Generalized Help Menu Database

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  15 years ago

  by Trilarian

  Trilarian

  New Orleans, United States

  Joined 15 years ago

  Ok, now that my response post count is past 20  I figure I'll start asking my share of questions.  I am just starting to form an idea for a program at my work, so it has no true direction yet.  
  

  
  Issue:  We have 10 programmers that all work on their own jobs(mostly database programming for direct mailing).  Each programmer is a master at his regular jobs, but when they are sick or on vacation it takes a considerable amount of time for another programmer to figure out what to do to get a weekly job out.
  

  
  Solution:  I want to build a database of information where the users can pick a particular job and get a job description, howto, which programs to use, things to look for, etc.
  

  
  What I would really like to do is not have a simple list box to pick from but have a searchable/indexable help menu sort of like what you get when you open a normal program and hit help.  Example:  MSDN has a search/index type lookup for functions.  I'd like to do the same with job names, as well as put them into classes(inkjet, laser, inserting, etc.)  It doesn't have to be as advanced as the MSDN libraries and I do want to stick to VB code to make a portable EXE.  I would post an image, but it seems this site only allows links to pictures and so I can't directly upload anything.
  

  
  At this point I'm just looking for suggestions before I begin(still have to finiish one more project before I can start this).  I want it to look nice, so the other programmers will use it - and need it to be flexible(like read a config file) so I can add new jobs to it on the fly.  Anyway - through me your ideas, and I'll try and get a better grasp at want I want to do.
  

  
  Thanks.

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• • Reply

  15 years ago

  by Trilarian

  Trilarian

  New Orleans, United States

  Joined 15 years ago

  I actually had a slow day today at work and got a basic working model of what I wanted.  I figured I'd post the code in case anyone else had a similar need.  It's nothing special, just we are growing at about 45% per year, so the need for centralized info has become essential.
  

  
  Code:
  

  
  Option Explicit
  

  
  Private Declare Function CloseHandle Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal hObject As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function WaitForSingleObject Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal hHandle As Long, ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Function OpenProcess Lib "kernel32.dll" (ByVal dwDesiredAccessas As Long, ByVal bInheritHandle As Long, ByVal dwProcId As Long) As Long
  Private Declare Sub Sleep Lib "kernel32" (ByVal dwMilliseconds As Long)
  Private Const SYNCHRONIZE = &H100000
  Private Const INFINITE = &HFFFFFFFF
  

  
  Private Type HelpDatabase
     Programmer As String
     Company As String
     ProgramName As String
     ProgramLocation As String
     HelpFile As String
     Delete As Boolean
  End Type
  

  
  Dim MasterArray(1 To 1000) As HelpDatabase ' I will most likely make this dynamic in and redim in future updates
  Dim Index As Integer
  Dim BadRead As Boolean
  

  
  Private Sub ClearBoxes_Click()
     Call Clear
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub cmdExit_Click()
     Call WriteFile
     Unload frmMain
     End
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub cmdViewHelpClick()
     Me.Visible = False
     ProcessHandle Shell(("F:\UEdit\UEDIT32.EXE " & Trim(txtHelpFileLocation.Text)), vbNormalFocus)
     Me.Visible = True
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub FormLoad()
     Dim BadReadCount As Integer
     
     BadRead = False
     BadReadCount = 0
     JobSelect.Enabled = True
     
     Call ReadFile
     While BadRead = True And BadReadCount < 10
         DoEvents
         Sleep 5000
         Call ReadFile
         BadReadCount = BadReadCount + 1
     Wend
     If BadReadCount > 9 Then
         MsgBox ("Input database file has been locked for over 1 minute." & vbCrLf & "Please verify that F:\BRIAN\HelpFile_Database\Database.txt is not locked" & vbCrLf & "Program is exiting now...")
         Unload frmMain
         End
     End If
     
     frmMain.Height = "11475"
     frmMain.Width = "9915"
     cmdViewHelp.Enabled = False
     cmdDeleteRecord.Enabled = False
     cmdViewHelp.Enabled = False
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub ReadFile()
     Index = 0
     
