Does HelpXplain Work With Delphi VCL Apps?

HelpXplain is the exciting new animated infographics and screencast tool that integrates with Help+Manual.

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Alexander Halser
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Re: Does HelpXplain Work With Delphi VCL Apps?

Unread post by Alexander Halser »

Hi Steve,

Thank you for the details, I could duplicate it in the meantime. The result obviously varies from Windows version to version, but on Win10 it is correct, that an application that runs in a user context with limited rights cannot "see" another application that runs in an admin context. Windows separates the two for security reasons and despite HelpXplain creates a temporary system-wide mouse hook to receive the mouse messages, it doesn't receive a single click in this case. I doubt that we can find a solution around this limitation, this seems to be intentional.
which makes it great for promotional sliders on a website
It is not just the content of the Xplains that you can customize, you could also customize the player skin. We had a custom player skin with a permanent overlay in one of the corners, that implemented a link to our download page. The custom skins are explained briefly here:
https://www.helpandmanual.com/help/gf-d ... skins.html

But this help topic is just a starter. I'd be glad to help you with the implementation of a particular function.
Alexander Halser
Senior Software Architect, EC Software GmbH
Steve Gill
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Re: Does HelpXplain Work With Delphi VCL Apps?

Unread post by Steve Gill »

Alexander Halser wrote:It is not just the content of the Xplains that you can customize, you could also customize the player skin. We had a custom player skin with a permanent overlay in one of the corners, that implemented a link to our download page. The custom skins are explained briefly here:
https://www.helpandmanual.com/help/gf-d ... skins.html

But this help topic is just a starter. I'd be glad to help you with the implementation of a particular function.
Thanks Alexander. I'll get back to you when I've had a closer look at this.

= Steve
dcsoftware
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Re: Does HelpXplain Work With Delphi VCL Apps?

Unread post by dcsoftware »

Sorry for this very late reply, but I am a new user to HelpXplain, and this issue occurred on the very first screencast I attempted. I almost aborted the trial because it didn't work, but 'm glad I persevered because I think HelpXplain will be tremendously useful.
I doubt that we can find a solution around this limitation, this seems to be intentional.
I concur, there is nothing HelpXplain can do to workaround this, BUT it can detect the situation and display a warning. e.g.

"The window you are capturing is in an elevated process, and to capture mouse clicks, HelpXplain needs to also run elevated. Do you want to restart HelpXplain as an elevated process?"

Perhaps this will prevent users from aborting their trials unnecessarily.

Thanks,
David
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