Accessing Different Types of Information

This section presents some strategies for accessing the different types of information available within Help system.

Keyword Information

The Help system contains information about all keywords, operators, symbolic constants, and library functions in the development system. If you know the exact name of a keyword, you can type it in a window and click it with the right mouse button or press F1. For operators that do not have an alphabetic name, you must select the operator before activating Help. You can also use the index for the appropriate category of Help.

·To get Help using the index:

1.From the Help menu, choose Index. -or-Choose the Index button on any Help screen.

2.Choose the appropriate category of Help from the list of indexes.

Each index has a row of letters across the top.

3.Choose the keyword's first letter from the row of letters. If you want Help for a nonalphabetic operator, choose the asterisk (*).

4.Scroll down the list of entries and choose the topic's hyperlink.

In PWB, you can get Help on a keyword or operator by using the Arg function, typing the keyword in the Text Argument dialog box, then pressing F1. Assuming that Arg is assigned to ALT+A (the default assignment), the following procedure displays Help for the printf function.

·To get Help using the Arg function in PWB:

1.Press ALT+A

PWB displays the message Arg[1] on the status bar.

2.Type printf.

When you type the first letter of the keyword, PWB displays the Text Argument dialog box. Continue typing the keyword.

3.Press F1.

PWB displays the Help for the printf function.

·To get Help on a topic in QuickHelp:

1.Choose Search from the View menu or press the S key.

QuickHelp displays a dialog box where you can type the topic name.

2.Type the keyword.

3.Click OK or press ENTER.

Figure 23.4 shows a PWB window with the information for printf.

When information about a programming-language keyword or function is shown in the Help window, two additional hyperlink buttons are displayed.

<Description>

Provides a detailed explanation of the function. When the description information is displayed, the button changes to <Summary>. Click this button to return to the summarized information about the function.

<Example>

Displays source code that provides an example of how the function is used.

Topical Information

The Help system is useful when you want an overview of the available reference topics or when you only have a general idea of what information you need. Start with the global contents screen, and then select any hyperlinks that relate to the topic. You can traverse the hyperlinks until you locate the necessary information.

Menu and Dialog-Box Help

You can get information about any menu command or dialog box by pressing F1 when the menu command is highlighted or the dialog box is displayed. This is Helpful when you are first learning to use the development system and you are not completely familiar with all of the features.

Error Help

The Microsoft Advisor provides information about compiler and linker error messages. Whenever a message is displayed on the bottom line of the window in PWB, press F1 to see Help on that error.

You can also get Help for any error in the Build Results window.

·To find the meaning of an error message using the mouse:

1.Position the mouse pointer on the error number in the Build Results window.

2.Click the right mouse button.

·To find the meaning of an error message using the keyboard:

1.Move the cursor to the Build Results window.

2.Position the cursor on the error number.

3.Press F1.

Help on error messages is also available directly by executing the Arg function, typing the error number and its alphabetic prefix, and then pressing F1. Make sure that you type the number exactly—case is significant.