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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 Most help controller classes actually derive from wxHelpControllerBase and have
17 names of the form wxXXXHelpController or wxHelpControllerXXX. An
18 appropriate class is aliased to the name wxHelpController for each platform, as follows:
19
20 \begin{itemize}\itemsep=0pt
21 \item On desktop Windows, wxCHMHelpController is used (MS HTML Help).
22 \item On Windows CE, wxWinceHelpController is used.
23 \item On all other platforms, wxHtmlHelpController is used if wxHTML is
24 compiled into wxWidgets; otherwise wxExtHelpController is used (for invoking an external
25 browser).
26 \end{itemize}
27
28 The remaining help controller classes need to be named
29 explicitly by an application that wishes to make use of them.
30
31 There are currently the following help controller classes defined:
32
33 \begin{itemize}\itemsep=0pt
34 \item wxWinHelpController, for controlling Windows Help.
35 \item wxCHMHelpController, for controlling MS HTML Help. To use this, you need to set wxUSE\_MS\_HTML\_HELP
36 to 1 in setup.h and have htmlhelp.h header from Microsoft's HTML Help kit (you don't need
37 VC++ specific htmlhelp.lib because wxWidgets loads necessary DLL at runtime and so it
38 works with all compilers).
39 \item wxBestHelpController, for controlling MS HTML Help or, if Microsoft's runtime is
40 not available, \helpref{wxHtmlHelpController}{wxhtmlhelpcontroller}. You need to provide
41 {\bf both} CHM and HTB versions of the help file. For 32bit Windows only.
42 \item wxExtHelpController, for controlling external browsers under Unix.
43 The default browser is Netscape Navigator. The 'help' sample shows its use.
44 \item wxWinceHelpController, for controlling a simple {\tt .htm} help controller for Windows CE applications.
45 \item \helpref{wxHtmlHelpController}{wxhtmlhelpcontroller}, a sophisticated help controller using \helpref{wxHTML}{wxhtml}, in
46 a similar style to the Microsoft HTML Help viewer and using some of the same files.
47 Although it has an API compatible with other help controllers, it has more advanced features, so it is
48 recommended that you use the specific API for this class instead. Note that if you
49 use .zip or .htb formats for your books, you
50 must add this line to your application initialization: {\tt wxFileSystem::AddHandler(new wxArchiveFSHandler);}
51 or nothing will be shown in your help window.
52 \end{itemize}
53
54 \wxheading{Derived from}
55
56 wxHelpControllerBase\\
57 \helpref{wxObject}{wxobject}
58
59 \wxheading{Include files}
60
61 <wx/help.h> (wxWidgets chooses the appropriate help controller class)\\
62 <wx/helpbase.h> (wxHelpControllerBase class)\\
63 <wx/helpwin.h> (Windows Help controller)\\
64 <wx/msw/helpchm.h> (MS HTML Help controller)\\
65 <wx/generic/helpext.h> (external HTML browser controller)\\
66 <wx/html/helpctrl.h> (wxHTML based help controller: wxHtmlHelpController)
67
68 \wxheading{See also}
69
70 \helpref{wxHtmlHelpController}{wxhtmlhelpcontroller}, \helpref{wxHTML}{wxhtml}
71
72 \latexignore{\rtfignore{\wxheading{Members}}}
73
74 \membersection{wxHelpController::wxHelpController}\label{wxhelpcontrollerctor}
75
76 \func{}{wxHelpController}{\param{wxWindow*}{ parentWindow = NULL}}
77
78 Constructs a help instance object, but does not invoke the help viewer.
79
80 If you provide a window, it will be used by some help controller classes, such as
81 wxCHMHelpController, wxWinHelpController and wxHtmlHelpController, as the
82 parent for the help window instead of the value of \helpref{wxApp::GetTopWindow}{wxappgettopwindow}. You can also change the parent window later with
83 \helpref{wxHelpController::SetParentWindow}{wxhelpcontrollersetparentwindow}.
