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Application.HelpPaths Property

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Visio Automation Reference

Gets or sets the paths where Microsoft Office Visio looks for Help files. Read/write.

Version Information
 Version Added:  Visio 4.0

Syntax

expression.HelpPaths

expression   A variable that represents an Application object.

Return Value
String

Remarks

The HelpPaths property is set to an empty string ("") by default.

The string passed to and received from the HelpPaths property is the same string shown in the File Paths dialog box. (On the Tools menu, click Options, click the Advanced tab, and then click File Paths.) This string is stored in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Visio\Application\HelpPath subkey.

When the application looks for Help files, it looks in all paths named in the HelpPaths property and all the subfolders of those paths. If you pass the HelpPaths property to the EnumDirectories method, it returns a complete list of fully qualified paths in the folders passed in.

Setting the HelpPaths property replaces existing values for HelpPaths in the File Paths dialog box. To retain existing values, get the existing string and then append the new file path to that string, as shown in the following code:

Visual Basic for Applications 
  Application.HelpPaths = Application.HelpPaths & ";" & "newpath".
ms426012.vs_note(en-us,office.12).gif  Note
Modifying the registry in any manner, whether through the Registry Editor or programmatically, always carries some degree of risk. Incorrect modification can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. It is a good practice to always back up a computer's registry first before modifying it. If you are running Microsoft Windows NT or Microsoft Windows 2000, you should also update your Emergency Repair Disk (ERD).

Example

This Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) macro shows how to get and set the HelpPaths property of the Application object. Before running this macro, replace fullpath(s) with the path or paths to the location or locations where you want Visio to look for Help files.

Visual Basic for Applications 
  
Public Sub GetHelpPaths_Example() 

Dim strCurrentPath As String

'Retrieve the current path to Visio Help files. 
strCurrentPath = Application.HelpPaths 
MsgBox ("The current path for Microsoft Office Visio Help files is " + strCurrentPath) 



End Sub


Public Sub SetHelpPaths_Example()


Dim strNewPath As String

'Store the new path. 
strNewPath = "<em>fullpath(s)</em>" 

'Set the new path in the Application object. 
Application.HelpPaths = strNewPath 



End Sub

See Also