Show Help Message

The Show Help Message action displays help content to the print operator. This action is especially useful when you have removed the form's default buttons and want to create a custom Help button.

Create a button control on the data entry form. To do this, click Data Entry Control on the Create menu of Data Entry Form view, and then click Button. Alternatively, click the icon on the object toolbar, and then click Button.
Click the location on the data entry form where you want to place the button.
Double-click the button control to open the Button Properties dialog, and then click Button in the navigation pane to open the Button property page.
Click Actions to open the Control Actions page, and then add the Show Help Message action to the button control's Control Clicked event. For information about how to do this, refer to Adding Actions to the Document or Form.
Click OK to close the Control Actions page.
Close the Button Properties dialog.
Open the Form Properties dialog. To do this, double-click a blank area of the form. Alternatively, right-click a blank area of the form, and then click Form Properties.
In the left navigation pane of the dialog, click Form to display the Form property page, and then click to clear the Include Standard Buttons check box to remove the default buttons from the form.
In the left navigation pane of the Form Properties dialog, click the top-level node to open the Selected Control property page.
In the Help Text box, specify the help text that you want to be shown, and then click to select the Display Help Text when user presses Help button or F1 check box.
Click Close.

When you click the button control in Print Preview or at print time, the help text that you specified is displayed.

You can configure the properties for the Show Help Message action on the following tab.

Action Tab

Action

Name: Specifies the name of the action. You can replace the default name by entering a new name in the field.
Description: Specifies a description for the action.
Run Action: Specifies how often you want the action to run.
- Always: Specifies that the action runs each time the event occurs.
- Never: Specifies that the action does not run when the event occurs.
- Conditionally, based on variable: Specifies that the action runs only when a selected variable meets a specified condition. Use this option in situations in which there is only one condition that determines whether the action runs. After you select this option, you can create the conditional statement in the input box.
  
  Input box controls
  - Variable: Specifies the variable that you want to use for the conditional statement. Enter the variable in the input box. Click to see a list of recently used variables or click More Variables to open the Insert Variable dialog.
  - [Relational Operator]: Specifies the relational operator to use for the conditional statement. Click the existing operator to display a list of additional operators, and then click the one that you want to use. For more information, refer to Relational Operators. The operators that are available in the list depend on whether you selected Text or Decimal for the Type option.
  - Value: Specifies the values to use for the conditional statement. To add a value, click , click <enter a value>, enter the value that you want, and then press Enter. To delete a value, use the secondary mouse button to click it, and then click Delete. Some operators, such as Is blank and Is not blank, do not require a value to be specified. In these situations, the Value field is not available.
  - Type: Specifies whether the conditional statement is evaluating a text or decimal value.
- Conditionally, based on expression: Specifies the conditions under which the action runs. Use this option for situations that require more than one conditional statement. When you select this option, you can create the conditional expression in the input box by creating the conditional statements that you want. You create and edit your conditional expression on the Tree View tab. Click the Text View tab to see a read-only text view of the conditional expression.
  
  Input box controls (Tree View tab)
  - [Conditional Joiner]: Specifies the conditional joiner for the conditional statements within the group. The default conditional joiner is And.
    
    Click the existing conditional joiner to display a menu that you can use to configure your conditional expression in one of the following ways:
    - And, Or, NotAnd, NotOr: Click the conditional joiner in the list that you want to use for the conditional statements. For more information about the supported conditional joiners, refer to Conditional Joiners.
    - Add Condition: Click to add another conditional statement to the current group.
    - Add Group: Click to add a subgroup of conditional statements to the current group.
    - Remove Group: Click to delete the subgroup. Available when you open the menu from a subgroup.
    - Clear All: Click to delete all conditional statements (including subgroups). Available when you open the menu from the top-most group.
  - : Adds a conditional statement to the group that is associated with that joiner. Visible to the right of each conditional joiner in your expression.
  - : Deletes the conditional statement. Visible to the right of an existing conditional statement when you point to the statement.
  - Variable: Specifies the variable that you want to use for the conditional statement. Enter the variable in the input box. Click to see a list of recently used variables or click More Variables to open the Insert Variable dialog.
  - [Relational Operator]: Specifies the relational operator to use for the conditional statement. Click the existing operator to display a list of additional operators, and then click the one that you want to use. For more information, refer to Relational Operators. The operators that are available in the list depend on whether you selected Text or Decimal for the Type option.
  - Value: Specifies the values to use for the conditional statement. To add a value, click , click <enter a value>, enter the value that you want, and then press Enter. To delete a value, use the secondary mouse button to click it, and then click Delete. Some operators, such as Is blank and Is not blank, do not require a value to be specified. In these situations, the Value field is not available.
  - Type: Specifies whether the conditional statement is evaluating a text or decimal value.