     If Dir("F:\BRIAN\HelpFileDatabase\Database.txt") <> "" Then
         
         If FileLocked("F:\BRIAN\HelpFileDatabase\Database.txt") Then
             BadRead = True
             Exit Sub
         End If
         Open "F:\BRIAN\HelpFileDatabase\Database.txt" For Input As #1
             While Not EOF(1)
                 Index = Index + 1
                 Input #1, MasterArray(Index).Programmer, MasterArray(Index).Company, MasterArray(Index).ProgramName, MasterArray(Index).HelpFile, MasterArray(Index).ProgramLocation
                 JobSelect.AddItem MasterArray(Index).Company & " - " & MasterArray(Index).ProgramName
                 JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.NewIndex) = Index
             Wend
         Close #1
  End If
         
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub WriteFile()
     Dim i As Integer
  

  
     Open "F:\BRIAN\HelpFileDatabase\Database.txt" For Output As #2
         For i = 1 To Index
             If MasterArray(i).Delete = False Then
                 Write #2, MasterArray(i).Programmer, MasterArray(i).Company, MasterArray(i).ProgramName, MasterArray(i).HelpFile, MasterArray(i).ProgramLocation
             End If
         Next i
     Close #2
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub ProcessHandle(ProcessID As String)
         Dim ProcessHandle
         On Error GoTo 0
         ProcessHandle = OpenProcess(SYNCHRONIZE, 0, ProcessID)
         If ProcessHandle <> 0 Then
             Call WaitForSingleObject(ProcessHandle, INFINITE)
             Call CloseHandle(Process_Handle)
         End If
  End Sub
  

  
  Function FileLocked(FileName As String) As Boolean
     On Error Resume Next
     Open FileName For Binary Access Read Write Lock Read Write As #1
     Close #1
     If Err.Number <> 0 Then
         MsgBox ("Error #" & Str(Err.Number) & " - " & Err.Description & " when trying to open " & FileName & "!" & vbCrLf & "Please wait a moment and try again.")
         FileLocked = True
         Err.Clear
     End If
  End Function
  

  
  Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
     Call WriteFile
     Unload frmMain
     End
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub JobSelect_Click()
     If JobSelect.ListIndex <> -1 Then
         cmdDeleteRecord.Enabled = True
         cmdViewHelp.Enabled = True
         txtProgrammer.Text = MasterArray(JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.ListIndex)).Programmer
         txtCompany.Text = MasterArray(JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.ListIndex)).Company
         txtProgramName.Text = MasterArray(JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.ListIndex)).ProgramName
         txtHelpFileLocation.Text = MasterArray(JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.ListIndex)).HelpFile
         txtProgramLocation.Text = MasterArray(JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.ListIndex)).ProgramLocation
     End If
  

  
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub cmdAddRecord_Click()
  

  
     If Trim(txtProgramName.Text) <> "" Then
         JobSelect.AddItem txtCompany.Text & " - " & txtProgramName.Text
         
         Index = Index + 1
         MasterArray(Index).Programmer = txtProgrammer.Text
         MasterArray(Index).Company = txtCompany.Text
         MasterArray(Index).ProgramName = txtProgramName.Text
         MasterArray(Index).HelpFile = txtHelpFileLocation.Text
         MasterArray(Index).ProgramLocation = txtProgramLocation.Text
         MasterArray(Index).Delete = False
         
         JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.NewIndex) = Index
         Call Clear
     End If
  

  
  End Sub
  

  
  Private Sub Clear()
     txtProgrammer.Text = ""
     txtCompany.Text = ""
     txtProgramName.Text = ""
     txtHelpFileLocation.Text = ""
     txtProgramLocation.Text = ""
  End Sub
  

  
  

  
  Private Sub cmdDeleteRecord_Click()
  

  
     If JobSelect.ListIndex <> -1 Then
         MasterArray(JobSelect.ItemData(JobSelect.ListIndex)).Delete = True
         JobSelect.RemoveItem JobSelect.ListIndex
         Call Clear
         Index = Index - 1
     End If
     
     If JobSelect.ListIndex = -1 Then
         cmdDeleteRecord.Enabled = False
         cmdViewHelp.Enabled = False
     End If
  End Sub
  

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