ViewVC Help
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root/radiance/ray/src/util/help.hlp
Revision: 2.4
Committed: Sat Feb 22 02:07:30 2003 UTC (21 years, 7 months ago) by greg
Branch: MAIN
CVS Tags: rad5R4, rad5R2, rad4R2P2, rad5R0, rad5R1, rad3R7P2, rad3R7P1, rad4R2, rad4R1, rad4R0, rad3R5, rad3R6, rad3R6P1, rad3R8, rad3R9, rad4R2P1, rad5R3, HEAD
Changes since 2.3: +1 -1 lines
Log Message: 
Changes and check-in for 3.5 release
Includes new source files and modifications not recorded for many years
See ray/doc/notes/ReleaseNotes for notes between 3.1 and 3.5 release

File Contents

# Content
1 help.hlp 2.3 3/18/96
2
3 This help file is for the gethelp.tcl utility itself, and explains
4 the various buttons and windows it uses.
5
6 All help files have the same general format. Each help section is
7 named by its category and topic, and its position in the file is
8 indicated with a line beginning with ".Category.Topic", where
9 "Category" and "Topic" are replaced by the appropriate names.
10 Each category must have a topic called "Intro", which is the first
11 topic called up whenever this category is selected from the menu.
12 Both category and topic names must begin with letters and may contain
13 letters and/or numbers, but no special characters. They will appear on
14 the menus of the help utility when that file is open.
15
16 The help file is unformatted, and will be filled by the help utility
17 dynamically based on the current window size. The formatting code
18 is very simple, placing a single space between adjacent lines,
19 except when a line ends a sentence, when two spaces are used.
20 Regular expression searches will not cross newline boundaries in the
21 original file, so some care should be used not to break lines at
22 likely search strings. (This is a pain, I know.)
23
24 The first section of the file, which you are now reading, is
25 generally reserved for comments such as this, and is not accessed
26 directly by the user.
27
28 .Help.Intro
29
30 While holding down the control key,
31 press and release the left mouse button on any object of curiosity,
32 and if there is something to say about it, that
33 something will appear in this window.
34
35 Typically, a program will access multiple help files
36 through this help interface.
37 The particular file being viewed is indicated by the text at the
38 top right of this window.
39 It is not possible through this interface to switch from one help
40 file to another, as the particular file being viewed is controlled by
41 the calling program.
42
43 The help window itself offers the ability to search through the
44 available topics in the selected file via the "Category" and "Topic" menus.
45 Each general category consists of an introduction (such as this
46 one), followed by zero or more topics.
47 Selecting a new topic starts automatically at the introduction page.
48 From there, various topics within that category may be selected
49 using the "Topic" menu.
50
51 .Help.Category
52
53 Help information is divided logically into categories, then
54 into topics within each category.
55 Changing categories via the "Category" menu immediately selects the
56 default topic for the new category, which is always called "intro."
57
58 Other topics for the new category will be listed by the (new) topic
59 menu for that category.
60 Some categories may have only an intro topic.
61
62 The current category and topic are given as the title in the
63 displayed help window.
64
65 .Help.Topic
66
67 The topic menu allows you to select which subtopic in this category
68 you wish to display.
69
70 The next logical topic is available via the "Next" button,
71 unless the end of the help file has been reached.
72
73 The current category and topic are given as the title in the
74 displayed help window.
75
76 .Navigate.Intro
77
78 Besides accessing the category and topic menus, you can navigate
79 forward and backward in the history list for the current help file,
80 go directly to the next help topic, and search for regular
81 expressions.
82
83 The history list is filled in one of two ways.
84 The first way is by running a search which results in multiple topic
85 matches, in which case the additional matches are put in the future
86 history of this file.
87
88 The second way is by selecting additional topics, either explicitly
89 via the "Category" and "Topic" menus, or implicitly by getting more
90 help from the calling application without quitting the help window
91 in between.
92
93 .Navigate.Search
94
95 To search for a particular pattern, type a regular expression
96 in the text entry field.
97 Hitting <return> causes all matches in the current topic to be
98 highlighted.
99 Hitting the "Grep" button causes all categories and topics to be
100 searched.
101 The first matching topic is displayed, and other matching topics (if
102 any) may be accessed with the "Forward" button.
103
104 Each time a new topic is selected, matching words will be highlighted
105 in bold, whether or not <return> or the "Grep" button has been pressed.
106 To prevent new matches from being highlighted, clear the search entry.
107
108 Matches are insensitive to case and word boundaries.
109
110 .Navigate.Forward
111
112 The "Forward" button moves from the current topic to the next one in
113 the history list, if any.
114 In most cases, the "Forward" button will not be activated unless
115 a search has been conducted with the "Grep" button or
116 the "Back" button has been pressed one or more times.
117
118 .Navigate.Back
119
120 Use the "Back" button to go to previously accessed topics in the
121 history list.
122
123 If this button is disabled, it simply means that you are already at
124 the beginning of the help file history.
125
126 .Navigate.Next
127
128 The "Next" button moves to the next sequential topic in the help file,
129 which is named at the bottom of the current text.
130
131 If this button is disabled, it means that the end of the help file
132 has been reached.
133
134 .Helpwin.Intro
135
136 The help window displays the contents of the current help category and
137 topic.
138 The category and topic are given in bold at the top of the text in
139 the window.
140 The next category and topic are given at the end of the text in the
141 window.
142
143 Scrolling is accomplished with the scrollbar on the right.
144
145 .Helpwin.Scroll
146
147 Grab the bar with the mouse and drag it up and down to scroll
148 the text in the help window.
149 Click below or above the bar to jump a page forward or backward,
150 respectively.
151 Click on the little triangle at the bottom or top to move down or up
152 a line at a time.
153
154 .Help.Done
155
156 The "Done" button simply dismisses the help window.
157 (It is sometimes better to iconify the window, if frequent help is
158 needed.)