interface/wx/help.h

   1 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   2 // Name:        help.h
   3 // Purpose:     interface of wxHelpController
   4 // Author:      wxWidgets team
   5 // RCS-ID:      $Id$
   6 // Licence:     wxWindows licence
   7 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   8
   9 /**
  10     Help search modes for wxHelpController::KeywordSearch().
  11  */
  12 enum wxHelpSearchMode
  13 {
  14     wxHELP_SEARCH_INDEX,    ///< Search the index only.
  15     wxHELP_SEARCH_ALL       ///< Search all entries.
  16 };
  17
  18 /**
  19     @class wxHelpController
  20
  21     This is a family of classes by which applications may invoke a help viewer
  22     to provide on-line help.
  23
  24     A help controller allows an application to display help, at the contents
  25     or at a particular topic, and shut the help program down on termination.
  26     This avoids proliferation of many instances of the help viewer whenever the
  27     user requests a different topic via the application's menus or buttons.
  28
  29     Typically, an application will create a help controller instance when it starts,
  30     and immediately call wxHelpController::Initialize to associate a filename with it.
  31     The help viewer will only get run, however, just before the first call to
  32     display something.
  33
  34     Most help controller classes actually derive from wxHelpControllerBase and have
  35     names of the form wxXXXHelpController or wxHelpControllerXXX.
  36     An appropriate class is aliased to the name wxHelpController for each platform, as
  37     follows:
  38     - On desktop Windows, wxCHMHelpController is used (MS HTML Help).
  39     - On Windows CE, wxWinceHelpController is used.
  40     - On all other platforms, wxHtmlHelpController is used if wxHTML is compiled
  41       into wxWidgets; otherwise wxExtHelpController is used (for invoking an
  42       external browser).
  43
  44     The remaining help controller classes need to be named explicitly by an
  45     application that wishes to make use of them.
  46
  47     The following help controller classes are defined:
  48     - wxWinHelpController, for controlling Windows Help.
  49     - wxCHMHelpController, for controlling MS HTML Help. To use this, you need to
  50       set wxUSE_MS_HTML_HELP to 1 in setup.h and have the htmlhelp.h header from
  51       Microsoft's HTML Help kit. (You don't need the VC++-specific htmlhelp.lib
  52       because wxWidgets loads necessary DLL at runtime and so it works with all
  53       compilers.)
  54     - wxBestHelpController, for controlling MS HTML Help or, if Microsoft's runtime
  55       is not available, wxHtmlHelpController. You need to provide @b both CHM and
  56       HTB versions of the help file. For wxMSW only.
  57     - wxExtHelpController, for controlling external browsers under Unix.
  58       The default browser is Netscape Navigator. The 'help' sample shows its use.
  59     - wxWinceHelpController, for controlling a simple @c .htm help controller for
  60       Windows CE applications.
  61     - wxHtmlHelpController, a sophisticated help controller using wxHTML, in a
  62       similar style to the Microsoft HTML Help viewer and using some of the same
  63       files. Although it has an API compatible with other help controllers, it has
  64       more advanced features, so it is recommended that you use the specific API
  65       for this class instead. Note that if you use .zip or .htb formats for your
  66       books, you must add this line to your application initialization:
  67       @code wxFileSystem::AddHandler(new wxArchiveFSHandler); @endcode
  68       or nothing will be shown in your help window.
  69
  70     @library{wxbase}
  71     @category{help}
  72
  73     @see wxHtmlHelpController, @ref overview_html
  74 */
  75 class wxHelpController : public wxHelpControllerBase
  76 {
  77 public:
  78     /**
  79         Constructs a help instance object, but does not invoke the help viewer.
  80
  81         If you provide a window, it will be used by some help controller classes, such as
  82         wxCHMHelpController, wxWinHelpController and wxHtmlHelpController, as the
  83         parent for the help window instead of the value of wxApp::GetTopWindow.
  84
  85         You can also change the parent window later with SetParentWindow().
  86     */
  87     wxHelpController(wxWindow* parentWindow = NULL);
  88
  89     /**
  90         Destroys the help instance, closing down the viewer if it is running.
  91     */
  92     ~wxHelpController();
  93
  94     /**
  95         If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the file at the given
  96         block number.
  97
  98         - @e WinHelp: Refers to the context number.
  99         - @e MS HTML Help: Refers to the context number.
 100         - @e External HTML help: the same as for DisplaySection().
 101         - @e wxHtmlHelpController: @e sectionNo is an identifier as specified in
 102           the @c .hhc file. See @ref overview_html_helpformats.
 103
 104         @deprecated
 105         This function is for backward compatibility only, and applications
 106         should use DisplaySection() instead.
 107     */
 108     virtual bool DisplayBlock(long blockNo);
 109
 110     /**
 111         If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the contents.
 112     */
 113     virtual bool DisplayContents();
 114
 115     /**
 116         Displays the section as a popup window using a context id.
 117         Returns @false if unsuccessful or not implemented.
 118     */
 119     virtual bool DisplayContextPopup(int contextId);
 120
 121     /**
 122         If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the given section.
 123
 124         The interpretation of section differs between help viewers.
 125         For most viewers, this call is equivalent to KeywordSearch.
 126         For MS HTML Help, wxHTML help and external HTML help, if section has a
 127         .htm or .html extension, that HTML file will be displayed; otherwise a
 128         keyword search is done.
