Microsoft Visual Basic Tutorials: Application Online Help

	Application Online Help

Providing Help

Introduction

Providing help is one of the most neglected areas of application development. There are various reasons to Some programmers tend to think that help is such a small job that it should be left to non-programmers. This is not a valid argument since the person who creates an application knows it better than anybody.

Asking someone else to create help for your application would only slow the process because the other person would need to have new and more information about the application. Another reason is that, most programmers who want to take care of programming when creating an application think that they are working double to create a single program. This drives them to set this aspect aside and continue only with the application, thinking that they can come back to take care of help when the application is complete. What makes this unrealistic is that, sometimes when they finish the application, they are "tired".

There are various small but effective techniques you can use to provide help in your application: never neglect help.

At the time of this writing, you cannot create HTML Help in Microsoft Windows 7. You may have to use Microsoft Windows XP.

Practical Learning: Introducing Help

Start Microsoft Visual Basic
Create a Windows Application named ClarksvilleIceCream1
In the Solution Explorer, right-click Form1.vb and click Rename
Type ClarksvilleIceCream.vb and press Enter
In the Properties window, change the form's Text to Clarksville Ice Cream

Design the form as follows:

Control	Name	Text	Additional Properties
GroupBox	grpIceCream
Label		Order Date:
DateTimePicker	DtpOrderDate		Format: Short
Label		Order Time:
DateTimePicker	DtpOrderTime		Format: Time ShowUpDown: True
Label		Flavor:
ComboBox	CboFlavors
Label		Container:
ComboBox	CboContainers
Label		Ingredient:
ComboBox	CboIngredients
Label		Scoops:
TextBox	TxtScoops	1	TextAlign: Right
Label		Order Total:
TextBox	TxtOrderTotal	0.00	TextAlign: Right
Button	BtnNewOrder	New Order
Button	BtnCalculateTotal	Calculate Total
Button	BtnClose	Close

Click the combo box to the right of the Flavor label. Then, in the Properties, click the ellipsis button of Items property and create the list with:

Vanilla
Cream of Cocoa
Chocolate Chip
Cherry Coke
Butter Pecan
Chocolate Cookie
Chunky Butter
Organic Strawberry
Chocolate Brownies
Caramel Au Lait
Click OK
Click the combo box to the right of the Container label. Then, in the Properties, click the ellipsis button of Items property and create the list with:

Cone
Cup
Bowl
Click OK
Click the combo box to the right of the Ingredient label. Then, in the Properties, click the ellipsis button of Items property and create the list with:

None
Peanuts
Mixed Nuts
M & M
Cookies
Click OK

Double-click the New Order button to access its Click event and implement it as follows:

Private Sub BtnNewOrderClick(ByVal sender As System.Object, 
                                  ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
                                  Handles BtnNewOrder.Click
        ' If the user clicks New Order, we reset the form with the default values
        DtpOrderDate.Value = DateTime.Today
        DtpOrderTime.Value = DateTime.Now
        CboFlavors.Text = "Vanilla"
        CboContainers.Text = "Cone"
        CboIngredients.Text = "None"
        TxtScoops.Text = "1"
        TxtOrderTotal.Text = "0.00"
End Sub

In the Class Name combo box, select BtnCalculateTotal

In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:

Private Sub BtnCalculateTotalClick(ByVal sender As Object, 
                                        ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
                                        Handles BtnCalculateTotal.Click
        Dim PriceContainer As Double
        Dim PriceIngredient As Double
        Dim PriceScoops As Double
        Dim OrderTotal As Double
        Dim NumberOfScoops As Integer = 1

        ' Find out what container the customer requested
        ' The price of a container depends on which one the customer selected
        If CboContainers.Text = "Cone" Then
            PriceContainer = 0.55
        ElseIf CboContainers.Text = "Cup" Then
            PriceContainer = 0.75
        Else
            PriceContainer = 1.15
        End If

        ' If the customer selected an ingredient, which is not "None", add $.95
        If CboIngredients.Text <> "None" Then
            PriceIngredient = 0.95
        End If

        Try
            ' Get the number of scoops
            NumberOfScoops = CInt(TxtScoops.Text)

            If NumberOfScoops = 2 Then
                PriceScoops = 2.55
            ElseIf NumberOfScoops = 3 Then
                PriceScoops = 3.25
            Else
                PriceScoops = 1.85
            End If
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox("The value you entered for the scoops is not valid" & 
                   vbCrLf & "Only natural numbers such as 1, 2, or 3 are allowed" & 
                   vbCrLf & "Please try again")
        End Try

        ' Make sure the user selected a flavor, 
        ' otherwise, there is no reason to process an order
        If CboFlavors.Text <> "" Then
            OrderTotal = PriceScoops + PriceContainer + PriceIngredient
            TxtOrderTotal.Text = CStr(OrderTotal)
        End If
End Sub

In the Class Name combo box, select BtnClose

In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:

Private Sub BtnCloseClick(ByVal sender As Object, 
                               ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
                               Handles BtnClose.Click
        End
End Sub

Test the application. Here is an example:
Close the form and return to Visual Studio

Status Bar Messages

One way you can provide simple help consists of displaying short indicative messages on a status bar. To do this, you can first create sections, called panels, on a status bar and then display the necessary messages in the section of your choice. The message can be anything but it should consist of just a few words to fit in its section without going over board.

Practical Learning: Helping Through a Status Bar

Display the from and expand its bottom border a little bit
On the Toolbox, click StatusStrip and click the bottom section of the form
In the Properties window, click Items and click its ellipsis button
In the Select Item and Add to List Below combo box, select StatusLabel if necessary and click Add
On the right side, set the Text to Ready
Click OK
Right-click the form and click View Code
In the Class Name combo box, select DtpOrderDate