Presentable help window invoked from the console

[Oso]

Good to see some familiar names here, after an absence from the forum for a while.

I’ve been working entirely on server-side development, consequently I have limited GUI expertise. The requirement is that I have an OpenConsole() administrative application but ideally I need to provide a pop-up window invoked by a command, showing a reasonable extent of help text. It must be something better than a requester box. I'd prefer not to display the help as console text.

Before I explain what I’ve tried, is there a known method that works well? TIA.

[Bitblazer]

What about a PDF viewer for DOS like MUPDF ? Or fbhelp.

[Kuron]

OT, but welcome back.

[Oso]

OT, but welcome back.

Thanks Kuron

[Oso]

What about a PDF viewer for DOS like MUPDF ? Or fbhelp.

Thanks for the ideas Bitblazer. I'd prefer to develop the code for the help, to keep this self-contained. I tried this :

Code: Select all

helpwin.i = OpenWindow(#PB_Any, 50, 30, 1200, 600, "User's Help", #PB_Window_MinimizeGadget | #PB_Window_MaximizeGadget)

Is there a gadget available that offers scrollable text within it, such as with a vertical scrollbar?

[idle]

Hi Oso,

Maybe just open a window with an editor gadget and set it to read only and word wrap.

[Oso]

Hi Oso, Maybe just open a window with an editor gadget and set it to read only and word wrap.

Hi Idle, thanks for this and hope you're okay. This works beautifully well, including the scrolling, simple but effective. Hopefully I've got this right :

Code: Select all

helpwin.i = OpenWindow(#PB_Any, 200, 300, 500, 200, "User Help Guide", #PB_Window_SystemMenu | #PB_Window_ScreenCentered)
helpdsp.i = EditorGadget(#PB_Any, 0, 0, 500, 200, #PB_Editor_ReadOnly | #PB_Editor_WordWrap)
    
AddGadgetItem(helpdsp.i, -1, "User's Guide")
AddGadgetItem(helpdsp.i, -1, "")
AddGadgetItem(helpdsp.i, -1, "The keyboard shortcut keys Ctrl + C (Copy), Ctrl + X (Cut) and Ctrl + V (Paste) can be used for editing. The 'Insert' key determines whether text is inserted or overwritten. The Delete key deletes characters to the right of the cursor.  Holding down the Shift key and using the arrow keys, selects text.")
AddGadgetItem(helpdsp.i, -1, "")
AddGadgetItem(helpdsp.i, -1, "To exit from the console session, press F10.")
    
Repeat
  ; Delay(50) * Removed
Until WaitWindowEvent() = #PB_Event_CloseWindow
CloseWindow(helpwin.i)

[idle]

Yes that good but you don't need to delay its waiting

[Oso]

Yes that good but you don't need to delay its waiting

That's interesting, you're right, it works fine without. EDIT: I'd omitted CloseWindow() in one of my tests — it didn't like that and I assumed at first it needed a delay.