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2005-07-01 05:09:24 AM
delphi220
I'm looking for a tutorial/demo component. I am NOT looking for a
AVI/Flash tool that will record me using an application. I am looking
for a component that I can put into my program to make the program "demo
itself". For example, if the user went to Help | Tutorial | How to open
a file, the component would then show some text saying "To open a file,
go to the File menu, click it, then select Open File" while at the same
time, the mouse would move to the File menu, click it, and select Open.
Of course, I assume that I'd have to tell the component which menu
item needs to be selected and what text to be display.
Wishfully, the component could do other things as well - click buttons,
manipulate grids or checkboxes, maybe even play WAV files as the text is
being displayed.
Does anyone know of such a component?
Thanks in advance,
Jason Swager
 

No, but here are some more ideas...
I worked for a company that produced a cosmetic dentistry simulation
application. For help, we said "If a user holds their mouse over a button for
10 seconds then launch and avi showing how to use that button". In my code I
had a timer that ran code that could tell if the mouse had been over a control
for 10 seconds. Then I launched an avi file for that control. The file name was
tied to the name of the control.
It worked very well as a help system, and I believe it could replace your wizard
approach.
-Bill
"Jason Swager" <XXXX@XXXXX.COM>writes

An interesting approach. Makes it easy to write help as needed. Using the
same idea, you could also create a HTML or a TextFile file (with the name of
the component), so you can also have HTML or simple Text pop up, if there's
no need for extended animated help for that component.
Best Regards,
Danijel Tkalcec
 

William Egge writes:
trying to avoid AVI/Flash files because I will have to update all of the
tutorials every time there is GUI change or a behavior change. I used a
pretty simple example of how to open a file, but I really want to build
much more complex, multistep tutorials.
Jason
 

gp.17slon.com/gp/gpsyshook.htm
IIRC, it includes CBT hooks, allowing you to do this sort of thing.
Open source (BSD).
--
Tim Sullivan
Unlimited Intelligence Limited
www.uil.net
 

gp.17slon.com/gp/gpsyshook.htm
IIRC, it includes CBT hooks, allowing you to do this sort of thing.
Open source (BSD).
--
Tim Sullivan
Unlimited Intelligence Limited
www.uil.net
 

big thing and the Windows CBT (Computer Based Training) system was
heralded as a marvellous thing that all apps would one day use. Maybe they
will start doing it now. In the meantime, don't forget that you can
programmatically move the mouse, so it may not be hard to make the app
move the mouse to the menu and click it etc.
Please report back how you get on!
/Matthew Jones/
 

We also developed a wizard help system. We placed a bar across the top of the
app and it had a blinking light and text telling the next step (The blinking
light was to get the users attention that there was help there). It was
triggered by the user clicking a button that said something like "whiten teeth".
(There was also a cancel button to abort the process, pressing it would reset
everything). It had a "done" button when the code could not tell if the user
had completed a step.
www.snapdental.com/
-Bill
"Jason Swager" <XXXX@XXXXX.COM>writes