ACC1x: Description of HotSpot Editor and HotSpot Types

ID: Q109714

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

This article describes how to create a Searchable type action that is associated with the Hot Spot Editor. The "Help Compiler Guide" does not document this specific type attribute.


MORE INFORMATION

The Hot Spot Editor that ships with the Microsoft Access Distribution Kit version 1.1 creates hypergraphics that you can use within your Help file. You can create hot spots that link to topics, pop-up windows, or macros. These links are enabled whenever the user clicks the hot spot.

The "Help Compiler Guide" that ships with the Microsoft Access Distribution Kit version 1.1 documents three different types of hot spot attributes on pages 58-59: 


   Jump (defines a jump to another topic)
   Pop-up (displays a pop-up window)
   Help macro (runs a Help macro)

There is an additional, undocumented, type of hot spot attribute: 

   Searchable type (allows you to search for a word, then jumps
                    to the appropriate graphic)

To add the Searchable type to the drop-down list of types in the hot spot's Attributes dialog box, add the following lines to your WIN.INI file: 

   [HotSpot Editor]
   Searchable=1

How to Use the Searchable Type Attribute


  1. Open a picture (for example, *.BMP) in the Hot Spot Editor.


  2. Create a hot spot on the picture by dragging a box onto the picture.


  3. Double-click the hot spot and the Attributes dialog box will appear.

    The Attributes dialog box contains binding information for each hot spot that you define.


  4. In the Type field, select Searchable.

    Note that the binding portion of the Attributes dialog box differs from the diagram on page 58 of the "Help Compiler Guide." Instead of a Context String field, you see a Search Keys field.


  5. In the Search Keys field, enter a valid keyword from your Rich-Text Format (RTF) Help file (for example, TestOpen).

    For additional information on coding keywords for your Searchable type, refer to the "Help Compiler Guide," page 32.


  6. Fill out the Bounding Box portion of the Attributes dialog box as you would for the three other types of hot spot actions.


  7. Choose OK.


Testing the Hot Spot


  1. In the online Help for your application, search for TestOpen (or what- ever keyword you assigned in step 5 above).


  2. Go to the TestOpen topic.


Microsoft Access will jump to the hot spot graphic that has the TestOpen search key defined.


REFERENCES

Microsoft Access "Help Compiler Guide," Chapter 4, "Creating Graphics for Help"

Additional query words: hotspot types 


Keywords          : kbusage OdeGen OdeHlp 
Version           : 1.1
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbinfo

Last Reviewed: April 2, 1999