For displaying bitmaps, you must know the file format of the file. There are several units to find on the net, or you can make your own routines; check out www.wotsit.org.

As for running external programs, I refer to the FAQ I've written about the subject (when the old TP forum closed I've put all my FAQ postings on my website). However, I don't think it's possible to run win32 programs from 16 bit DOS.

If you want to use the mouse to operate menus, you should work object oriented; some information on that subject I've also written down in a FAQ.

Regards,
Bert Vingerhoets
vingerhoetsbert@hotmail.com
http://student.vub.ac.be/~bvingerh/
Don't worry what people think about you. They're too busy wondering what you think about them.

Thanx Bert

Could you perhaps post the URL of your FAQ's for me?  If I can't launch something like IE, can I perhaps launch Notepad, or is that also 32bit? Probably.  Otherwise, what external program can I run to serve as a help file?

Thanks again.
Oz

Are you writing a DOS-type program or Windows? Presumeably DOS, otherwise you'd just use a windows-type help file?? The last "serious" DOS programme I wrote was turbo pascal 6.0, and used graphics heavily (egavga.bgi - if you're using something different it might be more difficult to adapt than it's worth), but it had an online help system with clickable "hyperlinks"; I could happily try to dig it out for you if it would be any use. Not that it was particularly quality code....

If you really want it to be an external program, you can write a TP program as interface between the actual help file and the user; you can also embed this interface in the program itself.

If you want to load an external program from a graphical application, you'll probably have memory problems since the graphics need you to reserve as much heap space as possible. I've written a FAQ on the subject, you can find it on my website: http://student.vub.ac.be/~bvingerh/.

Regards,
Bert Vingerhoets
vingerhoetsbert@hotmail.com
http://student.vub.ac.be/~bvingerh/
Don't worry what people think about you. They're too busy wondering what you think about them.

Hi again.

Thanx for the replies guys.  Lionel Hill, I'm writing a program in TP 6.  I want it to run an external file containing help, but I have absolutely no idea how to do it and I figured, since I have a basic knowledge of HTML, I might incorporate it into my proggie.
Bert, thanx again.  I've just visited the site, I downloaded the page (for reading later) If I've still got problems, you know you'll hear from me, bu you have in your FAQ looks excellent.

Thanx again.
Oz

Good luck, ozobdrol. If you're in TP 6.0 for DOS there's a lot to be said for putting the help-reader in your own programme. If you want to open a 2nd programme then you have to compile the first with compiler directives set to make sure it doesn't occupy all the dos memory, which means you need to know in advance how much space your help programme needs, and how much space the main programme needs. That seems a bit inflexible to me.
Of course your help file can remain external to the main program. You simply read the relevant bits as the user asks for them.
The other advantage of having the help system within the main program is that it can be aware of what the main program is doing, and respond accordingly. I found it helpful in my help scheme to have a little arrow that could be positioned on the main screen outside the help area to indicate buttons that the user may wish to push, or text fields that needed to be entered. Of course an alternative would have been to push the mouse across to the right place.
Best wishes,
Lionel