In order for users to access your Help file, the application developers must program the application to access Help. Ideally, the application should provide context-sensitive Help. When users ask for Help, they expect the application to know where they are and what they have been doing. They become impatient when they ask for Help and are given irrelevant information or a long list of topics (from which they must choose the correct information). Context-sensitive Help is convenient, saves users time, and prevents users from overlooking something important.
Context-sensitive Help must be programmed into the application using the WinHelp API function (explained in Chapter 19). When creating context-sensitive Help, a software engineer assigns special ID numbers (often called hooks) to each context. After these context IDs have been assigned, the Help author can create the Help topics that the user will see when requesting Help on a particular interface component.
The application should be programmed early in the development cycle so that Help authors have adequate time to create the topics. Otherwise, writers will have to postpone their writing or reorganize the Help topics later in the process.