location = _
       New Point(button1.Left, button1.Height + button1.Top + 10)
    ' Set the caption bar text of the form.   
    form1.Text = "My Dialog Box"
    ' Display a help button on the form.
    form1.HelpButton = True

    ' Define the border style of the form to a dialog box.
    form1.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.FixedDialog
    ' Set the MaximizeBox to false to remove the maximize box.
    form1.MaximizeBox = False
    ' Set the MinimizeBox to false to remove the minimize box.
    form1.MinimizeBox = False
    ' Set the accept button of the form to button1.
    form1.AcceptButton = button1
    ' Set the cancel button of the form to button2.
    form1.CancelButton = button2
    ' Set the start position of the form to the center of the screen.
    form1.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.CenterScreen

    ' Add button1 to the form.
    form1.Controls.Add(button1)
    ' Add button2 to the form.
    form1.Controls.Add(button2)

    ' Display the form as a modal dialog box.
    form1.ShowDialog()
End Sub
C#
public void CreateMyForm()
{
   // Create a new instance of the form.
   Form form1 = new Form();
   // Create two buttons to use as the accept and cancel buttons.
   Button button1 = new Button ();
   Button button2 = new Button ();

   // Set the text of button1 to "OK".
   button1.Text = "OK";
   // Set the position of the button on the form.
   button1.Location = new Point (10, 10);
   // Set the text of button2 to "Cancel".
   button2.Text = "Cancel";
   // Set the position of the button based on the location of button1.
   button2.Location
      = new Point (button1.Left, button1.Height + button1.Top + 10);
   // Set the caption bar text of the form.   
   form1.Text = "My Dialog Box";
   // Display a help button on the form.
   form1.HelpButton = true;

   // Define the border style of the form to a dialog box.
   form1.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.FixedDialog;
   // Set the MaximizeBox to false to remove the maximize box.
   form1.MaximizeBox = false;
   // Set the MinimizeBox to false to remove the minimize box.
   form1.MinimizeBox = false;
   // Set the accept button of the form to button1.
   form1.AcceptButton = button1;
   // Set the cancel button of the form to button2.
   form1.CancelButton = button2;
   // Set the start position of the form to the center of the screen.
   form1.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.CenterScreen;

   // Add button1 to the form.
   form1.Controls.Add(button1);
   // Add button2 to the form.
   form1.Controls.Add(button2);

   // Display the form as a modal dialog box.
   form1.ShowDialog();
}
Visual C++
public:
   void CreateMyForm()
   {
      // Create a new instance of the form.
      Form^ form1 = gcnew Form;
      // Create two buttons to use as the accept and cancel buttons.
      Button^ button1 = gcnew Button;
      Button^ button2 = gcnew Button;

      // Set the text of button1 to "OK".
      button1->Text = "OK";
      // Set the position of the button on the form.
      button1->Location = Point(10,10);
      // Set the text of button2 to "Cancel".
      button2->Text = "Cancel";
      // Set the position of the button based on the location of button1.
      button2->Location =
         Point( button1->Left, button1->Height + button1->Top + 10 );
      // Set the caption bar text of the form.   
      form1->Text = "My Dialog Box";
      // Display a help button on the form.
      form1->HelpButton = true;

      // Define the border style of the form to a dialog box.
      form1->FormBorderStyle = ::FormBorderStyle::FixedDialog;
      // Set the MaximizeBox to false to remove the maximize box.
      form1->MaximizeBox = false;      
      // Set the MinimizeBox to false to remove the minimize box.
      form1->MinimizeBox = false;
      // Set the accept button of the form to button1.
      form1->AcceptButton = button1;
      // Set the cancel button of the form to button2.
      form1->CancelButton = button2;
      // Set the start position of the form to the center of the screen.
      form1->StartPosition = FormStartPosition::CenterScreen;

      // Add button1 to the form.
      form1->Controls->Add( button1 );
      // Add button2 to the form.
      form1->Controls->Add( button2 );
      // Display the form as a modal dialog box.
      form1->ShowDialog();
   }

.NET Framework

Supported in: 4, 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Framework Client Profile

Supported in: 4, 3.5 SP1

Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows XP SP2 x64 Edition, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2

The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
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Doesn't show on Tool Window form styles.      tomlinjm   |   Edit   |   Show History
Important to also note that the help button will not show on the FixedToolWindow or SizableToolWindow form styles.
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Why is this designed like this?      Binary Softworks   |   Edit   |   Show History
Why does the help button only get displayed if the minimize and maximize button are not visible? Why can't the button be show either way?
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Using HelpButton in Win Forms      Ratnakar Dutt AV   |   Edit   |   Show History
Just wrote an article on showing Help button. it may help the readers.

http://www.codekicks.com/2011/01/control-helpbutton-helprequested.html

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