Programming Reference: ODHelp

# Programming Reference

## ODHelp

Class Definition File | ODHelp.idl
Class C++ Binding | ODHelp.xh

Class Hierarchy

    SOMObject
       ODObject
          ODHelp

Description

Users can request help in a number of ways. They can select help from the Help menus, press the F1 key while on a menu item, or press the F1 key or select the Help button when they are in a control window of an active part. All parts should supply help for their applications both from the Help menu and from contextual help using the keyboard.

When you open a document, the document shell creates and initializes a single instance of ODHelp. All parts of that document share the help object; you can obtain a reference to it by calling the session object's GetHelp method.

OpenDoc forwards all help requests to the part for handling. If the part does not handle the request, OpenDoc tries to handle it. In the case of help on the document shell menu items, if the menu item is one of OpenDoc's predefined items, then a general help panel is shown for the action. If the menu item is defined by the part, but no help is provided by the part, OpenDoc displays a message that help is not available for that menu item. OpenDoc does not provide any default help for part-defined control windows or buttons. It is up to the part to display help panels for their part's contents.

The ODHelp class provides help developers an interface that allows parts to display help without creating and initializing the Help Manager help instance.

Methods

The methods defined by the ODHelp class include:

- DisplayHelp
- DisplayHelpIndex
- DisplayHelpUsingHelp
- InitHelp
- TerminateHelp

Overridden Methods | There are no methods overridden by the ODHelp class.

### DisplayHelp

The method displays the help panel.

Signature

    void DisplayHelp (string sHelpFile,
                      ODULong ulPanelId)

Parameters

sHelpFile (string) - input

  The name of the compiled help file.

ulPanelId (ODULong) - input

  The ID of the help panel to be displayed.

rv (ODBoolean) - returns

  A flag indicating successful completion.

  kODTrue | Successful completion.
  kODFalse. | Error condition.

Remarks

This method is called by a part in response to a help request. The part calls this method in response to:

- a part help menu event.
- an OD_HELP event.

  Note:

  > For additional information on the OD_HELP event, see Help in the User Interface Appendix of the OpenDoc Programming Guide.

If an error is encountered, this method returns kODFalse and help is not displayed.

### DisplayHelpIndex

The method displays the help index panel.

Signature

    void DisplayHelpIndex (string sHelpFile)

Parameters

sHelpFile (string) - input

  The name of the compiled help file.

rv (ODBoolean) - returns

  A flag indicating successful completion.

  kODTrue | Successful completion.
  kODFalse. | Error condition.

Remarks

This method is called by a part in response to a help index menu event.

If an error is encountered, this method returns kODFalse and help is not displayed.

### DisplayHelpUsingHelp

The method displays help using a help.

Signature

    ODBoolean DisplayHelpUsingHelp (string sHelpFile)

Parameters

sHelpFile (ODSession *) - input

  The name of the compiled help file.

rv (ODBoolean) - returns

  A flag indicating successful completion.

  kODTrue | Successful completion.
  kODFalse. | Error condition.

Remarks

This method displays help using help.

### InitHelp

The method is called by the document shell to initialize help for the entire session.

Signature

    void InitHelp (ODSession *session)

Parameters

session (ODSession *) - input

  A reference to the current session object.

None.

Remarks

This method initializes help for the session. This method is called by the document shell.

### TerminateHelp

This method terminates help for a session.

Signature

    void TerminateHelp ()

Parameters

None.

None.

Remarks

This method terminates help for the session. This method is called by the document shell.

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