Method and apparatus for creating help functions

• US 5,933,139 A
• Filed: 01/31/1997
• Issued: 08/03/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Feigner, Randall James, Walden, Ralph Everett
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matthew M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): dela Torre, Crescelle N.
• Application Number:
  US08/792,533
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 345/338, 345/336, 345/337, 345/326, 345/333, 345/334, 345/335, 345/339, 345/346, 345/347, 345/354, 345/967, 395/701, 395/702, 395/682, 707/102, 707/103, 707/104, 434/118
• US Class Current: 715/708
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems

Abstract

A help editor is provided that allows a help writer to display and interact with dialog boxes with graphical control objects (e.g., a graphical button) while writing help functions. The help functions provide context-sensitive help for the graphical control objects for dialog boxes used in a computer software application. The help editor generates computer source code that allows help writers to test context-sensitive help functions without executing the computer software application they will be used in. The computer source code is used to coordinate help functionality between help writers and software developers during the creation of a computer software applications.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of creating a context-sensitive help function in a computer software application, wherein the context-sensitive help function is made part of the computer software application, the method comprising:

locating dialog boxes contained within the computer software application;

in response to a first selection input, displaying a selected dialog box on a display device, the dialog box including one or more graphical control objects;

in response to a second selection input, creating a help topic template for a selected graphical control object in the displayed dialog box;

receiving help information data, the help information data including help information text and a help information identifier;

incorporating the help information data into the help topic template; and

creating a context-sensitive help function that associates the help topic template with the selected graphical control object as used in the selected dialog box.

2. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a context-sensitive help function includes generating data structures containing the help information data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein locating dialog boxes contained within the computer software application comprises:

searching executable image files and resource files of the computer software application for dialog boxes;

recording locations of dialog boxes encountered during the search; and

the locating step performed without executing the computer software application.

5. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 4.

6. A computer-implemented help editor programmed for performing the method of claim 1.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

saving in a temporary file the context-sensitive help function created;

constructing a help data structure including a list of graphical control objects for which context-sensitive help functions have been created;

compiling into a help file the context-sensitive help function saved in the temporary file and the help data structure.

8. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 7.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

in response to a third selection input, displaying on a display device using the help file, context-sensitive help information from a context-sensitive help function of a newly selected graphical control object.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said displaying is completed without executing the computer software application.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein said displaying includes calling a help display system, and passing the help file to display context-sensitive help information from the context-sensitive help function of the newly selected graphical control object.

12. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 9.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

repeating the preceding actions to create a plurality of context-sensitive help functions;

saving in a temporary file any context-sensitive help functions created;

constructing a help data structure including a list of graphical control objects for which context-sensitive help functions have been created;

compiling into a help file the context-sensitive help functions saved in the temporary file and the help data structure.

14. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 13.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a context-sensitive help function includes generating computer source code for the selected graphical control object, the computer source code including context-sensitive help functions.

16. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 15.

17. In a computer system used for creating a plurality of computer software applications with context-sensitive help functions, a computer implemented method of locating dialog boxes for adding context-sensitive help functions thereto, the method comprising:

searching for dialog boxes in executable image files of a computer software application;

searching for dialog boxes in resource files of the computer software application; and

recording locations of dialog boxes encountered during the search, the recorded locations used to provide access to dialog boxes for which context-sensitive help functions are created.

18. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 17.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein searching for dialog boxes in executable image files includes searching for pre-defined executable file application program interfaces within the executable image files.

20. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 19.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein searching for dialog boxes in resource files includes searching for pre-defined resource application file program interfaces within the resource files.

22. The method of claim 17 wherein recording includes recording dialog box caption information and dialog box identifier in a dialog box search data structure for dialog boxes encountered.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein recording comprises recording the address of dialog box template data structures for dialog boxes encountered, the dialog box search data structures including information used to display the dialog box.

24. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 22.

25. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

in response to a selection input, using the recorded locations to locate a dialog box;

creating and displaying a dialog box on a display device;

creating and displaying any graphical control objects for the dialog box on a display device; and

in response to a selection input, providing a help function template used to create a context-sensitive help function for a selected graphical control object.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein creating and displaying the graphical control object includes:

creating an instance of a graphical control object in memory that contains control object properties for the graphical control object; and

adding a memory address of the instance of the control object to a control object map, wherein the control object map is associated with a dialog box.

27. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 25.

28. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

in response to a selected input, using the recorded locations to locate a dialog box;

determining whether a graphical control object for the selected dialog box has been registered with an operating system being used with the computer system, and if not,

registering the graphical control object with the operating system before the dialog box is created and displayed on a display device;

creating and displaying the selected dialog box on a display device;

creating and displaying the graphical control object for the selected dialog box on a display device; and

creating a context-sensitive help function for the graphical control object.

29. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 28.

30. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

in response to a selection input, using the recorded locations to locate a dialog box of the computer software application;

determining whether any graphical control objects in the selected dialog box have been modified since the dialog box was last selected, using a dialog box data structure, and if so;

updating the dialog box data structure including properties for the selected dialog box to indicate any modifications;

updating a control object map data structure for the selected dialog box to reflect modifications to any graphical control objects; and

allowing context-sensitive help functions for any modified graphical control objects to be modified.

31. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the actions recited in claim 30.

32. The method of claim 30 further comprising:

displaying the selected dialog box on a display device after using the recorded locations to locate the selected dialog box.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein, if any graphical control objects in the selected dialog box have been modified since the dialog box was last selected, said determining includes:

highlighting any modified graphical control objects in the selected dialog box displayed on the display device.

34. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 32.

35. The method of claim 30 wherein, if any graphical control objects in the selected dialog box have been modified since the dialog box was last selected, said determining includes:

in response to an input request, providing information about the modifications to any graphical control objects in the selected dialog box using the control object map data structure.

36. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 35.

37. In a computer system used for creating a plurality of computer software applications with context-sensitive help functions, a computer implemented method of creating a context-sensitive help function, the method comprising:

locating a selected graphical control object for a selected dialog box in a computer software application;

determining whether the selected graphical control object has an existing help topic template, and if not;

creating a new help topic template;

creating a help footnote for the new help topic template;

adding footnote information to the help footnote to identify the selected graphical control object and the selected dialog box;

applying a bookmark to the new help topic template to allow the help topic template to be located; and

incorporating help information data into the new help topic template.

38. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 37.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein the footnote information added to the help footnote includes a dialog box caption, a graphical control object caption, and graphical control object class name.

40. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 39.

41. The method of claim 37 wherein the selected graphical control object is highlighted on a display device to indicate selection.

42. The method of claim 37 further comprising:

creating a context-sensitive help function with the help topic template; and

using the context-sensitive help function with the computer software application to provide context-sensitive help for the selected graphical control object.

43. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 42.

44. A computer-implemented editor for creating context-sensitive help functions for a computer software application, wherein the context-sensitive help functions are made part of the computer software application, the editor comprising:

means for locating dialog boxes contained within the computer software application without executing the computer software application;

means for retrieving a selected dialog box including one or more graphical control objects;

means for creating a help topic template for a selected graphical control object;

means for receiving help information data, the help information data including help information text and a help identifier;

means for incorporating the help information data into the help topic template; and

means for creating a context-sensitive help function that associates the help topic template with the selected graphical control object as used in the selected dialog box.

45. A help topic template data structure embodied in a computer-readable medium, said data structure operating in a computer system used during development of a computer software application to create context-sensitive help functions for the computer software application, said data structure comprising a plurality of cells for storing information about the context-sensitive help functions of the computer software application, each cell comprising a plurality of data structure fields, the computer software application having one or more dialog boxes with one or more graphical control objects in the dialog boxes, each cell of the help topic template data structure comprising:

a data structure field for storing context-sensitive help information text;

a data structure field for storing a context-sensitive help information identifier;

a data structure field for storing a dialog box identifier; and

a data structure field for storing a graphical control object identifier.

46. In a computer system used for creating a plurality of computer software applications with context-sensitive help functions, a computer implemented method of creating context-sensitive help functions in a computer software application, wherein the context-sensitive help functions are made part of the computer software application, the method comprising:

locating dialog boxes contained within the computer software application;

in response to a first selection input, displaying a selected dialog box on a display device, the dialog box including one or more graphical control objects;

in response to a second selection input, selecting at least one graphical control object in the displayed dialog box;

determining whether computer source code will be generated for graphical control objects selected from the dialog box, and if so;

generating computer source code for graphical control objects selected from the dialog box, the computer source code including context-sensitive help functions;

and if not;

generating computer source code for graphical control objects in the computer software application, including graphical control objects from the dialog box not selected, the computer source code including context-sensitive help functions.

47. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the actions recited in claim 46.

48. The method of claim 46 further comprising:

determining whether a single computer data structure containing context-sensitive help information for the located dialog boxes should be generated in the computer source code, and if so;

generating the single computer data structure for the located dialog boxes;

and if not;

generating a plurality of computer data structures including one or more individual data structures for the located dialog boxes.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein generating a plurality of computer data structures includes not generating an individual data structure for selected ones of the dialog boxes.

50. A computer-readable storage medium having stored therein computer executable instructions for performing the steps recited in claim 48.

51. The method of claim 46 wherein generating computer source code for graphical control objects selected includes generating computer source code for less than all graphical control objects selected.