Customization of the Windows Forms HelpProvider class that provides the additional ability to pop up Help Builder from a running application via a hot key, popping up in the context of the current Help topic. This feature is extremely useful as you can then edit topic information in a context sensitive manner at runtime when the application is running. It allows developers to hook up help topics to controls and forms, and then let the content creation staff handle creating the actual content for the application while they are running the application.

The functionality is hooked up simply by using this component on a form instead of using a standard .NET HelpProvider component and enabling the the static EnableHelpBuilderHelpProvider property which globally enables the HelpBuilder provider to pop up Help Builder on a hot key. With the property set to false, this component behaves just like a standard HelpProvider object.

The Component also provides a couple of useful helper methods to bring up Help Builder at runtime dynamically. OpenHelpBuilderWindow() will open Help Builder with a specified topic passed based on a Pk. ShowHelpBuilder will pop up Help Builder based on the currently selected control on a form given the form includes a Help Provider. You can use it to provide custom Help Builder functionality to your own applications. Source code is provided so you can customize this functionality even further if you choose.

For more information on setting up the HelpBuilderHelpProvider in your own applications, please see Using the HelpBuilderHelpProvider.