B4A Class DOHelp 1.2 - simple help system using webview and HTML pages

Hi all,

I created a simple help system for my apps and have packaged it into a free class (DOHelp) and demo app.

It lets you open a help dialog showing your content as standard HTML pages (local or hosted on a web server). The content is shown in a webview, with basic browser controls in its titlebar. The user can then browse your interlinked help pages.

To use this class:

1. Add the DOHelp class (DOHelp.bas) to your B4A project.
2. Add the DOHelp.bal layout file to your Files folder.
3. Tick these internal libraries in your project:
   - Archiver (to expand your zip file of HTML/CSS/JS files to a folder on the device)
   - WebViewExtras2 (to set up the webview properly)
   - XUI (to get a proper URI for the web pages)
4. Prepare your help files in a folder and zip them up (without their parent folder), then put that zip file in your Files folder.
5. In your app, create a DOHelp instance and call its Show method.
   - You can set the specific page to start on.
   - You can also set a light or dark theme if you wish (handled by your CSS).
   - It shows a dialog with basic browser controls and your specified help page.

Included in this demo are a few sample web pages (interlinked), basic CSS, and a JavaScript file that handles switching between light and dark themes.

Feedback much appreciated. Thanks!

Updated to version 1.2

 

[Dave O]

I've updated this to version 1.1, adding another argument to the Initialize method to specify a home page.

This lets you open a help window to any starting page in your help system, but still have the Home button go back to the root page.

 

[Dave O]

Version 1.2
- added support for mailto links

 

[Theera]

Nice works