I’m having some problem with Help features. I used code like the
following to put an About box and help files under the Apple menu on the
left side of the menu bar.

LOCAL FN setUpMenus
  APPLE MENU "About StatGames;Help With This Window"
  MENU 1,0,_enable, "File"
  MENU 1,_quitItem,_enable,    "/QQuit"           ' close file and exit  
END FN


CLEAR LOCAL
DIM menuID
DIM itemID
LOCAL FN doMenus
  menuID = MENU(_menuID)
  itemID = MENU(_itemID)
  
  SELECT menuID
    CASE 255                                      ' Apple Menu
      FN helpWindows(itemID)
      
    CASE _fileMenu
      SELECT itemID
        CASE _quitItem                            'quit
          END
      END SELECT
   END SELECT
END FN

A student testing the program reported the following:

 Just as in Smith's Statistical Package, the Apple menu disappears when
I enter the program.  I remember last year when I had mentioned the
problem to you, I had traced it down to a control panel called
PopUpFolder.  I no longer use that, though, and the problem still
exists.  I can research it some more; it may have to do with the Apple
Menu Items control panel.  I notice that an old version of Excel, 5.0,
also exhibits that problem.  Perhaps all three programs have the same
conflict.  Because there's no Apple Menu, I cannot access the Help With
This Window feature.  Perhaps it would be more appropriate anyways to
move it to the Help menu on the right side of the menubar.

' ***********************
I don’t have this problem and Jay (from the list) reported no problem
when he tested the program, but I’m concerned.

Has anyone else confronted this situation (and found a simple solution)? 

Also, how do I add my own help items to the Help menu on the right side
of the menubar? (I’m on sabbatical and didn’t bring my FutureBasic
manuals with me.)

‘ *******************
I did find this in the Help files with FutureBasicII:

FutureBasic's Help file gives this note and warning under APPLE MENU:

Note: The compiled application looks for an MBAR (menu bar) resource
with ID 127 in its resource fork. If an MBAR resource is used, it
requires the Apple menu resource to be installed with a resource ID of
127. In this case, MENU(_menuID) will return 127 if the Apple menu was
created as a resource as described above.

WARNING: When using MultiFinder, it sometimes gets confused when
FutureBASIC II runs a program from within the editor, forgetting where
the Apple menu is located in memory. To correct, add a default Apple
MENU resource into the STAZ Extras file with an ID 127. This will change
the default APPLE MENU resource ID from _appleMenu to _appleResMenu.

‘ **********
Does this warning only apply to MBAR resources trying to access
_appleResMenu = 127? Or does it also apply when I try to use _appleMenu
= 255?

If it does apply, could someone give me a step-by-step explanation of
how I “add a default Apple MENU resource into the STAZ Extras file with
an ID 127.”