Context sensitive help question

T

TomT

I have a help file, which is associated with various forms in an Access 2003 database. I have set up context sensitive help, accessed by either F1 or the What's This button

When this method is used to open my help file, the title of the window for the help topic is "Microsoft Access Office Help". When opening the complete help file, the window title is the name I used in creating the help file

Is there any way to change the context help window's title

Thanks for your assistance

TomT
 
T

TomT

In conjunction with the previous question, I have another issue that I've run into

I've created a chm file, and mapped all the id's in an Access 2003 mdb

When testing this on my system, it works fine, I can press F1, or shift + F1, or use the What's This Button, and the correct help topics appear

However, when I install this as a runtime application on another system, the help file works fine, but the context sensitive part does not. It's the exact same file on both systems, but nothing happens on the 2nd system when pressing F1, or using the What's This button

I assume this has something to do with the fact the 2nd system is a runtime installation

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thank

TomT
 
M

Michael Cheng

Hi, TomT

First of all, I guess that these two questions in your post is not
relevant. For better troubleshooting problems, I suggested you to post one
question in each post next time, which will also provide a clear view for
others.

Then, I would like to discuss those two problems with you.

About the change of context help window's title, I think, in Microsoft
Access, when you display a custom Compressed HTML (.chm) Help file, the
Help content is displayed in the Access Help window, along with the default
Access index, the Access Answer Wizard, and the Access title. This behavior
occurs even if you specify your own title and index within the Help file.

you'd better have a look at KB to get a resolution:
OFFXPDEV: Custom Help File Is Displayed in Access Help Window
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=275117
which will introduce a make a macro as a work around.

Also, I would like to recommand you have a look at KB:
OFFXPDEV: How to Create Context-Sensitive HTML Help Files
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=296231
which, I guess will be a great help for you, will show how to successfully
create a context-sensitive HTML Help Files, follow the steps

About the problem of runtime application package, I think, to include a
custom context-sensitive Help file in a Microsoft Access 2000 run-time
solution, you cannot just add the .chm or .hlp file to the package. You
must also take some other steps to make context-sensitive Help work
correctly in the distributed application. you may need to have a look at KB:
MOD2000: How to Start a Custom Help File in a Run-Time Solution
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=243568
which will give you detailed information about the resolution for packaging
runtime application.


Hope this help and please feel free to post in the group if this solves
your problem or if you would like further help. We are here to be of
assistance!



Sincerely yours,

Michael Cheng
Microsoft Online Support
***********************************************************
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
Please reply to newsgroups only, many thanks.
 
T

TomT

Michael

Upon reviewing the KB243568 (http://support.microsoft.com/?id=243568), I find I'm still not clear on the solution

This article is about Access 2000, and specifically states regarding Part II

"This part is only necessary if you have not upgraded the computer that you are creating the run-time application to Access 2000 SR-1 Runtime on. If you have Access 2000 SR-1 Runtime, skip part II

Part I is concerned only with creating the help file. I have already created the help file (chm), which includes all the map id's. On my development system, with full MS Access 2003 installed, the context sensitive help works perfectly. The compiled chm file is fine

However, on a system with runtime MS Access 2003 installed, the context sensitive portion of the the process does not work. I have a button the toolbar to open the chm file, which does work, but this is just to open the entire help, not context sensitive help. The chm file is in the same directory as the mde file for the runtime installation, and is correctly referenced in the Help File property for the forms (name of file and path). I've tried, as suggested in the KB, removing the path in the forms's Help File property, just leaving the help file name, but that did not work either

In a screen where context sensitive help should work, pressing F1 or using the What's this button does nothing - no error message appears

To summarize, in the KB you directed me to, Part I has to do with creating and testing the help file, to make sure context sensitive help works. I have a working help file that fullfills this requirement

Part II is only concerned with a solution for systems that have not had Access 2000 SR-1 Runtime update. This part is not applicable to my situation, since I'm using the Access 2003 runtime

Part III is concerned with packaging up the database and help file, which I have previously completed

My installation package includes the compiled help file, db, and Access 2003 runtime, so according to Part IV, this should work. Since it doesn't I am lead to believe there are some missing files, or programming that needs to be added

Thanks for your help, I'm hoping to solve this as quickly as possible, since my company is awaiting this functionality

To
 
M

Michael, Cheng [MST]

Hi Tom,

I learn from your reply that when you packaged your chm, you cannot make
ccontext-sensitive effective on other PCs. Althought you packaged Access
2003 runtime, help file and db together, I guess some files, such as DLL
files, is missing. However, I could not reproduce them on my machine as the
environment is difficult for me to set up. To further troubleshoot the
issue, we need your assistance to collect more information using RegMon on
your Developer Machine and Customer Machine to locate which file is
missing.

The use of RegMon:
1. Download RegMon from http://www.sysinternals.com/files/ntregmon.zip
2. Extract the file to a temp folder. Close all other unnecessary programs.
3. Start RegMon. The utility is used to capture registry related
activities. Press CTRL + E to pause the capture. Then press CTRL + X to
clean the log. Press CTRL + L to set the filter. In the filter Dialog, you
should put common exe files, such as sqlmangr.exe;sqlservr.exe, which has
no relationship with your chm files
4. Switch back to RegMon and press CTRL + E to start the capture.
5. Switch to chm file and realize the context-sensitive help
6. Comparing with two results from different machine, you will
find which file misses.

What's more, would you please describe your develop environment to me? By
which tools you used to develop chm files? Do you use HTML Help Workshop?
Detailed information that you can provide will make things clear and help
us move closer to the causes and resolutions.

