HELP Command

  • Article

Opens the Help window.

HELP   [Topic | ID nContextID] [IN [WINDOW] WindowName | IN [WINDOW]
   SCREEN | IN [WINDOW] [NOWAIT]

Parameters

  • Topic
    Specifies the Help topic to display. If you include just a partial spelling of a topic title, Visual FoxPro opens the Help window and displays the topic with the closest matching title.

  • ID nContextID
    Specifies the Help topic to display, based on the topic's context ID.

    When you are using .dbf-style Help, nContextID is a value in the Contextid field of the help table. The Contextid field must be the first field in the table.

    When you are using graphical style Help, nContextID is a context number in the MAP section of the help project file.

  • IN [WINDOW] WindowName
    Opens the Help window within a parent window. The Help window doesn't assume the characteristics of the parent window it is placed in. If the Help window is activated inside a parent window, it cannot be moved outside the parent window. If the parent window is moved, the Help window moves with it. Before you can open the Help window from within a parent window, the parent window must first be defined with DEFINE WINDOW.

  • IN [WINDOW] SCREEN
    Explicitly places the Help window on the main Visual FoxPro window.

  • NOWAIT
    In .dbf-style Help, specifies that program execution should continue after the Help window is opened. If you omit NOWAIT when using .dbf-style Help, program execution is suspended at the line containing the HELP command until the Help window is closed.

    In graphical style Help, the NOWAIT argument has no effect, and program execution always continues after the HELP command has been issued.

Remarks

For more information on creating your own Help system, see Creating Help Files.

See Also

SET HELP | SET HELPFILTER | SET TOPIC