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5 - Help Is Essential
Of course, that's not the only professional touch necessary for this and other programs. Help files are notoriously absent or minimal in software. More often than not, once the program is done, help information is the furthest thing from the programmer's mind. Resist the urge to stop. Help information is necessary:- As a developer, customers will ask questions. Answering them from within the program avoids excessive email or phone calls.
- Most programs have enough twists and turns in usage that there needs to be documentation - few people can keep track of all the details of a program.
- What customers think of your software is directly related to the image you project. Help files indicate you care enough to explain, and the impression does not go unnoticed.
void AboutWindow( const char *message,
const char *programName,
int versionMajor,
int versionMinor );
This generic file can and should be modified
to suit your needs. Once set up for your
company, you should be able to easily reuse
it on new projects. The project specific information is passed
to the function in the form of a program
name, version information (major & minor,
such as 1,3 for version 1.3), and help text.
In our program, the call (which we've added
to the HandleMenu() function in response
to our new About/Help menu button) looks
like this:
case IDM_ABOUT:
AboutWindow( "paTicTacToe is very easy to play - this dialog "
"would normally explain the program in more detail, "
"but since it's an example, I'm leaving it out (and "
"avoiding the extra work!)",
"paTicTacToe",1,0);
break;
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