ViewVC Help
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root/radiance/src/util/help.hlp
Revision: 2.4
Committed: Sat Feb 22 02:07:30 2003 UTC (22 years, 8 months ago) by greg
Branch: MAIN
CVS Tags: rad5R4, rad5R2, rad5R3, rad5R0, rad5R1, rad4R2, rad3R7P2, rad3R7P1, rad6R0, rad4R1, rad4R0, rad3R5, rad3R6, rad3R6P1, rad3R8, rad3R9, rad4R2P1, rad4R2P2, 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

# User Rev Content
1 greg 2.4 help.hlp 2.3 3/18/96
2 greg 2.1
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 greg 2.2 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 greg 2.1
16 greg 2.2 The help file is unformatted, and will be filled by the help utility
17 greg 2.1 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 greg 2.3 To prevent new matches from being highlighted, clear the search entry.
107 greg 2.1
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.)