[news.eclipse.platform.ua] Use HELP_DATA to both hide and set ordering f

[Lee Anne Kowalski <nospam_kowalskilee@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Erlend,

No worries about newbie questions, that's what this group is for!

To hide and to set ordering for the books in the nav frame, use the 
HELP_DATA customization preference.

Descriptions of the customization preferences available for the help 
system is located here:
http://help.eclipse.org/ganymede/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/guide/ua_help_setup_preferences.htm

And details about the HELP_DATA file format are here:
http://help.eclipse.org/ganymede/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/guide/ua_help_setup_help_data.htm

For an infocenter, you'd set the plugin_customization parameter to point 
to a plugin_customization.ini file, and in that file is where you set 
the different customization parameters such as HELP_DATA, banner, etc.

Depending on which way you prefer, you can specify the 
plugin_customization parameter on the startup command for the 
infocenter, like:
-plugincustomization plugin_customization.ini

or in the plugin.xml file for your "product plug-in", like:
<plugin>
<extension id="myIC" point="org.eclipse.core.runtime.products">
<product name="%name" application="">
<property name="preferenceCustomization" value="plugin_customization.ini" />
</product>
</extension>

And the plugin_customization.ini file would have a line like:
org.eclipse.help/HELP_DATA=helpdata.xml
to point to your helpdata.xml file.

On your other questions about the URL format, I'll have to leave that 
for someone else to answer.

Hope this helps,
Lee Anne

Erlend Leganger wrote:
> I apologize for the newbie questions, but I'm trying to get to know 
> Eclipse UA with the intent to use it to provide help for a standard 
> (non-Eclipse) application. I have searched a bit, but haven't found the 
> answers I need.
>
> I have come so far that I have created two help books, they are stored 
> in eclipse/plugins/mydoc.ops and /mydoc.tech respectively. When I then 
> start the InfoCenter and point my web browser at 
> localhost:8080/help/index.jsp, I see the books Workbench User Guide, 
> Java development user guide, Platform Plug-in Developer Guide, JDT 
> Plug-in Developer Guide, Plug-in Development Environment Guide and then 
> finally my two books MyDoc - Ops and MyDoc - Tech.
>
> And now for the questions:
> - How can I control which books are displayed in the navigation pane? I 
> want to show my books only and not include the Eclipse specific books.
> - How can I control the order of the books in the navigation pane?
> - Can I change the initial URL from localhost:8080/help/index.jsp to for 
> example localhost:8080/mydoc/index.jsp?
> - Is it possible to get an automatic redirect from localhost:8080 to the 
> correct URL? If I go to localhost:8080 now, I get an 404 telling me that 
> no context is matched.
>
> My configuration is Eclipse 3.4.2 on Windows7, slimmed down for Help 
> purposes using the procedure in 
> http://help.eclipse.org/stable/index.jsp?topic=/org.eclipse.platform.doc.isv/guide/ua_help_setup_standalone.htm. 
> I suspect I need to work with the files in the plugins directory, so I 
> have included a complete list of the files at 
> http://pastebin.com/m58290423 (it's 800+ lines long).
>
> Again sorry for the noob questions, hope you can help.
>
> - Erlend Leganger