Third-Party Help Menu Item (C++)

Description

The following package implementation file uses the ToolsAPI to add a menu item ("My Company") to the Help > Third-Party Help menu of the IDE, and then add two child menu items to that new menu item:

• "Offline Help", which opens a CHM file.
• "Online Help", which opens a web page.

To use this code example:

1. Create a design-time package that is configured to use the Tools API.
2. Replace the content of the package implementation file (Package1.cpp) with the source code below.
3. Replace "Path\\to\\your\\local\\help\\file" with the actual path to your help file. The code is meant to work with a CHM file, but other file formats should work as well.
4. Replace "http://example.com" with the main URL of your help.

Code

// Package1.cpp
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

#include <System.hpp>
#include <System.SysUtils.hpp>
#include <ToolsAPI.hpp>
#include <Vcl.Menus.hpp>
#include <Winapi.ShellAPI.hpp>
#include <Winapi.Windows.hpp>

#pragma hdrstop
#pragma package(smart_init)
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

//   Package source.
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

struct TMyIdeExtension {

  _di_INTAServices NTAServices;
  TMenuItem* MyHelpMenuItem;
  TMenuItem* MyOfflineHelpMenuItem;
  TMenuItem* MyOnlineHelpMenuItem;

  void OpenLocalFile(UnicodeString Path) {
    if (FileExists(Path)) {
      TShellExecuteInfo SEInfo = { 0 };
      SEInfo.cbSize = sizeof(TShellExecuteInfo);
      SEInfo.hwnd = 0;
      SEInfo.lpFile = Path.w_str();
      SEInfo.lpParameters = NULL;
      SEInfo.nShow = SW_SHOWDEFAULT;
      SEInfo.lpVerb = L"open";
      SEInfo.lpDirectory = ExtractFileDir(Path).w_str();
      ShellExecuteExW(&SEInfo);
    }
  }

  void OpenUrl(UnicodeString Url) {
    TShellExecuteInfoW SEInfo = { 0 };
    SEInfo.cbSize = sizeof(TShellExecuteInfo);
    SEInfo.hwnd = 0;
    SEInfo.lpFile = Url.w_str();
    SEInfo.lpParameters = NULL;
    SEInfo.nShow = SW_SHOWDEFAULT;
    SEInfo.lpVerb = L"open";
    SEInfo.lpDirectory = NULL;
    ShellExecuteExW(&SEInfo);
  }

  void __fastcall OfflineHelpClick(TObject* Sender) {
    OpenLocalFile("Path\\to\\your\\local\\help\\file");
  }

  void __fastcall OnlineHelpClick(TObject* Sender) {
    OpenUrl("http://example.com");
  }

  TMyIdeExtension() {
    if (BorlandIDEServices->Supports(NTAServices)) {
      TMenuItem* MyHelpMenuItem = new TMenuItem(NULL);
      MyHelpMenuItem->Name = "MyCompanyHelpMenuItem";
      MyHelpMenuItem->Caption = "MyCompany";
      MyHelpMenuItem->ImageIndex = 16;
      NTAServices->AddActionMenu("HelpThirdPartyMenuItem", NULL, MyHelpMenuItem, false, true);

      TMenuItem* MyOnlineHelpMenuItem = new TMenuItem(MyHelpMenuItem);
      MyOnlineHelpMenuItem->Caption = "Online Help";
      MyOnlineHelpMenuItem->ImageIndex = 153;
      MyOnlineHelpMenuItem->OnClick = OnlineHelpClick;
      NTAServices->AddActionMenu("MyCompanyHelpMenuItem", NULL, MyOnlineHelpMenuItem, false, true);

      TMenuItem* MyOfflineHelpMenuItem = new TMenuItem(MyHelpMenuItem);
      MyOfflineHelpMenuItem->Caption = "Offline Help";
      MyOfflineHelpMenuItem->ImageIndex = 16;
      MyOfflineHelpMenuItem->OnClick = OfflineHelpClick;
      NTAServices->AddActionMenu("MyCompanyHelpMenuItem", NULL, MyOfflineHelpMenuItem, false, true);
    }
  }

  ~TMyIdeExtension() {
    delete MyHelpMenuItem;
  }

};

TMyIdeExtension MyIdeExtension;

#pragma argsused
extern "C" int _libmain(unsigned long reason)
{
    return 1;
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Uses

• Vcl.Menus.TMenuItem ( fr | de | ja )
• System.SysUtils.Supports ( fr | de | ja )

See Also

• Extending the IDE Using the Tools API
• Adding an Item to the Main Menu of the IDE

• Third-Party Help Menu Item (Delphi) code example