Including a user guide within an application

[PippaPippa]

Hi everyone



And thanks in anticipation of your help.

Like so much of MS, I rather suspect that this is straightforward in the execution, if only I could find out what I do actually have to do.

I have an application, which operates as a succession of forms. The various forms of the application are accessed via a "Master-menu" form (A switchboard?)

One of these forms to be accessed contains a button, which upon "clicking" is intended to display for the user a Rich Text document indicating how to use the application - the "User Guide".

I was thinking "Word" and "Memo" fields in a table established for the purpose but am unsure, firstly, if that's the way to go but, more than that, I'm not at all sure how to get any such text, whether it is created independently of Access in, say, "Word" or created, somehow, directly within Access, into my database, store it, & then how to display it, prettily, via the aforementioned "Click".

Your assistance would be very much appreciated

Pippapippa

[irish634]

Any user guide I have ever written has been converted to pdf. You can open it through vba.

[PippaPippa]

Thank you "Irish634"

I have been looking at OLE & Attachment data types & they all seem to involve tables.

In this particular instance I have but the one Rich Text document that I wish to display (whether "Word" or "PDF") via a "Click" on a simple unbound "View User Guide" Form. The document will be stored somewhere actually within the DB application (the Application but not any other non-Access files) will be downloaded elsewhere.

The distilled question seems to be - Do I need to create a table with the one record & the one field which stores the document. The user guide form would then, presumably, need to be bound to the table.

This is, in all probability, a somewhat basic question & I apologise for that. I am teaching myself Access VBA, have done a reasonable amount with forms & am now moving on to teach myself about the interaction of forms & tables.

Thank you for your forebearance.

PippaPippa

[irish634]

I learned Access and VBA pretty much the same way a long time ago.
I don't use the attachments fields all that much. I tend to use BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). I can store whatever file I want in a table and call it when needed. Kind of old school I guess but it works and is simple.

I have handled your situation 2 ways:
I have put a user guide in the same folder as the application and opened it with a button.
I have also stored it in the database as a blob and exported it then opened it. I like this method because the file never leaves the table unless you delete the record. If the user deletes the file, it just exports it from the table.

[PippaPippa]

Thank you again Irish634

From what I can see, in order to display this single document user guide within my predominantly forms application, I have to create a table which has one record & the record has the one field, which is of Attachment type. I have done this & from what I can see my user guide is nicely tucked up in it.


I, now, can't see how to prise it loose for display.

If it was an image file, I believe that, if I created an Image control on my User Guide form then I could get the image displayed on the form.

Also if I had a multitude of records within the table, I could get the fields, together with their associated images displayed on the form as I cycled thro' the tables recordset.


Regrettably, however, I can't see how to get this Word document displayed.

Assistance is humbly sought

Thank you

Pippapippa

[orange]

You may get some ideas from this free video tutorial

http://www.datapigtechnologies.com/f...ustomhelp.html

[PippaPippa]

Dear Orange

Thank you for your suggestion - extremely useful & now added to my "Library" of very useful ideas.

Unfortunately, i don't think it quite fits my particular circumstance this time.

Since my application will be downloaded, it has to be completely self-contained. The User Guide (as a word document or a PDF document, say) has to be incorporated within the database application. A file elsewhere on someone elses computer would be unachievable & inaccessible.

That's why I was thinking, as a maybe, in terms of attachments to a table within the database itself. But I do not know how to actually open & display the document.

As I indicated before, I've got the document stored (I've used an attachment field within a table). I simply don't know how to display it by "Clicking" my "Show user Guide" button within my User Guide form.


thank you again for your tutorial idea

PippaPippa

[PippaPippa]

Hi Irish

I've been trying to display my user guide by calling it from a table by clicking a form's command button.

It comes up but with the all surrounding Microsoft Word Window.

I'm trying to present my user guide as a neutral document without being housed inside a proprietary window.

Do you have any ideas on this, whether for Word or PDF or whatever.

I should be most grateful for any ideas or pointers you might be able to provide

Thanx

Pippapippa