Can't save resource file (.rc) when control has help ID set to true

[michael_green]

Hi All,

I thought I'd be good and develop some context-sensitive help but I find that, for any project, if I select a control and set its Help ID to true Visual Studio tells me it can't save the resource file. I can't even save it under a different name. I'm using VS 2005. Any suggestions?

Many thanks in advance,

Mike

[onkelhotte]

Same here. Thats strange.

I use VS2008 SP1,IVF Compiler Integration 11.0.3454.2008, XP SP3.

Markus

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Yes, very strange. I see the same behavior in VS2008. We'll investigate.

[michael_green]

Hi All,

Since I first posted this query almost 4 years ago I have moved over to VS2012 - and the problem is still there: when you set the help ID of any control to true you can't save the .rc file.

I found the same was true for Visual C++ projects, so queried the MSDN forum, and was told to repair my VS2012 installation, which I did. This cured the C++ version of the problem, so I was very disappointed to find that it made no difference to the Fortran version. One of the comments I got back from the MSDN forum was that there might be a problem with the Fortran template and that I should check with the Intel people. Can anyone shed any light on this? I would really like to get context sensitive help working.

Many thanks

Mike

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Sorry, looks as if I lost track of this before. I can still reproduce the behavior and have sent it on to our developers for investigation. Issue ID is DPD200250698.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

The developers tell me that as a workaround, add a C++ project and edit the resource there.

[michael_green]

Hi Steve,

I used the workaround as suggested and after a lot of work discoverd that it wasn't necessary - which is perhaps why the "problem" has never been fixed.

Most of the examples I have been able to find on context sensitive help have been based on C++, and they all require the help ID of any control to be set to true, thus allowing a special help resource file (.hm) to be built. Similarly, the third part software I have been using to construct the help file also states that I must use this .hm file and the IDs it contains.

But Fortran doesn't seem to need it. On WM_Help, the number in the object that lparam points to  (T_HH_POPUP) is just the ordinary control ID which can be used to index the help text. Is there more to this than I currently understand? I'd like to know anyone else's thoughts.

Many thanks

Mike

[andrew_4619]

I have to say I abandoned the HELPID's a long time ago, it seemed like extra effort having to map ID's in a resource file to ID's in html workshop. I tend to have a single help entry per dialog (covering all aspects or with other help links therein) which calls my internal help routine with my own topic "ID". In my help routine wrapper I physically map that ID to a topic based on the actual html hyper-link in the help file. I launch html-help using the hyper link url  as a reference. 

That way to add a help reference in my code I don't need to play with the resource editor or the help workshop index to cross map id's and get them correct.  Another advantage is that the actual html files used to build the chm file are also on my web server so based on a flag in my help wrapper routine I can launch the web based version complete with language translation widgets if the user chooses to.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Our developers tell me that this seems to be a generic issue with the resource editor when not run from a C++ project - I was told that the same issue can be seen if a C# project is used! Our developers will contact Microsoft and see if a solution can be provided.