[news.eclipse.platform.ua] Re: Questions about context help

[Bill.Blalock@xxxxxxxx (Bill Blalock)]

Pierre Candela wrote:


> 3)the org.eclipse.help.standalone.Help.displayContext(String, int, int) 
> method doesn't seem to do anything: is that normal?

I want to pick question 3 up for Ganymede and Galileo (3.4 and 3.5).  The 
answers to his first two questions are in this thread.

I am trying to use a help plugin I have developed for an RCP to work as a 
stand alone help function.  I want to make the documentation available for 
a non-eclipse application.  In fact I'd lake to make context help 
availalble.

First question, what should Help.displayContext() do in a standalone Help 
implementation?

In my RCP dynamic help, or requesting dynamic help as an action, opens a 
window within the application which has a different structure than the 
Help window.  This window has a single view.  Selected help overlays the 
single view.

The Help window has two views.  The toc/index/search/bookmark view remain 
and the help is displayed in the second view.

Standalone Help displays the Help window (a mini version of eclipse is run 
by the command line or non-eclipse Java application).  How does this 
window show context help?

To set up my standalone Help test I followed the suggestions in the 
documentation Platform Plug-in Developer Guide > Programmer's Guide > User 
assistance support > Help > Configuration/setup>Standalone Help.

I have used the method of include platform runtime binary in my 
application.  After I get it working I'll make a leaner version for the 
help.

With the assistance of other postings in this newsgroup I was able to get 
it working and just displaying my help.

Help.displayHelp() works.  I can travel the toc from my help plugin 
(x937_help).

Help.displayContext(String, int, int) doesn't do anything.  For example

	/*
	 * Create an array of String objects containing options that you want to 
	 * pass to help system support. Typically, the eclipsehome option is 
needed. 
	 */
	String[] options = new String[] { "-eclipsehome", "c:\\" + 
System.getProperty("eclipsehome") +"\\eclipse" };
	/*
	 * In your application, create an instance of the Help class by passing 
in 
	 * the options. This object should be held onto until the end of your 
	 * application. 
	 */
	Help helpSystem = new Help(options);
	try {
	helpSystem.start();
	System.out.println("Context check_detail_help");
	helpSystem.displayContext("x937_help.check_detail_help", 100, 100); 
	} catch (Exception e) {
	e.printStackTrace()
	}

This code fragment doesn't do anything except show the message on the 
console.

	try {
	helpSystem.start();
	helpSystem.displayHelp(); 
	Thread.sleep(20000);
	System.out.println("Context check_detail_help");
	helpSystem.displayContext("x937_help.check_detail_help", 100, 100); 
	Thread.sleep(10000);
	System.out.println("Context image_help");
	helpSystem.displayContext("x937_help.image_help", 100, 100); 
	Thread.sleep(10000);
	helpSystem.shutdown();
	} catch (Exception e) {
	e.printStackTrace()
	}

This code fragment opens Help which shows the TOC of my plugin.  20 
seconds later the console shows "Context check_detail_help".  10 seconds 
later "Context image_help" appears on the console.  10 seconds after that 
the Help GUI closes.

I developed this with 3.4 (Ganymede).  I just finished trying it with the 
Galileo (3.5) runtime to see if that would make a difference.  No luck.

My RCP uses this plugin for dynamic context help.  In that environment it 
works.

Thanks for reading.

Bill Blalock