Also, such issues tend to be complex and take up extensive research time.
I'd like to set your expectations that it may take a while for us to help
you narrow down the problem and we may eventually redirect you to PSS to
continue working with a dedicated Support Professional. If this is
critical, I'd recommend contacting PSS and opening a Support incident
troubleshoot this further. If you need any help in this regard, please let
me know.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Cheng
Microsoft Online Support
***********************************************************
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
Please reply to newsgroups only, many thanks.
 
T

TomT

Michael

Thank you very much for your reply

I will try the regmon test as you suggest, and let you know the results

My development system is XP Pro, sp 1. I used RoboHelp Office 5 to create the help file. As I mentioned, on my development system the context sensitve help works correctly, and on another system, with the full retail Acess 2003, the context help works as well

The difference appears to me to be the runtime environment. Can you please tell me, in your opiniion, should context sensitive help work in a runtime installation environment? The KB's and MSDN articles I've read on this subject are not at all clear on this, and I think answering this question is important in determining the source of the problem

If context sensitive help should work with just the runtime installed, then my guess is missing files and/or registry keys. If not, then we know the problem is the runtime, and I can pursue a work around

I did try a work around suggested in a KB article which discussed getting context sensitive help to work with earlier versions of VB (KB189086), which did work on one of the runtime installations I am testing (i.e. the context sensitive help worked)

There are two test platforms for the runtime, one is a Win2k server, the other Win2k workstation. I have confirmed the help file works (not the context sensitive functions), by putting a button on the runtime app's tool bar which runs hh.exe and opens the compiled chm

As mentioned above, using the workaround in the KB, context sensitive help does work, which leads me to bellieve that the help file is fine - the correct context sensitive topic does open properly

Thanks for all your help, and I look forward to your reply

Tom
 
M

Michael, Cheng [MST]

Hi, Tom

Thanks for your reply. How about the result of Regmon?

I have tested KB: 243568 as told. I used HTML Help WorkShop to make chm
files and to make context-sensitive help on Access 2003 in Windows XP and
Windows 2003.

When I skipped Part II, which the article said was unnecessary, I was able
to make it effective on a development PC. However, it failed on another PC,
which doesn't have Access installed. This is just the situation you met,
correct?

I made another example with Access 2003, followed all parts as suggested in
KB243568 (Part I to Part IV), and it turned out to be OK to distribute.

In sum, there are differences between Access 2003 and Access 2003 runtime.
Thus, you cannot make it effective by just installing Access 2003 runtime,
and the chm and mdb files.

Secondly, what tools you use to make a package? Office 2003 provides Office
Access 2003 Developer Extension to make distribution, with which you could
easily package what you want.

Last but not least, I suggest that yourself try the sugegstions in KB
243568, especially Part II,. By doing this you will find that you can make
it distribute

Thank you for your patience and cooperation. If you have any questions or
concerns, don't hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Cheng
Microsoft Online Support
***********************************************************
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
 
M

Michael, Cheng [MST]

Hi Tom,

According to KB: OFFXPDEV: How to Display Context-Sensitive Help for the
What'sThis Button , which can be found at
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=202314. It seems easy to do with "What's
This" Button, However, it doesn't work in my machine. It maybe the same
issue like previous one. I am trying to find a solution within Access 2003
runtime.

Luckily, I think you could have a look at this KB, which should be used as
a workaround now
ADK/ADT: How to Create Pop-up, Context-Sensitive Help
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=124823
and
How to Create Pop-up Context-Sensitive Help by Using Windows API
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=210166


Thank you for your patience and cooperation. If you have any question or
concern, don't hesitate to let me know. We are here to be of assistance!

Sincerely yours,

Michael Cheng
Microsoft Online Support
***********************************************************
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
Please reply to newsgroups only, many thanks.
 
T

TomT

Michael

Thanks for sticking with me on this. Do you think there is any way to find out what the What's This button sends, in terms of a code (like the F1 key, e.g.)

There appears to be a serviceable workaround for the F1 key in the runtime, but I'm still missing the What's this button funtionality

None of the KB's (execpt the one for OFFXPDEV) mention this button, and as you found the OFFXP one does not appear to work in the runtime

Any ideas of where to go from here, to get the What's this button working

Thanks again for your help

tom
 
M

Michael, Cheng [MST]

Hi Tom,

I don't think there will be any way to figure out What's This button sends.
Different from F1 key, we have no way to trap what it send, so we could
only make it effective in Access instead of Access Runtime. It's the issue
by design.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation. If you have any question or
concern, don't hesitate to let me know. We are here to be of assistance!

Sincerely yours,

Michael Cheng
Microsoft Online Support
***********************************************************
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
Please reply to newsgroups only, many thanks.
 
T

TomT

Michael

I finally got an answer from Tech Support on this, apparently there are two files missing from the runtime installation: MSOHELP.EXE and MSOHELP11.CHM

Including these files in the runtime install (to the \Program Files\Microsoft Access Runtime\OFFICE11\1033 directory) cures the problem. In other words, both F1 and the What's This button work properly, with no additional coding or workarounds

Apparently these were overlooked in setting up the runtime files

Thanks for all your help

Tom
 
M

Michael, Cheng [MST]

Hi Tom,

I am glad to know that you problem is resolved finally. Thank you very much
for sharing it in the community and please feel free to post it in the
group if you have any concern. We are here to be of assistance!

Sincerely yours,

Michael Cheng
Microsoft Online Support
***********************************************************
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties and confers no rights.
Please reply to newsgroups only, many thanks.
 
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