Adding More Lines of Statement Help in QuickBASIC "Set Info.." (34607)






This article was previously published under Q34607

SUMMARY

The Set Info... option on the Macintosh QuickBASIC Search menu allows you to add additional help information for any statement. As you add a complete line of help information, it automatically wraps to the next line; however, you cannot insert a carriage return. To insert some carriage returns to better format the help information, you can use ResEdit as shown under "More Information" below.

To retrieve information from the help system in Macintosh QuickBASIC, position the insertion pointer on any keyword in the List window and press COMMAND+I (or select the Get Info... option on the Search menu). COMMAND+I displays the proper syntax for any selected QuickBASIC statement or MBLC Toolbox Library routine.

MORE INFORMATION

To embed extra carriage returns in the help box for a given statement, you can run ResEdit, as shown in the following steps:

  1. Run ResEdit.
  2. Do one of the following:

    1. Open the MBTI or MBKI resource of Microsoft QuickBASIC (b) or (d).

      [An MBTI (Macintosh BASIC Toolbox Info) resource contains help on all Toolbox library statements, which are stored in QuickBASIC as MBLC resources. An MBKI (Macintosh BASIC Keyword Info) resource contains help on all statements that are built into the QuickBASIC language.]
    2. Or, you can open the MBUI (Macintosh BASIC User Info) resource, if any, in the source file of a program.

      [An MBUI contains help information for user-defined keywords. An MBUI resource can be created by pressing OPTION+COMMAND+I in QuickBASIC on a selected token (a symbolic name in the List window) that QuickBASIC does not find as the name of an MBKI or MBTI resource. MBUI resources are saved in the resource fork of the program source file, not in QuickBASIC. You can optionally move MBUI resources into QuickBASIC with Statement Mover if you wish that help available for all programs.]
  3. Highlight the statement you wish to add help information for.
  4. Select the Open As... option from the File menu.
  5. Select "STR " for the New Type Name.
  6. You can now add more than one line of help information in the box labeled "theStr" by pressing the ENTER key after typing each line.
  7. Back out of Resedit by closing windows and saving the changes.
  8. The new information and added lines will be displayed when a Get Info... is done on the selected statement in the QuickBASIC interpreter. You can edit the text on the added lines by clicking the mouse on the desired line. Pressing ENTER exits the Get Info... option.

Modification Type: Minor Last Reviewed: 1/9/2003
Keywords: KB34607