HelpContextId Property

The HelpContextID property specifies the context ID of a topic in the custom Help file specified by the HelpFile property setting. Read/write Long.

expression   Required. An expression that returns one of the objects in the Applies To list.

Remarks

For the HelpContextID property, enter a Long Integer value between 0 and 2,147,483,647 representing the context ID of the Help file topic you want to display. The default setting is 0.

Note   If you enter the context ID of the Help file topic as a positive number, the help topic will display in a "full" help topic window. If you add a minus sign ("-") in front of the context ID, the help topic will be displayed in a "pop-up" window. It is important to note the the context id does not have to have a negative number when authored in Microsoft Help Workshop. You must add the minus sign when setting the property to make the topic display in the pop-up window.

You can create a custom Help file to document forms, reports, or applications you create with Microsoft Access.

When you press the F1 key in Form view, Microsoft Access calls the Microsoft Help Workshop or Microsoft HTML Help Workshop application, loads the custom Help file specified by the HelpFile property setting for the form or report, and displays the Help topic specified by the HelpContextID property setting.

If a control's HelpContextID property setting is 0 (the default), Microsoft Access uses the form's HelpContextID and HelpFile properties to identify the Help topic to display. If you press F1 in a view other than Form view or if the HelpContextID property setting for both the form and the control is 0, a Microsoft Access Help topic is displayed.

Example

This example uses the HelpContext property of the Err object to show the Visual Basic Help topic for the Overflow error.

Dim Msg
Err.Clear
On Error Resume Next
Err.Raise 6 ' Generate "Overflow" error.
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
    Msg = "Press F1 or HELP to see " & Err.HelpFile & " topic for" & _
    " the following HelpContext: " & Err.HelpContext
    MsgBox Msg, , "Error: " & Err.Description, Err.HelpFile, _
Err.HelpContext
End If