Contents
Books Online Help

How to Use Books Online

  The Least You Should Know About the Interface

  Contents Window Basics

  Viewer Window Basics

  Opening Books and Viewing Topics

  Navigating Through Topics

  Keyword Search with the Search Command

  Full-Text Search with the Search Plus Command

  Advanced Search Plus Syntax

  A Note about Art Figure Pop-Ups

Other Help Topics

  Marking a Book Topic with a Bookmark

  Annotating a Book Topic

  Copying Book Topics

  Printing Book Topics


The Least You Should Know About the Interface

Both the Contents and Viewer windows have buttons located along the top of the each window. The buttons allow you to browse, conduct searches, or bring windows to the front of the desktop. If a feature is not available, its button name is dimmed.

Contents Window Buttons

Viewer

Brings the viewer window to the foreground displaying the current book topic. If viewer is not open, it opens the contents screen in Online Books.

Note  This button does not open book topics. It serves to bring the viewer window to the foreground or to open the viewer window if closed.

See Opening Books and Viewing Topics to find out how to open a book or topic.

Font...

Opens the Fonts dialog box in which you can change the font and font size in the Contents window.

Help

Displays the Online Books help file.

Viewer Window Buttons

Contents

Displays Help Contents for the application you are using.

Search

Lists all the words you can use to search for topics in the application's Help. By typing or selecting one of these words, you can search for and go to a specific Help topic.

Back

Displays the last topic you viewed. You move back one topic at a time in the order you viewed the topics.

History

Displays the last 40 topics you have viewed in the Windows session. The most recent topic viewed is listed first. To revisit a topic, double-click it.

Search Plus

Opens the Find dialog box to begin a full-text search of all books or a range of books.

<<

Displays the previous topic in a series of related topics, until you reach the first topic in the series. The button is then dimmed.

>>

Displays the next topic in a series of related topics, until you reach the last topic in the series. The button is then dimmed.

  To choose a button:

Click the button you want.

or

Type the underlined letter in the button.


Contents Window Basics

The Contents window displays a hierarchical list of books and topics, represented by icons. To open a book, you must first open the Contents window. The Contents window allows you to "browse" the Books Online database.

 To open the Contents window:

From the Visual C++ for NT program group, double-click the Books Online icon. The Contents window is displayed.

or

From the Visual C++ Books or Win32 SDK References help file, click the Contents button. The Contents window is displayed with a list of books.

Books and Topics

A book can expand one level below its level in the hierarchical list of books and topics. When a book has been expanded, the "closed" book icon is replaced with an "open" book icon.

	The closed book icon represents a single book or a important subdivision within a book, such as a chapter. The color of the book icon changes to indicate the level of information within the hierarchy.
	The open book icon indicates that the book is expanded. Clicking an open book collapses all levels below it.
	The page icon represents a topic that you can view. A topic can be a chapter introduction or a page from a book. You may have to open several levels in the structure of a book to find a topic.
Shortcut Keys for the Contents Window

To:	Press:
Select first book	HOME
Select last book	END
Select next level down	DOWN ARROW
Select next level up	UP ARROW
Page down list of books	PAGE DOWN
Page up list of books	PAGE UP
Expand current level	RIGHT ARROW
Collapse current level	LEFT ARROW
Use shortcut for double-click	ENTER


Color Key for Books Online Hierarchy

A book icon with the highest rank (1) can only be expanded. It represents the top level in the heirarchy. The icon color ranking is the same for open or closed books. Closed books are displayed below:

Color	Rank
	1
	2
	3
	4


Viewer Window Basics

The Viewer window displays topics within a book. You can open a topic by:

Choosing a page icon from the Contents browser

Choosing a topic from a Search Plus list

Choosing a topic from Search dialog box

Topic Titles

Each topic contains its title in a nonscrolling region. This current topic also has its title, "Viewer Window Basics," in a nonscrolling region. All topics titles have a book icon that precedes the title. If you click the book icon, the title of the book appears in a pop-up. For example, click the book icon below:

  Book Icons Before Titles

The title is displayed in the pop-up.

