ACC: How to Call the Windows Help Search Dialog Box

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multiuser skills.

This article describes how to call the Windows Help Search dialog box from within your Microsoft Access application using the WinHelp() and FindWindow() Windows API function calls.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information on Access Basic, please refer to the "Introduction to Programming" manual in Microsoft Access version 1.x, or the "Building Applications" manual, Chapter 3, "Introducing Access Basic," in version 2.0.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example demonstrates how to activate the Search dialog box with a sample Access Basic function called OpenHelpSearch(). This example uses the Microsoft Access Help file:

NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) is used as a line- continuation character. Remove the underscore from the end of the line when re-creating this code in Access Basic.

1. Enter the following lines in a new module's Declarations section:

         Option Explicit
         Global Const HELP_PARTIALKEY = &H105
         Declare Function WinHelp Lib "User" (ByVal hWnd As _
            Integer, ByVal lpHelpFile As String, ByVal _
            wCommand As Integer, ByVal dwData As Any) As Integer
         Declare Function HC_FindWindow% Lib "user" Alias "FindWindow" _
            (ByVal lpClassName As Any, ByVal lpCaption As Any)
   
   

2. Create two procedures by entering the following code in the module:

         Function OpenHelpSearch ()
            Dim DummyVal$, Temp%
            DummyVal$ = ""
            Temp% = WinHelp(GetAccessHandle(),_
               "c:\Access\msaccess.hlp", HELP_PARTIALKEY, DummyVal$)
            'For version 2.0, replace Temp% = etc with the following:
            'Temp% = WinHelp(GetAccessHandle(),_
            '   "c:\Acc2\msacc20.hlp", HELP_PARTIALKEY, DummyVal$)
         End Function
   
         Function GetAccessHandle ()
            GetAccessHandle = HC_FindWindow("Omain", 0&)
         End Function
   
   

3. Save the module as Search Help.

4. From the Run menu, choose Compile All.

5. Type the following in the module's Immediate window, and then press ENTER:

         ? OpenHelpSearch()
   

REFERENCES

"Programming Windows: The Microsoft Guide to Writing Applications for Windows 3," Charles Petzold, Microsoft Press, 1990