84
85 \membersection{wxHelpController::\destruct{wxHelpController}}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdtor}
86
87 \func{}{\destruct{wxHelpController}}{\void}
88
89 Destroys the help instance, closing down the viewer if it is running.
90
91 \membersection{wxHelpController::Initialize}\label{wxhelpcontrollerinitialize}
92
93 \func{virtual bool}{Initialize}{\param{const wxString\& }{file}}
94
95 \func{virtual bool}{Initialize}{\param{const wxString\& }{file}, \param{int}{ server}}
96
97 Initializes the help instance with a help filename, and optionally a server socket
98 number if using wxHelp (now obsolete). Does not invoke the help viewer.
99 This must be called directly after the help instance object is created and before
100 any attempts to communicate with the viewer.
101
102 You may omit the file extension and a suitable one will be chosen. For
103 wxHtmlHelpController, the extensions zip, htb and hhp will be appended while searching for
104 a suitable file. For WinHelp, the hlp extension is appended.
105
106 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayBlock}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplayblock}
107
108 \func{virtual bool}{DisplayBlock}{\param{long}{ blockNo}}
109
110 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the file at the given block number.
111
112 {\it WinHelp:} Refers to the context number.
113
114 {\it MS HTML Help:} Refers to the context number.
115
116 {\it External HTML help:} the same as for \helpref{wxHelpController::DisplaySection}{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaysection}.
117
118 {\it wxHtmlHelpController:} {\it sectionNo} is an identifier as specified in the {\tt .hhc} file. See \helpref{Help files format}{helpformat}.
119
120 This function is for backward compatibility only, and applications should use \helpref{wxHelpController}{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaysection} instead.
121
122 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayContents}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaycontents}
123
124 \func{virtual bool}{DisplayContents}{\void}
125
126 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the
127 contents.
128
129 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayContextPopup}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaycontextpopup}
130
131 \func{virtual bool}{DisplayContextPopup}{\param{int }{contextId}}
132
133 Displays the section as a popup window using a context id.
134
135 Returns false if unsuccessful or not implemented.
136
137 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplaySection}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaysection}
138
139 \func{virtual bool}{DisplaySection}{\param{const wxString\&}{ section}}
140
141 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the given section.
142
143 The interpretation of {\it section} differs between help viewers. For most viewers,
144 this call is equivalent to KeywordSearch. For MS HTML Help, wxHTML help and external HTML help,
145 if {\it section} has a .htm
146 or .html extension, that HTML file will be displayed; otherwise
147 a keyword search is done.
148
149 \func{virtual bool}{DisplaySection}{\param{int}{ sectionNo}}
150
151 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the given section.
152
153 {\it WinHelp, MS HTML Help} {\it sectionNo} is a context id.
154
155 {\it External HTML help:} wxExtHelpController implements {\it sectionNo} as an id in a map file, which is of the form:
156
157 \begin{verbatim}
158 0 wx.html ; Index
159 1 wx34.html#classref ; Class reference
160 2 wx204.html ; Function reference
161 \end{verbatim}
162
163 {\it wxHtmlHelpController:} {\it sectionNo} is an identifier as specified in the {\tt .hhc} file. See \helpref{Help files format}{helpformat}.
164
165 See also the help sample for notes on how to specify section numbers for various help file formats.
166
167 \membersection{wxHelpController::DisplayTextPopup}\label{wxhelpcontrollerdisplaytextpopup}
168
169 \func{virtual bool}{DisplayTextPopup}{\param{const wxString\&}{ text}, \param{const wxPoint\& }{pos}}
170
171 Displays the text in a popup window, if possible.
172
173 Returns false if unsuccessful or not implemented.
174
175 \membersection{wxHelpController::GetFrameParameters}\label{wxhelpcontrollergetframeparameters}
176
177 \func{virtual wxFrame *}{GetFrameParameters}{\param{const wxSize * }{size = NULL}, \param{const wxPoint * }{pos = NULL},
178 \param{bool *}{newFrameEachTime = NULL}}
179
180 wxHtmlHelpController returns the frame, size and position.
181
182 For all other help controllers, this function does nothing
183 and just returns NULL.
