XL7: No Help Topic When You Right Click Custom Dialog Object

• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0

SYMPTOMS

When you display a custom dialog box in Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0 and, using the right mouse buttton, click a dialog object, such as a button, you may receive the following message:

   No Help topic is associated with this item.

You will receive this message in Microsoft Excel 7.0 because it is written to implement the Windows 95 or Windows NT Context Sensitive Help feature. To implement Context Sensitive Help when an object is right-clicked, an application must trap the right-click, determine the context, and pass the Help Context ID associated with the object to the Operating System. While Microsoft Excel 7.0 does perform each of these steps, the custom dialog objects do not have a Help Context ID associated with them. Therefore, Windows 95 displays the message, "No Help topic is associated with this item."

MORE INFORMATION

The Windows 95 Help Authoring Kit states, "The 32-bit version of Microsoft Visual Basic version 4.0 supports Windows 95-style context-sensitive Help. You can set the HelpContextID property for a control in a dialog box." Visual Basic for Applications does provide a HelpContextID property, but it only applies to the MenuItem and ToolbarButton objects. Visual Basic for Applications currently does not offer this functionality to a control on a custom dialog box.

REFERENCES

"Windows 95 Help Authoring Kit," Chapter 9, "Software Developers: 'Hooking Up' the Code," page 179

For more information about the HelpContextID property in Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0 , choose the Index tab in Help and type:

   HelpContextID