Jumps

Jumps within the book topic are bracketed by green chevrons. For example, click the phrase within the green chevrons below:

Green chevrons:  »Example Pop-up«

If a pop-up appears, click anywhere to dismiss it. If you jump to another topic, choose the Back button on the viewer window button bar to return.

Note  In some display resolutions [image] notably 640x480 [image] large art figures in pop-ups may be cropped or their captions may not be visible. If you encounter this problem, try one or more of the following solutions to display the full graphic:

Maximize the WinHelp window before clicking the pop-up.

Before clicking the pop-up, scroll the help screen so that the hotspot jump is at the bottom or the top of your screen. Because WinHelp always attempts to display pop-ups directly above or below the actual jump, this will maximize the display area available to the pop-up.

Change to a higher resolution display if supported by your monitor.

Special Formatting

In some examples, source code is colored blue. The blue code indicates that the code has been altered from a previous example, usually because you have been asked to edit it. For example:

// TODO: Add your command handler code here

CEnterDlg dlg; 	// create a CEnterDlg variable

dlg.m_strInput = m_strData;	// initialize the edit string

if (dlg.DoModal() != IDOK)	// open dialog box

return;

m_strData = dlg.m_strInput;	// retrieve edit string

UpdateAllViews(NULL);	// general update

}


Book Icon
Book Icon User's Guide


Example Pop-Up


Opening Books and Viewing Topics

Clicking a book icon always either expands or collapses the levels above or below it [image] in the same manner as File Manager. In Books Online, a book, a part opening, or a chapter may be represented by a book icon [image] in other words, the material can be expanded. The lowest level in the hierarchy is represented by a "page" icon. Clicking an icon either:

Expands all icons one level below

Collapses all icons below

Opens a topic in the viewer window

 To open a book in the Contents window:

Double-click a book.

Book icon:

The book expands one level below in the hierarchical list of books and topics.

 To close a book:

Double-click the open book icon or its title.

All levels beneath the open book are collapsed.

Open book icon:

 To view a topic in the viewer window:

1.	In the Contents window, double-click until all books icons within a segment of a book are expanded and the page icons are displayed.

2.	Double-click a page icon.

The topic is displayed in the viewer window.

Page icon:


Navigating Through Topics

Once you have opened a topic in the viewer, you can browse sequentially through the topics or jump to related topics when jumps are available. Browsing sequentially navigates you through a book page-by-page.

  To browse through a book:

1.	Open a topic from the Contents window.

2.	Click either the forward or backward Browse button on the viewer window button bar.

The Browse buttons work as if you were turning pages.

  To browse through a book:

1.	Open a topic from the Contents window.

2.	Click either the forward or backward Browse button.

  To jump to another topic referenced within the current topic:

Click a jump bracketed within green chevrons.

Green chevrons:  »Example Pop-up«

If a pop-up appears, click anywhere to dismiss it. If you jump to another topic, choose the Back button on the viewer window button bar to return.


Keyword Search with the Search Command

You can find information quickly by using the Search button in the viewer. The Search button opens the Search dialog box, where you select a word that you want to search for. All book topics associated with that word are listed, and you can select one to view. For example, to find out how to save a file, you could select "save" from the list. Topics that have the word "save" associated with them would then be listed in the Search dialog box.

Note  For full-text search, choose Search Plus. Search Plus allows you to specify a "search string" and use Boolean expressions to focus your search.

  To search for information:

1.	In the viewer button bar, choose Search. The Find dialog appears.

or

Type S

2.	Select the word or phrase you want to search for. When you start typing, the words that most closely match the text you type are displayed.

3.	Choose the Show Topics button.

4.	Select the topic you want to view. If necessary, use the scroll bar to see more topics.

5.	Choose Go To.


Full-Text Search with the Search Plus Command

Search Plus provides a way to search the full text of Books Online. You can search for a single word, a combination of words in a book topic, one word near another word, an exact phrase, and so on.

