How can I invoke the helpprovider through code?

[qmp]

Instead of having the user have to hit F1, what if I want them to hit a button and open invoke the help provider...

 

I'm not talking about just executing the chm process to open up a seperate chm process, I want to invoke it on the help providers process so if a user hits F1 on a different form, the same chm window is used.

 

How do I go about doing this?

[Shurikn]

i did this recently, but it was in c++ but it should look aproximatively the same in other languages. you've got to use the objet help : Help::ShowHelp() but i dont remember what arguments it need. I thing you need to pass it your helpProvider object.

 

i'll check up later

[DiverDan]

I don't know if this is what you are looking for but here are some examples in VB.Net:

 

Help.ShowHelp(Me, Application.StartupPath & "\HelpFile.chm", HelpNavigator.TableOfContents)

 

Help.ShowHelp(Me, Application.StartupPath & "\HelpFile.chm", HelpNavigator.KeywordIndex)

 

Help.ShowHelp(Me, Application.StartupPath & "\HelpFile.chm", HelpNavigator.Topic, "SpecificTopicPage.htm")

[qmp]

Help.ShowHelp is exactly what I ended up going with...

 

And for forms that you want to stick a simple help button on, where a user clicks it and it opens up the help you can do a sendkeys command with the F1 key as a parameter and it will invoke the help provider if you have one defined.