HelpCursor on ToolStripMenuItem

[Sugan]

Hi all,

I need to enable context sensitive help in my application. For this
when user clicks on a menu item( "Whatis this"), i would change the
cursor to a help cursor.

I used

system.Windows.Forms.Cursor.Current = System.Windows.Forms.Cursors.Help

As this code did not help in changing the cursor, i modified the code
to

Me.Cursor = System.Windows.Forms.Cursors.Help

This code indeed worked. But when i move the cursor over a item in the
menu, it changes back to the default cursor.

Can someone tell me a way by which the cursor would remain as a help
cursor irrespective of the item the cursor hovers over.

Thanks,

Sugan

 

[Sugan]

Has no one had come across this issue? Can someone write about the work
around for this issue.

 

[Sugan]

Is there no one who has a resolution to this problem. I'm trying to
keep replying to this topic, to keep it in the top of the list

 

[Sugan]

Can someone come up with the work around for this problem. I'm not
getting reply from any of the forums in this regard. Is it such a big
deal to resolve this problem.

Thanks,
Sugan

 

[gene kelley]

Hi all,

I need to enable context sensitive help in my application. For this
when user clicks on a menu item( "Whatis this"), i would change the
cursor to a help cursor.

I used

system.Windows.Forms.Cursor.Current = System.Windows.Forms.Cursors.Help

As this code did not help in changing the cursor, i modified the code
to

Me.Cursor = System.Windows.Forms.Cursors.Help

This code indeed worked. But when i move the cursor over a item in the
menu, it changes back to the default cursor.

Can someone tell me a way by which the cursor would remain as a help
cursor irrespective of the item the cursor hovers over.

Thanks,

Sugan

ToolStripMenuItems do not have a Cursor Property, therefore, the
Form's current cursor has no meaning when the mouse is over a
DropDownItem.

It's not exactly clear what you want to accomplish.
Here is an example of using API to toggle the system cursor to
CUR_HAND when the mouse enters any of the DropDownItem in a
TopLevelMenu named FileMenu and back to the default cursor (NORMAL)
when the mouse leaves the DropDownItems.

There are two versions of the help cursor which you can use in place
of CUR_HAND:

Private Const OCR_NORMAL As Int32 = 32512
Private Const CUR_BUSY As Int32 = 21
Private Const CUR_HELP1 As Int32 = 39
Private Const CUR_HELP2 As Int32 = 41
Private Const CUR_HAND As Int32 = 45

Private Declare Function SetSystemCursor Lib "user32.dll" _
(ByVal hcur As Int32, ByVal id As Int32) As Int32

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
With Me.FileMenu
If .HasDropDownItems Then
Dim i As Integer
For i = 0 To .DropDownItems.Count - 1
AddHandler .DropDownItems(i) _
.MouseEnter, AddressOf Me.ShowMenuCursor
AddHandler .DropDownItems(i) _
.MouseLeave, AddressOf Me.ShowMenuCursor
Next

End If
End With
End Sub

Private Sub ShowMenuCursor(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
SetSystemCursor(CUR_HAND, OCR_NORMAL)
End Sub

Gene

 

[Sugan]

Hello gene,

Thanks for the help.
My aim is to provide a context dependent help. So when the user clicks
on "What is this" menu item, i change the cursor to a help cursor. Your
code in deed worked in this regard.

I'm converting a VB 6 project to VB 2005. This worked perfectly with VB
6 where i used Screen.MousePointer = vbArrowQuestion to convert the
pointer to a help pointer.

When the user clicks on any other menu item,

i check for (cursor = cursors.help) to see whether the user is looking
for help or the user is looking for the the functionality of the
particular item. This code fails to identify the help cursor which is
set as per your code. Why does this happen??

Thanks,
Sugan

 

[gene kelley]

Hello gene,

Thanks for the help.
My aim is to provide a context dependent help. So when the user clicks
on "What is this" menu item, i change the cursor to a help cursor. Your
code in deed worked in this regard.

I'm converting a VB 6 project to VB 2005. This worked perfectly with VB
6 where i used Screen.MousePointer = vbArrowQuestion to convert the
pointer to a help pointer.

When the user clicks on any other menu item,

i check for (cursor = cursors.help) to see whether the user is looking
for help or the user is looking for the the functionality of the
particular item. This code fails to identify the help cursor which is
set as per your code. Why does this happen??

Thanks,
Sugan

I still do not understand exactly what you are trying to accomplish.
If your menu items have context help available, setting a help cursor
as a "flag" is a very odd way to accomplish this.

The above example sets a system (global) cursor and has no
relationship to the .net Cursors values. The VB6 Screen.MousePointer
object was a better and safer method, but that was removed in VB2005.
I use this method in my apps for "Busy" as the Form's WaitCursor does
not always work properly, particularly when some 3rd party controls
are on the form. You have to be careful, however, that you use the
function in pairs, otherwise the system will maintain the set cursor
until you reboot the system.

In the above example, you can play with these additions and see if you
can adapt to you project. The example with the additions, per se, is
meaningless as the original example always displays a hand cursor over
all the DropDownItems :

1) Add a new variable: Private IsCur_Hand As Boolean

2) In the Sub ShowMenuCursor add the line:
IsCur_Hand = Not IsCur_Hand

3) Add this:
Private Sub Item1ToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Item3ToolStripMenuItem.Click
If IsCur_Hand Then
MessageBox.Show("Current cursor is Cur_Hand")

Else

End If
End Sub

 

[Sugan]

Hello Gene,

Thanks for the response. i'm sure this logic would be useful to me.

Thanks,
Sugan

 

[Sugan]

Hi,

But is there no way, by which i can change the cursor for an
application, instead of changing the system cursor. When a cursor for a
application is changed, i want to see the changed cursor for all the
items in the application ( menus, buttons, text boxes etc.). Is there a
way to do it.

In VB 6 this is accomplished using
Screen.MousePointer = 14

Is there a similar way in VB .Net to accomplish this.

Thnx in advance,
Sugan