184
185 \wxheading{Parameters}
186
187 \docparam{viewer}{This defaults to "netscape" for wxExtHelpController.}
188
189 \docparam{flags}{This defaults to wxHELP\_NETSCAPE for wxExtHelpController, indicating
190 that the viewer is a variant of Netscape Navigator.}
191
192 \membersection{wxHelpController::GetParentWindow}\label{wxhelpcontrollergetparentwindow}
193
194 \constfunc{virtual wxWindow*}{GetParentWindow}{\void}
195
196 Returns the window to be used as the parent for the help window. This window is used
197 by wxCHMHelpController, wxWinHelpController and wxHtmlHelpController.
198
199 \membersection{wxHelpController::KeywordSearch}\label{wxhelpcontrollerkeywordsearch}
200
201 \func{virtual bool}{KeywordSearch}{\param{const wxString\& }{keyWord}, \param{wxHelpSearchMode }{mode = wxHELP\_SEARCH\_ALL}}
202
203 If the help viewer is not running, runs it, and searches for sections matching
204 the given keyword. If one match is found, the file is displayed at this
205 section. The optional parameter allows the search the index
206 (wxHELP\_SEARCH\_INDEX) but this currently only supported by the
207 wxHtmlHelpController.
208
209 {\it WinHelp, MS HTML Help:} If more than one match is found,
210 the first topic is displayed.
211
212 {\it External HTML help, simple wxHTML help:} If more than one match is found,
213 a choice of topics is displayed.
214
215 {\it wxHtmlHelpController:} see \helpref{wxHtmlHelpController::KeywordSearch}{wxhtmlhelpcontrollerkeywordsearch}.
216
217 \membersection{wxHelpController::LoadFile}\label{wxhelpcontrollerloadfile}
218
219 \func{virtual bool}{LoadFile}{\param{const wxString\& }{file = ""}}
220
221 If the help viewer is not running, runs it and loads the given file.
222 If the filename is not supplied or is
223 empty, the file specified in {\bf Initialize} is used. If the viewer is
224 already displaying the specified file, it will not be reloaded. This
225 member function may be used before each display call in case the user
226 has opened another file.
227
228 wxHtmlHelpController ignores this call.
229
230 \membersection{wxHelpController::OnQuit}\label{wxhelpcontrolleronquit}
231
232 \func{virtual bool}{OnQuit}{\void}
233
234 Overridable member called when this application's viewer is quit by the user.
235
236 This does not work for all help controllers.
237
238 \membersection{wxHelpController::SetFrameParameters}\label{wxhelpcontrollersetframeparameters}
239
240 \func{virtual void}{SetFrameParameters}{\param{const wxString \& }{title},
241 \param{const wxSize \& }{size}, \param{const wxPoint \& }{pos = wxDefaultPosition},
242 \param{bool }{newFrameEachTime = false}}
243
244 For wxHtmlHelpController, the title is set (again with \%s indicating the
245 page title) and also the size and position of the frame if the frame is already
246 open. {\it newFrameEachTime} is ignored.
247
248 For all other help controllers this function has no effect.
249
250 \membersection{wxHelpController::SetParentWindow}\label{wxhelpcontrollersetparentwindow}
251
252 \func{virtual void}{SetParentWindow}{\param{wxWindow* }{parentWindow}}
253
254 Sets the window to be used as the parent for the help window. This is used
255 by wxCHMHelpController, wxWinHelpController and wxHtmlHelpController.
256
257 \membersection{wxHelpController::SetViewer}\label{wxhelpcontrollersetviewer}
258
259 \func{virtual void}{SetViewer}{\param{const wxString\& }{viewer}, \param{long}{ flags}}
260
261 Sets detailed viewer information. So far this is only relevant to wxExtHelpController.
262
263 Some examples of usage:
264
265 \begin{verbatim}
266 m_help.SetViewer("kdehelp");
267 m_help.SetViewer("gnome-help-browser");
268 m_help.SetViewer("netscape", wxHELP_NETSCAPE);
269 \end{verbatim}
270
271 \membersection{wxHelpController::Quit}\label{wxhelpcontrollerquit}
272
273 \func{virtual bool}{Quit}{\void}
274
275 If the viewer is running, quits it by disconnecting.
276
277 For Windows Help, the viewer will only close if no other application is using it.
278