A very simple help window

[Renegade]

I put together the basics for a very simple help/dialog window, and thought that it might be useful for some others.

It's NOT complete/production, but is a good basic help for someone to get started on a better dialog. i.e. You can use it as a launch pad to create something much better than the typical lame YES/NO dialog.

The basics are that it opens a dialog and displays buttons for people to click. The number of buttons can be arbitrary, e.g. 1 or 100. Buttons all display semi-nicely in rows.

Likely it's not all that useful except as a launch pad for ideas.

Help.zip (11.01 kB - downloaded 268 times.)

Here's the basic code:

Code: C# [Select]

1. using System;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using System.ComponentModel;
4. using System.Data;
5. using System.Drawing;
6. using System.Linq;
7. using System.Text;
8. using System.Windows.Forms;
9.  
10. namespace Help
11. {
12.     public partial class HelpWindow : Form
13.     {
14.         public string Html = string.Empty;
15.         public string[] ButtonTexts;
16.         public string Value = string.Empty;
17.  
18.         // Don't use the default contructor. Use the override.
19.         //public HelpWindow()
20.         //{
21.         //    InitializeComponent();
22.         //}
23.  
24.         /// <summary>
25.         /// A simple override to let you set the HTML of the browser and create an arbitrary number of buttons.
26.         /// </summary>
27.         /// <param name="html">The HTML for the browser.</param>
28.         /// <param name="buttonTexts">The text for each button. The form returns the text value for the clicked button when it closes.</param>
29.         public HelpWindow(string html, string[] buttonTexts)
30.         {
31.             InitializeComponent();
32.             Html = html;
33.             ButtonTexts = buttonTexts;
34.  
35.             int lastLeft = 24;
36.             List<Size> sizes = new List<Size>();
37.             int newTop = 16;
38.             for (int i = 0; i < ButtonTexts.Length; i++)
39.             {
40.                 // Create a new button - this could be beefed up with a new custom type or something.
41.                 Button b = new Button();
42.                 b.Text = ButtonTexts[i];
43.                 Size s = TextRenderer.MeasureText(b.Text, b.Font);
44.                 sizes.Add(s);
45.                 b.Width = s.Width + 10;
46.                 b.Height = s.Height + 8;
47.  
48.                 // check the width and see if the next button will fit.
49.                 int totalWidth = 24;
50.                 foreach (Size sz in sizes)
51.                 {
52.                     // Add up the widths and some padding.
53.                     totalWidth += sz.Width + 10; //   the width of all previous, and the current one
54.                     // check if that is too wide for the current form width
55.                     if (totalWidth >= scPanel.Panel2.Width - 44) // we want a bit extra width on the right side so it's not jam packed.
56.                     {
57.                         // adjust the top down 24 with 10 padding - like a line feed LF
58.                         newTop += s.Height + 8;
59.                         // clear the sizes as we're starting over now
60.                         sizes = new List<Size>();
61.                         // add the current button again as we'll need it again in the next loop iteration
62.                         sizes.Add(s);
63.                         // Adjust the left back - like a carriage return CR
64.                         lastLeft = 24;
65.                         // Put the splitter up a bit to automatically show the lower buttons.
66.                         scPanel.SplitterDistance -= 34;
67.                         break;
68.                     }
69.                 }
70.  
71.                 b.Top = newTop;
72.                 b.Left = lastLeft;
73.                 b.Click += new EventHandler(b_Click);
74.                 scPanel.Panel2.Controls.Add(b);
75.                 lastLeft = b.Left + b.Width + 16;
76.             }
77.         }
78.  
79.         void b_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
80.         {
81.             // Set the value and close the form.
82.             this.Value = ((Button)sender).Text;
83.             this.Close();
84.         }
85.  
86.         private void HelpWindow_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
87.         {
88.             // This is where you should load the HTML into a browser control or something like that. It should be in Panel1.
89.         }
90.  
91.         private void HelpWindow_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
92.         {
93.             // Not really needed here. Do any last minute processing if you like here.
94.         }
95.     }
96. }

[Renegade]

Ah, I should also post an example usage:

Code: C# [Select]

1. Help.HelpWindow h = new Help.HelpWindow("The buttons below are dynamic, and you can have as many as you like. <br /><br />Clicking one of the buttons returns the value clicked.", new string[] { "farty party~!", "new year", "bye!" });
2.             h.ShowDialog();
3.             Console.WriteLine("You clicked: <br/ >\"<b>" + h.Value + "</b>\"");
4.             h.Dispose();