Secondary Windows

You can create secondary windows for your Help file. A secondary window is an independent Help window that complements and supports the main Help window and displays similar information. Secondary windows have many uses but are very effective when you want to display new information without having users lose information that is already displayed in the main Help window. In other words, secondary windows let you have two Help windows open at the same time. Here are just a few possibilities.

You can use secondary windows to:

nDisplay the Help Contents or alphabetic index.

Placing the contents or index topics in a secondary window that has jumps to the main Help window lets users browse through the information without losing the list of choices.

nCreate a separate content window for a specifc type of Help information.

For example, you can create a secondary window that displays step-by-step procedures in it. That way users can close the main window and just use the secondary window with their application.

nCreate a window that displays pictures, examples, and other information related to the main topic.

Because secondary windows function independently of the main Help window, you can use them to show users extra material at the same time that they are looking at the main topic. For example, in Windows version 3.1, the Help files include a master glossary that is displayed in a secondary window.

nGain complete control over the Help interface.

You cannot remove the standard menus and buttons from the main Help window. However, if you want to create a Help system with custom controls (menus only or buttons only, for example), you can display all the Help topics in a secondary window. To provide functionality to users, you can add a nonscrolling region and create custom controls using Help macros that simulate menus and buttons.

Whether you use secondary windows and how you use them depends entirely on how you have designed the information model for your Help system.