  To search for a word or phrase:

1.	Choose Search Plus on the button bar.

2.	Enter the word or words that you want to find in the Find dialog box.

If you want to enter groups of words, or exclude words, and so on, click the Hints button. This displays the Search Hints dialog box. It describes the use of keywords to combine words, the use of quoting and grouping operators, and the use of a wild card for expanding a root word.

You can also set the range used for the keyword NEAR. It determines how many other words can separate two words for which you are searching.

3.	In the Look At group box, select either the Topic Titles Only or the All Text option button.

4.	In the Look In group box, select the book files in which you want to search for the desired topic.

5.	Click the Search button.

The titles of book topics found are displayed in the Topics Found list.

6.	Double-click the desired book topic in the Topics Found list. Each entry in the topic displayed is highlighted.

Topics in the current book file have no label before the topic title. Topics in other book files in the group are preceded by a label. These labels change as you switch from one book file to another.

You can also use the Go To, Next and Previous buttons to display topics.


Advanced Search Plus Syntax

The keywords AND, OR, and NOT operate only on a topic level. The following Search For string finds any topic that contains both words:

menu AND command

The order of words in the Search For string does not matter. The following Search For strings produce identical results:

menu AND command

and

command AND menu

The search mechanism ignores letter case. The same results appear if you search for cobject or COBJECT.

You cannot search for the Search keywords, such as NOT, for instance.

Exclusion from Searches

You can search for alphanumeric characters only. Characters such as ~ [tilde], # [number sign], \ [backslash] and ( [left parenthesis] are excluded from the search.

Some words are excluded from the full-text search capability in order to build a smaller search index file. The excluded words are not usually helpful for finding information in this kind of material, such as "because," for instance.

This exclusion has a side-effect with the NEAR keyword, because excluded words are essentially invisible to the search mechanism, even though they are visible to you on the topic page. For instance, if you set NEAR to 1 and search for:

menus NEAR commands

the search would find "commands because the menus" in the sentence "It may not display all the listed commands because the menus are dynamic," since both "because" and "the" are excluded from the search index.

Narrowing Your Search

If you find a very large number of topics with your search, you can narrow your search in four ways:

Exclude book files in the Look In group from the search list by clearing the check box for the help file.

Use the keywords (AND, OR and NOT) and the grouping operators listed in the Search Hints dialog box to create likely combinations of words.

Use the "" quoting operators to search for an exact phrase.

Use the NEAR keyword with combinations of words to find only those that are close together in a topic.


Marking a Book Topic with a Bookmark

Just as you can place bookmarks in a book to mark specific references, you can place bookmarks in book topics you use frequently. After you have placed a bookmark in a topic, you can access that topic quickly from the Bookmark menu.

  To place a bookmark in the current topic:

1.	From the Bookmark menu in the viewer, choose Define. The Bookmark Define dialog box appears.

2.	In the Bookmark Name box, the topic title appears. If you want to use a different name to identify the bookmark, type a name in this box.

3.	Choose OK.

The bookmark name now appears on the Bookmark menu in the viewer.

  To view a topic with a bookmark:

From the Bookmark menu in the viewer, choose the bookmark name for the topic you want to view.

Underlined numbers precede the first nine bookmark titles. You can type the corresponding number to go quickly to a marked topic.

If more than nine bookmarks have been defined, choose More from the Bookmark menu in the viewer. Select a bookmark in the Go To Bookmark box, then choose OK.

  To remove a bookmark:

1.	From the Bookmark menu in the viewer, choose Define. The Bookmark Define dialog box appears.

2.	Select the bookmark you want to remove.

3.	Choose Delete.

The bookmark name is removed from the Bookmark menu in the viewer.


Annotating a Book Topic

You can add your own comments and notes to a book topic and view this information later.

