docs/latex/wx/helpinst.tex

   1 \section{\class{wxHelpController}}\label{wxhelpcontroller}
   2
   3 This is a family of classes by which
   4 applications may invoke a help viewer to provide on-line help.
   5
   6 A help controller allows an application to display help, at the contents
   7 or at a particular topic, and shut the help program down on termination.
   8 This avoids proliferation of many instances of the help viewer whenever the
   9 user requests a different topic via the application's menus or buttons.
  10
  11 Typically, an application will create a help controller instance
  12 when it starts, and immediately call {\bf Initialize}\rtfsp
  13 to associate a filename with it. The help viewer will only get run, however,
  14 just before the first call to display something.
  15
  16 Although all help controller classes actually derive from wxHelpControllerBase and have
  17 names of the form wxXXXHelpController, the
  18 appropriate class is aliased to the name wxHelpController for each platform.
  19
  20 There are currently the following help controller classes defined:
  21
  22 \begin{itemize}\itemsep=0pt
  23 \item wxWinHelpController, for controlling Windows Help.
  24 \item wxExtHelpController, for controlling external browsers under Unix.
  25 The default browser is Netscape Navigator.
  26 \item wxXLPHelpController, for controlling wxHelp (from wxWindows 1).
  27 \end{itemize}
  28
  29 \wxheading{Derived from}
  30
  31 wxHelpControllerBase\\
  32 \helpref{wxObject}{wxobject}
  33
  34 \wxheading{Include files}
  35
  36 <wx/help.h> (wxWindows chooses the appropriate help controller class)\\
  37 <wx/helpbase.h> (wxHelpControllerBase class)\\
  38 <wx/helpwin.h> (Windows Help controller)\\
  39 <wx/generic/helpext.h> (external HTML browser controller)
  40 <wx/generic/helpxlp.h> (wxHelp controller)
  41
  42 \latexignore{\rtfignore{\wxheading{Members}}}
  43
  44 \membersection{wxHelpController::wxHelpController}
  45
  46 \func{}{wxHelpController}{\void}
  47
  48 Constructs a help instance object, but does not invoke the help viewer.
  49
  50 \membersection{wxHelpController::\destruct{wxHelpController}}
  51
  52 \func{}{\destruct{wxHelpController}}{\void}
  53
  54 Destroys the help instance, closing down the viewer if it is running.
  55
  56 \membersection{wxHelpController::Initialize}\label{wxhelpcontrollerinitialize}
  57
  58 \func{virtual void}{Initialize}{\param{const wxString\& }{file}}
  59
  60 \func{virtual void}{Initialize}{\param{const wxString\& }{file}, \param{int}{ server}}
  61
  62 Initializes the help instance with a help filename, and optionally a server (socket)
  63 number if using wxHelp. Does not invoke the help viewer.
  64 This must be called directly after the help instance object is created and before
  65 any attempts to communicate with the viewer.
  66
  67 You may omit the file extension and a suitable one will be chosen.
  68
  69 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayBlock}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplayblock}
  70
  71 \func{virtual bool}{DisplayBlock}{\param{long}{ blockNo}}
  72
  73 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the file at the given block number.
  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}.
  80
  81 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayContents}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaycontents}
  82
  83 \func{virtual bool}{DisplayContents}{\void}
  84
  85 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the
  86 contents.
  87
  88 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplaySection}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaysection}
  89
  90 \func{virtual bool}{DisplaySection}{\param{int}{ sectionNo}}
  91
  92 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the given section.
  93
  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.
  97
  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}
 101 0  wx.html             ; Index
 102 1  wx34.html#classref  ; Class reference
 103 2  wx204.html          ; Function reference
 104 \end{verbatim}
 105
 106 \membersection{wxHelpController::KeywordSearch}\label{wxhelpcontrollerkeywordsearch}
 107
 108 \func{virtual bool}{KeywordSearch}{\param{const wxString\& }{keyWord}}
 109
 110 If the help viewer is not running, runs it, and searches for sections matching the given keyword. If one
 111 match is found, the file is displayed at this section.
 112
 113 {\it wxHelp:} If more than one
 114 match is found, the Search dialog is displayed with the matches.
 115
 116 {\it WinHelp:} If more than one match is found,
 117 the first topic is displayed.
 118
 119 {\it External HTML help:} If more than one match is found,
 120 a choice of topics is displayed.
 121
 122 \membersection{wxHelpController::LoadFile}\label{wxhelpcontrollerloadfile}
 123
 124 \func{virtual bool}{LoadFile}{\param{const wxString\& }{file = ""}}
 125
 126 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and loads the given file.
 127 If the filename is not supplied or is
 128 NULL, the file specified in {\bf Initialize} is used. If the viewer is
 129 already displaying the specified file, it will not be reloaded. This
 130 member function may be used before each display call in case the user
 131 has opened another file.
 132
 133 \membersection{wxHelpController::SetViewer}\label{wxhelpcontrollersetviewer}
 134
 135 \func{virtual void}{SetViewer}{\param{const wxString\& }{viewer}, \param{long}{ flags}}
 136
 137 Sets 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
 144 that the viewer is a variant of Netscape Navigator.}
 145
 146 \membersection{wxHelpController::OnQuit}\label{wxhelpcontrolleronquit}
 147
 148 \func{virtual bool}{OnQuit}{\void}
 149
 150 Overridable member called when this application's viewer is quit by the user.
 151
 152 This does not work for all help controllers.
 153
 154 \membersection{wxHelpController::Quit}\label{wxhelpcontrollerquit}
 155
 156 \func{virtual bool}{Quit}{\void}
 157
 158 If the viewer is running, quits it by disconnecting.
 159
 160 For Windows Help, the viewer will only close if no other application is using it.
 161