Stan Brown wrote :
On Sat, 17 Mar 2012 14:02:37 -0400, GS wrote:
That's version/option dependant. In 2003 and later Help appears in its
own 'pane' inside the host app's window

I have Excel 2010, and that emphatically does not happen for me.
Whether I press F1 or click the little question mark in a circle, I
get an independent window titled "Excel help".

Maybe there's some option setting that controls where Help appears?
But I've just now scanned the Excel 2010 options, and I don't see
anything appropriate.

Stan,
Thanks for that info. I haven't installed 2010 yet and so can't speak
to the behavior. My comments, though, are 'general' in nature as they
refer to the behavior difference between a 'docked' window and a
'normal' window.

Host apps that allow optional 'docking' of Help windows usually have
keyboard shortcuts for doing so, as well as an optional keyboard
shortcut for closing it without having to use the mouse. This 'docked'
window is no longer an independant 'normal' window running
"in-process", but rather has become a "child" window in the host app
and thereby has taken on the respective attributes/behaviors of an MDI
child to the host (parent) app. In this case, Alt+F4 sends its messages
to the host app because it has the focus (when not 'working/editing' in
a child window).

In Excel 2003, Help displays by default in the 'docked' window known as
"Task Pane", which also displays many other things besides help. The
keyboard shortcut to 'toggle' display of the TaskPane happens to be
Ctrl+F1 regardless of what it is displaying. I'm not saying that this
works for all 'docked' windows, ..only where provision has been made
for UI interaction via the keyboard for dispaying/closing 'docked'
windows. I have other apps that allow docking/undocking as well as
hide/unhide windows that are docked. In Excel 2003 the Task Pane is
either Visible=True or Visible=False, meaning it's always loaded during
runtime.

I suspect, then, that unlike Excel 2003 the other versions display Help
in a normal window if there's no optional choice how to display it. In
this case, then, Help displays in a 'normal' in-process window and so
will behave as any other window with focus.

--
Garry

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