[platform-help-dev] Installing a Standalone Help

[jack_downing@xxxxxxxxxx]

Hello,

I have tried unsuccessfully to install a standalone help system. Please forgive me as I am not a programmer; I am a writer and my knowledge of Java is limited. 

I am following the instructions in "How to Install a Standalone Help System" found at the this URL:

http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/~checkout~/platform-help-home/standalone.html

Here are my questions:

The instructions reference the class: org.eclipse.help.standalone.Help  I can't find this class in the platform binary runtime. Is this class no longer used? Also, the instructions reference classes that apparently have been renamed. Many have "_2.0.0" appended to them. 

I tried to test the standalone help using the following command (from the instructions):

        java -classpath d:\myApp\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.help\help.jar 
        org.eclipse.help.standalone.Help d:\myApp\eclipse\plugins

I get the error: "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError" -- I'm assuming this is because                         org.eclipse.help.standalone.Help is not available?


When invoking context-sensitive help from a standalone help system, what is the difference between these two methods. They both seem to be a way to display a help topic (html file).

Method #1

helpSystem.displayHelp("/com.mycompany.mytool.doc/toc.xml");
helpSystem.displayHelp("/com.mycompany.mytool.doc/tasks/task1.htm");


Method # 2 

helpSystem.displayContext(contextId, x, y) 

Finally, do you have a sample java program that is used to invoke help?  I'd like to see how the helpSystem method is used in the program, study it, then give it to my developers who will be hooking up help to our application. 

Thanks!

Jack Downing
jack_downing@xxxxxxxxxx
(978) 399-6265