The Datafile PD-CD 4/DATAFILE_PDCD4.iso/education/help_view/!Help_View/Help/Help_View

Text File | 1995-12-07 | 5.8 KB | 167 lines

Contents
Help_View  © Richard Sharpe  July '95

   1.   <Introduction>
   2.   <How to Use>
   3.   <Features>
   4.   <How to Build Help Systems>
   5.   <Licence>
   6.   <Credits>
!@#
Introduction
This little application got written as I wanted to include a straight
forward help system which was easily adaptable and small enough to be
included inside other applications and which did not have to rely on any
third party software.

I also wanted to write something which was easy for programmers to write
their own help systems for, without having to faff around with all of the
complications that these can entail.

<Contents>
!@#
How to Use
Using the application to read help files is fairly self-explanatory.
The main window will open automatically and you will be presented with the
first Contents page which shows all of the pages available.
There are two ways of accessing pages; <Sequentially>=Sequential Access> or <Directly>=Direct Access>.

I have also included a <Retrace Back> button which allows the user to return
to the page they were reading before the present one.  This can hold up to
one hundred pages of text. I can't imagine why anyone would want more than
this!

The main window menu will contain the names of the Help manuals in the Help
directory inside the application directory and clicking on one of these
entries will load that manual.  This can also be achieved by using the
sub menu Help in the Icon Bar menu.

<Contents>
!@#
Sequential Access
There are two icon buttons at the top right of the screen marked \<|\<|  and >>.
These will open the previous and next pages respectively.

<Contents>
<Direct Access>
!@#
Direct Access
There is a menu button at the top right of the screen.  When you click the
mouse over this a menu will open containing the index.  Clicking on any of
the entries in this menu will take you directly to the page relating to that
topic.

In addition to this, there may be words in red (link words) on a given page
and clicking on these will take you to a page giving related help.

<Contents>
<Sequential Access>
!@#
Features
!Help_View was written with a number of different ideas in mind.  None of
the help systems that I have used have quite done what I wanted, yet all of
them had their good points.

What I wanted was a help system which allowed for <Direct Access> through
popup menus and <linking>=Link Words>  which allows the user to go directly to the page
they require, and a browse facility which would allow a <sequential>=Sequential Access> reading
of a manual.

And all of this had to be combined into an easy system which allowed
programmers to write manuals with ease as text files with no need for
conversion to peculiar and uneditable file structures.
!@#
Retrace Back
The \<Retrace>| button at the top right of the screen enables you to retrace
your steps down the path you took from the Contents page or the first
page in your Manual.  It will hold up to 50 steps in memory.
!@#
How to Build Help Systems
The Help text is all built up as a straight forward text file.

The text should be written up to a maximum of 75 characters page width.

Each page should have a maximum of 150 lines.

There can be up to 100 pages in your manual.  I have restricted the size of
the manuals because I wanted to keep memory consumption to a minimum.  If
anyone wants to increase this let me know and I shall oblige.

(I have not included any error trapping for this, as I can't be bothered and
anyone who is writing a manual for Help_View ought to know better.  You have
been warned!)

Each line must be terminated by a press of the \<Return>| key.
The end of a page is signified by the string !@# which must be on its own
at the beginning of the line.

The first line is the page title.
It is quite useful to put at least one <link>=Link Words> word at the bottom of a page
if only as with this manual, to get back to the Contents page.

For more information on this, please examine the existing manuals in the
Help directory.

<Contents>
!@#
Link Words
Link words are inserted into the text fairly simply.  Anyone familiar with
writing Help Manuals for Guttorm Vik's !StrongHlp, which I have shamelessly
though very simply emulated, will recognise the format, though it is very
slightly different.

Any text placed inside "\<>|" brackets will be displayed in red and clicking
on these entries will make the program search for the appropriate page.
If !Help_View cannot find one it will tell you.

eg.  \<Link Words>| will take you to this page.

However sometimes you will want the word "link" to cross refer to this page
and in this instance the syntax is as follows:

eg.  \<link>=Link Words>|

If you want to use a "\<|" symbol without creating a link page as in the
phrase  "Press \<Return>|"  precede the "\<|" by a "\" and place a "|"
character at the end of the word in "\<|>".

eg.   Press \\<Return>|\|

<Contents>
!@#
Licence
This application is Freeware which means that you can use it and distribute
it as you please so long as you do not try to pass it off as your own and
you do not change any of the files that make up the application.

You use !Help_View at your own risk and in no circumstances shall the
author, or any provider or distributor of this program, be liable for any
damage or loss whatever arising out of the use or misuse of this program.

Under no circumstances may !Help_View be sold, though I expect P.D.
libraries to be able to cover their costs.  Please let me know if you have
been charged explicitly for this application.

Any gripes, thanks, money etc. gratefully received by the <Author>.

<Contents>
!@#
Author
Richard Sharpe
5 Camberwell Terrace
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire
CV31 1LP          Tel: [phone]

<Contents>
!@#
Credits
Many thanks to the following:

Alex Petrov for MenuUtils with which the menus were written.

John Wallace (Architype Software) for !Bas_Shrink which I used to squash the
program.

<Contents>
!@#