Help file for a project

[All the damn names are ta]

I am doing an IT project which calculates results from various experiments.
I want to make a help file (with hyperlinks to other Q's etc) which is activated when the user presses a help button.
What would be the best way of doing this, is it just to link a button to a new workbook with an explanation of the project. Or is there a good (fancy way) of doing this?

 

[Von Pookie]

Please stop reposting this question. Things work out a little better for everyone if you keep things to one thread (this is your *fifth* for this topic alone--all with the exact same text).

If you wish to bring your topic back to the main page, you can simply post a reply to your own message and it will be bumped back up to the top of the list on the front page of the forum.

You can also edit your own posts as well. Just use the little icons at the very bottom of any of your posts. However, keep in mind that editing a message will not "bump" your post.

This isn't meant to be "mean" or anything, it's just that I keep seeing this same question being posted over and over again.

_________________<font color="#3399FF" size="3">Kristy</font>
This message was edited by Von Pookie on 2002-11-06 15:03

 

[All the damn names are ta]

Fair enough...sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind!
But does anyone actually have an answer for my question?

 

[MT_Shanachie]

Depending on the amount of information you intend to have in your help file, you may want to use a text box instead of a separate file.

I've done this in the past using a button that hides or unhides the textbox by setting the visible property to false or true.

 

[All the damn names are ta]

I'm not sure if a text box would do the job as the help file will probably be fairly big as it is going to explain the project.
Is there any way of doing a help file that looks like the actual excel help file?

 

[Paul B]

Have a look and see if this will help

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=...-8&selm=eJJ1g96aBHA.568%40tkmsftngp03&rnum=10
This message was edited by Paul B on 2002-11-06 18:33

 

[VoG]

This is an imperfect solution. What I did was to embed a Word "help" document in an Excel file which I saved as an Excel .XLA file bundled with the application.

I added the following code in the help file

Sub Autpen()
ThisWorkbook.Sheets("HelpSheet").OLEObjects("Manual").Verb Verb:=1
End Sub

The "main" file called this like:

Sub Help()
Dim path As String, pos As Object
Static HelpOpen As Boolean
Set pos = ActiveSheet
If Not HelpOpen Then
Application.StatusBar = "Please wait a few moments while the Help file loads"
path = ThisWorkbook.path
Workbooks.Open (path & "WaQComHP.XLA")
Application.StatusBar = ""
HelpOpen = True
End If
Workbooks("WaQCoMHP.XLA").RunAutoMacros xlAutoOpen
On Error Resume Next
pos.Select
On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

This is not a solution but I thought that it might help.

 

[Joe Was]

Try active help. Through Data - Validation..., select tab: Input Message, then add your help file as typed text strings. This builds a box that opens whenever the cell that you created the Input Massage for is selected. If you use the assistant the box will be tied to the assistant, otherwise it opens near the trigger cell, but not obscuring it.

If you need the box tied to other cells it copies with Special Paste Validation. You can build it for a range of cells or just a single cell. I find it works better than a cell comment which you can also use. The draw back with a cell comment is the user must know to select the comment indicator. The Data Validation method is automatic.

The use of real Excel Help files as added to the Help Utility requires a software writter to incode the files. Then the help file needs to be context indexed. Your custom help files will then apear as part of the Help Utility search results for the users entered topic. Later versions of Excel/Office will take HTML files as help files. Working with help files is not easy and is best done with second party software designed to do it.

The building of help files has been covered on this site before, but never fully answered as Microsoft does not include the software with Excel/Office. The other links in search will indicate the names/locatations of the additionally required software, I posted one a wile ago that was free. Good Luck. JSW
This message was edited by Joe Was on 2002-11-06 19:18

 

[All the damn names are ta]

Data validation is suitable for some of the cells eg where data has to be entered.
Could you make a help file through a user form with hyperlinks etc or is this not possible?