• Short Description
• Install the eXHelper tool
• Using the eXHelper tool
• Converting x-script to VBA, VB6, VB7/VB.NET, VFP6,VFP9, C# and C++
• Tips and Tricks
• Troubleshooting

The eXHelper tool divides its client area in three parts: Questions, Template and Running panels. The Questions panel shows a list of questions, where you can search for your keywords, using incremental search or filtering feature of the eXTree component that's used. Also, for each question in the tool, the component's documentation provides the source code to answer the question where the most important properties and methods are shown in bold, in the Template panel. As soon as the cursor hovers a keyword in the Template panel, the eXEdit inside shows a tooltip that describes the property or the method. The Template section is not read-only, so you can type or insert your own x-script code. Once you press ENTER or double click the question, the Template panel shows the code required, and the Running panel shows the component, and runs the template. Else, the Running panel is automatically refreshed after 5 seconds, in case the content's of the Template page is changed. Currently, the source code provided is in x-script format, that's designed to be easy to use and understand. The x-script format is just a string that contains code to be executed by the component. We have in plans adding a converter for template scripts to most of the used programming languages.

Download the eXHelper tool, unzip the helper.zip file, and you get the helper.exe file. Run it, and you should see something like follows:

Click the Install button, and the tool and required components are installed on your computer. By default, the installer opens the folder where the ExHelper.exe tool is installed.

Run the ExHelper.exe, which is usually located in your Program Files folder under the \Exontrol\ExHelper folder. Once you run the tool, you see:

Lets say that you are asking: "Does your tree control supports partial - check feature?"

1. Select the Tree - Skinable Tree, in the drop down list box, so we can get the questions for the tree component.

2. Press Help button.. If the tool is not able to create the component or to locate the documentation for the component you selected, red messages will be shown, in the right side, that will guide you what to do next.;

3. The list of questions is displayed in the left side panel, which is the Questions panel

4. Click the drop down filter button, in the Question column, so a filter for field is shown up

   • Type the partial word, so the column gets filtered only questions related to the partial keyword.

   • As you start typing, the control will look progressively for the questions that contains parti... characters and so on.

   • Press the ENTER keym or double click the questions you are asking for

5. The Template panel lists the properties and methods, the code required to answer the question.

6. Drag the cursor over any property or method in the Template panel, and its documentation shows up.

7. Click the Running Panel, and see how the control reacts as the Template script was applied.

8. The Running panel shows a marker that specifies the area where you should look or try.

The documentation is just a plain TXT file, that contains x-script code, that's retrieved from our server. For instance, remove the exontrol_tree.txt from ExHelper folder, and run the tool again. You will be asked to get it automatically from our web server. We would recommend you from time to time, to refresh your control documentation, even by removing its respective TXT file, or by clicking the Help button while SHIFT key is pressed. The eXHelper is free to use for anyone that wants to start working with any of our UI component.

Currently, the eXHelper tools may convert x-script code to programming languages like VBA, VB6, VB7/VB.NET, VFP6,VFP9, C# and C++.  Select a question in the left side panel, the one that lists the frequently questions ( 3 ), and next double click the question or press ENTER key. The x-script code is shown in the middle panel (5). In the same time, the horizontal scroll bar in the middle part ( 5 ) includes the following buttons: X, VBA, VB6, VB7, VFP6, VFP9, C# and C++, like shown in the second picture. Click the VB6 and the x-script code gets converted to VB6. Click the VB7 and the x-script code is translated to VB.NET, and so on.

The following screen shot shows the question being selected before user double clicks or presses the ENTER key:

The following screen shot shows the question being selected after the user double clicks it or presses the ENTER key ( the conversion buttons are shown in red, in the horizontal scroll bar ):

Tips and tricks for eXHelper tool:

• Filter by Selection. Double click a work in the Template view, so it gets selected, and right click the keyword, so the context menu shows up. Select the 'Filter For' command, and the questions are filtered by selected command.

• You can filter by multiple columns. The first column displays the questions, and it looks for the word in the questions. The rest of the columns, holds keywords, and can be used to filter by keywords. 

• Incremental search for questions. Click the Question panel, and start typing the characters of the word you are looking for. As soon as you type, the selection is changed, and the word being selected is highlighted. Press the F3 key for the next occurrence.

• Add your code to Template view, and press the CTRL + S to save the template, and to re-run the template.

• Drag the cursor over a command in the Template view, and its documentation shows up, which describes the command, the object where it belongs, and its parameters.

• Click the Help button, while pressing the SHIFT key, so the Running panel displays a list of options you can select from. Click the 'automatically' or 'save' link, to refresh the list of questions for selected component. 

• Press the ALT + SPACE, so the form's system menu shows up, select the Size item, to resize the main form. The new size and position of the main form is saved, when you close the eXHelper tool.

• If the question you found is what your are looking for but don't see the expected result, make sure that you are running the latest version of the component! Drag the cursor over the bolded keyword, so its documentation shows up. If it doesn't the property or the method from the cursor is not implemented in your version, so you need to get the latest update.

• Right click the bottom button of the vertical scroll bar in the Questions panel and so the latest questions are displayed.

Troubleshooting

• One of required components is not installed. Install the eXHelper tool again.

   

• The component you selected for checking, is not installed, or requires a runtime license key. Download and install the component from the link as indicated, click the Help button or run the tool again.

  

• The component you selected doesn't provide any documentation. In the installer folder, you can locate several TXT files, which contains documentation for known components. For instance, the exontrol_calendar.txt file provides documentation for our Calendar control. 

  

We would appreciate any feedback that you want to share with us.