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6fb26ea3 1\section{\class{wxHelpController}}\label{wxhelpcontroller}
a660d684 2
6fb26ea3 3This is a family of classes by which
fe604ccd 4applications may invoke a help viewer to provide on-line help.
a660d684 5
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6A help controller allows an application to display help, at the contents
7or at a particular topic, and shut the help program down on termination.
8This avoids proliferation of many instances of the help viewer whenever the
9user requests a different topic via the application's menus or buttons.
a660d684 10
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11Typically, an application will create a help controller instance
12when it starts, and immediately call {\bf Initialize}\rtfsp
13to associate a filename with it. The help viewer will only get run, however,
14just before the first call to display something.
a660d684 15
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16Although all help controller classes actually derive from wxHelpControllerBase and have
17names of the form wxXXXHelpController, the
18appropriate class is aliased to the name wxHelpController for each platform.
a660d684 19
6fb26ea3 20There are currently the following help controller classes defined:
a660d684 21
2432b92d 22\begin{itemize}\itemsep=0pt
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23\item wxWinHelpController, for controlling Windows Help.
24\item wxExtHelpController, for controlling external browsers under Unix.
25The default browser is Netscape Navigator.
33b64e6f 26\item wxXLPHelpController, for controlling wxHelp (from wxWindows 1).
6fb26ea3 27\end{itemize}
a660d684 28
954b8ae6 29\wxheading{Derived from}
a660d684 30
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31wxHelpControllerBase\\
32\helpref{wxObject}{wxobject}
fe604ccd 33
954b8ae6 34\wxheading{Include files}
a660d684 35
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36<wx/help.h> (wxWindows chooses the appropriate help controller class)\\
37<wx/helpbase.h> (wxHelpControllerBase class)\\
38<wx/helpwin.h> (Windows Help controller)\\
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39<wx/generic/helpext.h> (external HTML browser controller)
40<wx/generic/helpxlp.h> (wxHelp controller)
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41
42\latexignore{\rtfignore{\wxheading{Members}}}
43
6fb26ea3 44\membersection{wxHelpController::wxHelpController}
a660d684 45
6fb26ea3 46\func{}{wxHelpController}{\void}
a660d684 47
fe604ccd 48Constructs a help instance object, but does not invoke the help viewer.
a660d684 49
6fb26ea3 50\membersection{wxHelpController::\destruct{wxHelpController}}
a660d684 51
6fb26ea3 52\func{}{\destruct{wxHelpController}}{\void}
a660d684 53
fe604ccd 54Destroys the help instance, closing down the viewer if it is running.
a660d684 55
6fb26ea3 56\membersection{wxHelpController::Initialize}\label{wxhelpcontrollerinitialize}
a660d684 57
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58\func{virtual void}{Initialize}{\param{const wxString\& }{file}}
59
60\func{virtual void}{Initialize}{\param{const wxString\& }{file}, \param{int}{ server}}
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61
62Initializes the help instance with a help filename, and optionally a server (socket)
33b64e6f 63number if using wxHelp. Does not invoke the help viewer.
a660d684 64This must be called directly after the help instance object is created and before
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65any attempts to communicate with the viewer.
66
67You may omit the file extension and a suitable one will be chosen.
a660d684 68
6fb26ea3 69\membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayBlock}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplayblock}
a660d684 70
fe604ccd 71\func{virtual bool}{DisplayBlock}{\param{long}{ blockNo}}
a660d684 72
fe604ccd 73If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the file at the given block number.
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74
75{\it wxHelp:} this is the wxHelp block number.
76
77{\it WinHelp:} Refers to the context number.
78
79{\it External HTML help:} the same as for \helpref{wxHelpController::DisplaySection}{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaysection}.
a660d684 80
6fb26ea3 81\membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayContents}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaycontents}
a660d684 82
fe604ccd 83\func{virtual bool}{DisplayContents}{\void}
a660d684 84
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85If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the
86contents.
a660d684 87
6fb26ea3 88\membersection{wxHelpController::DisplaySection}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaysection}
a660d684 89
fe604ccd 90\func{virtual bool}{DisplaySection}{\param{int}{ sectionNo}}
a660d684 91
fe604ccd 92If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the given section.
a660d684 93
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94{\it wxHelp:} Sections are numbered starting from 1. Section numbers may be viewed by running wxHelp in edit mode.
95
96{\it WinHelp:} {\it sectionNo} is a context id.
a660d684 97
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98{\it External HTML help:} wxExtHelpController implements {\it sectionNo} as an id in a map file, which is of the form:
99
100\begin{verbatim}
1010 wx.html ; Index
1021 wx34.html#classref ; Class reference
1032 wx204.html ; Function reference
104\end{verbatim}
a660d684 105
6fb26ea3 106\membersection{wxHelpController::KeywordSearch}\label{wxhelpcontrollerkeywordsearch}
a660d684 107
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108\func{virtual bool}{KeywordSearch}{\param{const wxString\& }{keyWord}}
109
110If the help viewer is not running, runs it, and searches for sections matching the given keyword. If one
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111match is found, the file is displayed at this section.
112
113{\it wxHelp:} If more than one
114match is found, the Search dialog is displayed with the matches.
115
116{\it WinHelp:} If more than one match is found,
117the first topic is displayed.
118
119{\it External HTML help:} If more than one match is found,
120a choice of topics is displayed.
a660d684 121
6fb26ea3 122\membersection{wxHelpController::LoadFile}\label{wxhelpcontrollerloadfile}
a660d684 123
33b64e6f 124\func{virtual bool}{LoadFile}{\param{const wxString\& }{file = ""}}
a660d684 125
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126If the help viewer is not running, runs it and loads the given file.
127If the filename is not supplied or is
128NULL, the file specified in {\bf Initialize} is used. If the viewer is
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129already displaying the specified file, it will not be reloaded. This
130member function may be used before each display call in case the user
131has opened another file.
132
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133\membersection{wxHelpController::SetViewer}\label{wxhelpcontrollersetviewer}
134
135\func{virtual void}{SetViewer}{\param{const wxString\& }{viewer}, \param{long}{ flags}}
136
137Sets detailed viewer information. So far this is only relevant to wxExtHelpController.
138
139\wxheading{Parameters}
140
141\docparam{viewer}{This defaults to "netscape" for wxExtHelpController.}
142
143\docparam{flags}{This defaults to wxHELP\_NETSCAPE for wxExtHelpController, indicating
144that the viewer is a variant of Netscape Navigator.}
145
6fb26ea3 146\membersection{wxHelpController::OnQuit}\label{wxhelpcontrolleronquit}
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147
148\func{virtual bool}{OnQuit}{\void}
a660d684 149
fe604ccd 150Overridable member called when this application's viewer is quit by the user.
a660d684 151
6fb26ea3 152This does not work for all help controllers.
a660d684 153
6fb26ea3 154\membersection{wxHelpController::Quit}\label{wxhelpcontrollerquit}
a660d684 155
fe604ccd 156\func{virtual bool}{Quit}{\void}
a660d684 157
fe604ccd 158If the viewer is running, quits it by disconnecting.
a660d684 159
fe604ccd 160For Windows Help, the viewer will only close if no other application is using it.
a660d684 161