  To add text to the current book topic:

1.	From the Edit menu in the viewer, choose Annotate. The Annotate dialog box appears.

2.	Type the text you want to add.

If you make a mistake, press BACKSPACE to remove any unwanted characters and continue typing. Text wraps automatically, but you can end a line before it wraps by pressing ENTER.

3.	Choose Save.

You can copy text from an annotation and paste it into another annotation or into a document. You can also paste text from documents into annotations.

  To copy an annotation:

1.	Click the paper-clip icon to the left of the topic title.

or

Press TAB to select the paper-clip icon, and then press ENTER.

The Copy dialog box appears.

2.	To copy the annotation to the Clipboard, choose Copy.

If you want to copy only a portion of the annotation, select the text that you want to copy onto the Clipboard, then choose the Copy button. You can drag the mouse pointer over text to select it. Or your can press and hold down SHIFT while you use the arrow keys to select text.

3.	Choose Save.

  To paste an annotation:

1.	Copy onto the Clipboard the text you want to paste into the annotation.

2.	In the book topic where you want to paste the annotation, click the paper-clip icon to the left of the title.

or

Press TAB to select the paper-clip icon, then press ENTER.

3.	To paste the contents of the Clipboard at the beginning of the book topic, choose Paste.

or

Press CTRL+V.

Place the insertion point at the location you want to insert the new text, then choose Paste.

4.	Choose Save.

  To remove an annotation:

1.	Click the paper-clip icon to the left of the book topic title.

or

Press TAB to select the paper-clip icon, then press ENTER.

The Annotate dialog box appears.

2.	Choose Delete.

If you have added comments to a Book topic, you can view them at any time.

  To view an annotation:

1.	Click the paper-clip icon to the left of the book topic title.

or

Press TAB to select the paper-clip icon, then press ENTER.

The Annotate dialog box appears.

2.	When you finish viewing the annotation, choose Cancel.


Copying Topics
Copying Book Topics

You can copy some or all of the text in a book topic onto the Clipboard. From the Clipboard, you can paste the text into another document.

Note  You cannot copy the graphics in a book topic onto the Clipboard.

  To copy text in the current book topic onto the Clipboard:

1.	From the Edit menu in the viewer, choose Copy. The Copy dialog appears.

2.	To copy all the text onto the Clipboard, choose Copy.

or

Select the text you want to copy onto the Clipboard, then choose Copy.

You can paste the text that is on the Clipboard into an annotation or into a document from another application.

  To copy the entire book topic directly onto the Clipboard:

Press CTRL+C


Printing Topics
Printing Book Topics

You can print any Book topic. A book topic prints on the default printer. If you have installed more than one printer, you can make any of them the default printer. You can also change the options for the default printer.

  To print the current Book topic:

From the File menu in the viewer, choose Print Topic.

  To change printers and printer options:

1.	From the File menu in the viewer, choose Print Setup. The Print Setup dialog appears.

2.	Select the printer you want to use.

3.	To change the default printer options, choose Setup.

The options vary, depending on the printer you select.

4.	Select the options you want.

5.	Choose OK to close the Print Setup dialog box.

6.	Choose OK.

For help with the Print Setup dialog box, choose Help or press F1 while using the dialog box.

Note  You cannot print information in a pop-up window.


A Note about Art Figure Pop-Ups

In some display resolutions [image] notably 640x480 [image] large art figures in pop-ups may be cropped or their captions may not be visible. If you encounter this problem, try one or more of the following solutions to display the full graphic:

Maximize the WinHelp window before clicking the pop-up.

Before clicking the pop-up, scroll the help screen so that the hotspot jump is at the bottom or the top of your screen. Because WinHelp always attempts to display pop-ups directly above or below the actual jump, this will maximize the display area available to the pop-up.

Change to a higher resolution display if supported by your monitor.


Copyright Notice
Copyright Notice for Books Online Help

Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Companies, names, and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

© 1993 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Microsoft is a registered trademark and Windows and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.