 129     */
 130     virtual bool DisplaySection(const wxString& section);
 131
 132     /**
 133         If the help viewer is not running, runs it and displays the given section.
 134
 135         - @e WinHelp, MS HTML Help @a sectionNo is a context id.
 136         - @e External HTML help: wxExtHelpController implements @a sectionNo as
 137           an id in a map file, which is of the form:
 138         - @e wxHtmlHelpController: @a sectionNo is an identifier as specified in
 139           the @c .hhc file. See @ref overview_html_helpformats.
 140           See also the help sample for notes on how to specify section numbers for
 141           various help file formats.
 142     */
 143     virtual bool DisplaySection(int sectionNo);
 144
 145     /**
 146         Displays the text in a popup window, if possible.
 147
 148         Returns @false if unsuccessful or not implemented.
 149     */
 150     virtual bool DisplayTextPopup(const wxString& text,
 151                                   const wxPoint& pos);
 152
 153     /**
 154         For wxHtmlHelpController, returns the latest frame size and position
 155         settings and whether a new frame is drawn with each invocation.
 156         For all other help controllers, this function does nothing and just returns @NULL.
 157
 158         @param size
 159             The most recent frame size.
 160         @param pos
 161             The most recent frame position.
 162         @param newFrameEachTime
 163             @true if a new frame is drawn with each invocation.
 164     */
 165     virtual wxFrame* GetFrameParameters(wxSize* size = NULL,
 166                                         wxPoint* pos = NULL,
 167                                         bool* newFrameEachTime = NULL);
 168
 169     /**
 170         Returns the window to be used as the parent for the help window.
 171         This window is used by wxCHMHelpController, wxWinHelpController and
 172         wxHtmlHelpController.
 173     */
 174     virtual wxWindow* GetParentWindow() const;
 175
 176     //@{
 177     /**
 178         Initializes the help instance with a help filename, and optionally a server
 179         socket number if using wxHelp (now obsolete). Does not invoke the help viewer.
 180         This must be called directly after the help instance object is created and
 181         before any attempts to communicate with the viewer.
 182
 183         You may omit the file extension and a suitable one will be chosen.
 184         For wxHtmlHelpController, the extensions zip, htb and hhp will be appended
 185         while searching for a suitable file. For WinHelp, the hlp extension is appended.
 186     */
 187     virtual bool Initialize(const wxString& file);
 188     virtual bool Initialize(const wxString& file, int server);
 189     //@}
 190
 191     /**
 192         If the help viewer is not running, runs it, and searches for sections matching
 193         the given keyword. If one match is found, the file is displayed at this section.
 194         The optional parameter allows to search the index (wxHELP_SEARCH_INDEX)
 195         but this currently is only supported by the wxHtmlHelpController.
 196
 197         - @e WinHelp, MS HTML Help:
 198           If more than one match is found, the first topic is displayed.
 199         - @e External HTML help, simple wxHTML help:
 200           If more than one match is found, a choice of topics is displayed.
 201         - @e wxHtmlHelpController: see wxHtmlHelpController::KeywordSearch.
 202     */
 203     virtual bool KeywordSearch(const wxString& keyWord,
 204                                wxHelpSearchMode mode = wxHELP_SEARCH_ALL);
 205
 206     /**
 207         If the help viewer is not running, runs it and loads the given file.
 208         If the filename is not supplied or is empty, the file specified in
 209         Initialize() is used.
 210
 211         If the viewer is already displaying the specified file, it will not be
 212         reloaded. This member function may be used before each display call in
 213         case the user has opened another file.
 214
 215         wxHtmlHelpController ignores this call.
 216     */
 217     virtual bool LoadFile(const wxString& file = wxEmptyString);
 218
 219     /**
 220         Overridable member called when this application's viewer is quit by the user.
 221         This does not work for all help controllers.
 222     */
 223     virtual void OnQuit();
 224
 225     /**
 226         If the viewer is running, quits it by disconnecting.
 227         For Windows Help, the viewer will only close if no other application is using it.
 228     */
 229     virtual bool Quit();
 230
 231     /**
 232         For wxHtmlHelpController, the title is set (with %s indicating the
 233         page title) and also the size and position of the frame if the frame is
 234         already open. @a newFrameEachTime is ignored.
 235
 236         For all other help controllers this function has no effect.
 237     */
 238     virtual void SetFrameParameters(const wxString& title,
 239                                     const wxSize& size,
 240                                     const wxPoint& pos = wxDefaultPosition,
 241                                     bool newFrameEachTime = false);
 242
 243     /**
 244         Sets the window to be used as the parent for the help window. This is used
 245         by wxCHMHelpController, wxWinHelpController and wxHtmlHelpController.
 246     */
 247     virtual void SetParentWindow(wxWindow* parentWindow);
 248
 249     /**
 250         Sets detailed viewer information.
 251         So far this is only relevant to wxExtHelpController.
 252         Some examples of usage:
 253
 254         @code
 255         m_help.SetViewer("kdehelp");
 256         m_help.SetViewer("gnome-help-browser");
 257         m_help.SetViewer("netscape", wxHELP_NETSCAPE);
 258         @endcode
 259
 260         @param viewer
 261             This defaults to "netscape" for wxExtHelpController.
 262         @param flags
 263             This defaults to wxHELP_NETSCAPE for wxExtHelpController, indicating
 264             that the viewer is a variant of Netscape Navigator.
 265
 266         @todo modernize this function with ::wxLaunchDefaultBrowser
 267     */
 268     virtual void SetViewer(const wxString& viewer, long flags);
 269 };
 270