HelpViewer

Synopsis

A help viewer displaying the help of type help books (.htb).

Description

The HelpViewer shows any help text, stored in help books (.htb), a user has requested. The HelpViewer is a stand alone application so any help text may be viewed without starting the application or the help text is kept visible when the application exits. The HelpViewer is able to show multiple help texts of the same and/or different applications in multiple windows, either as notebook pages or top level windows.

The HelpViewer maximizes the window for displaying help text and minimizes or hides the area for the additional information. The user can choose if wants to see all the found help locations in a window and/or in a dropdown combobox.

About the following features will be supported:

Implantation

The HelpViewer is derived from wyoGuide-Demo which already handles the single application multiple windows (help texts) approach. It currently uses wxHtml to show the help text.

The HelpViewer handles command lines containing all information about context sensitive positioning. This means catalogs, help files and help file positions. It also handles command lines with index/find information.

Accessing help files goes through format specific libraries. Currently only libchm exists. A libhtb and libraries for other formats may be added.

Calling the HelpViewer from within an application is done with a wxHelpController. It has to be checked if the current external help controller is sufficient or if it has to be extended.