NAME

vuehelp — The VUE Help Manager.

SYNOPSIS

vuehelp [options]

DESCRIPTION

The HP VUE Help Manager (vuehelp) is an X11 Motif client that provides access to on-line help documentation.  Vuehelp can be run standalone or started via an application.  The Help Manager is used by all HP VUE Tools and is accessible by any other motif application via the Help API. 

The Help Manager is based on a shared window help facility.  All tools using the Help Manager will share its two main windows. As a result of this shared window facility, the Help Manager will let only one executable per display run at a time.  This one executable will service all incoming help requests. 

The Help Manager has two main windows: Help Index and Help Viewer.  The Help Index window serves as a browser into the system’s on-line help documentation.   The Help Viewer window allows the user to view specific help files, system documentation, and system man pages. 

Two other Help windows are also  provided for static text viewing: Snapshot window and File Viewer window.  The Snapshot window allows the user to copy the current help text from the Help Viewer and ’post it’ on the screen in a snapshot window for prolonged viewing.  The File Viewer window (called from the File Manager, vuefile (1X)), allows the user to view an ASCII text file. 

OPTIONS

−fp helpFilePath/CatFile
This option specifies the help system to display in the Help Viewer the given help file "CatFile". "helpFilePath" must be relative to the ’tools’ directory in the Help file tree.

−unmapped
This option specifies that the help system be started and initialized in an unmapped state.

RESOURCES

Vuehelp uses the following resources:

fileSize
This resource is set to a default value of 512000 characters. The Help Manager File Viewer can deal with much larger files. However, the resources required can cause severe performance degradation while the Help Manager is processing the file.

helpFiles
This resource is used to set the absolute path to the help files located on your system. The default resource path is "/usr/lib/X11/vue/help" (default language is ’C’).

searchPath
This resource must be defined in the application’s app-defaults file.  It is a relative path from the ’tools’ directory within the Help file tree pointing to the application’s help files.

systemFont
This resource is used for setting text portions of the interface that are not user manipulated (e.g. labels, buttons, titles).

userFont
This resource is used for setting text portions of the interface that are manipulated by the user (e.g. Text Edit areas).

APPEARANCE

The following sections describe the basic default behavior of the different types of VUE Help system windows.  The appearance and behavior of these windows will only change based on the Help text being viewed. 

HELP VIEWER WINDOW

The HP VUE Help server builds and manages one Help Viewer window.  This window is shared by all applications/tools using the Help system. 

The first invocation of help from within a workspace causes the Help Server to map the Help Viewer window in that workspace. If the Help Viewer window is already mapped in the workspace, the Help server repaints the new help text in the window. The window is resizable by the user; however, it has a default minimum size. 

The Help Viewer window contains four areas.  From top to bottom they are:

Pulldown Menu Bar
The menu bar contains three menu buttons (File, Browse, and Help) used for accessing the menu items available within the Help Viewer window.

TextThis area contains a scrollable Help text document that relates to the previously selected function. 

Related Topics
This area contains a scrollable list of related topics.

History and Options
This area contains two buttons and a menu. Two buttons for history manipulation and a menu to access the Word Search, Man Page Search and Glossary options.

HELP INDEX WINDOW

The Help server builds and manages one Help Index window. This window is shared by all applications/tools using help. 

Invoke the Help Index from the "?" button in the workspace manager or from a Help Viewer’s Browse menu.  If the Help Index is already mapped in the current workspace, the Help server repaints the new help index information in the existing Help Index window.  If the Help Index exists but is unmapped or in another workspace, the Help server updates the text and maps the window in the current workspace. The window is resizable by the user; however, it has a default minimum size. 

The Help Index window contains three areas.  From top to bottom they are:

Pulldown Menu Bar
The pulldown menu contains two menu buttons (File, Help) used for accessing the menu items available within the Index Window.

IndexThis area contains a scrollable index of help topics and navigation buttons. 

Viewer and Search
This area contains two buttons: Viewer and Show Search Option. The Viewer button opens the Help Viewer window, and the Show Search Option shows the Index area search option.

HELP SNAPSHOT WINDOW

The Help Snapshot window provides the user with a means of saving a copy of the current Help Viewer help text. The user creates a snapshot from the Help Viewer window by selecting "Snapshot" (camera) button on the Help Viewer window.  At any given time, a user may have numerous snapshots and one Help Viewer window. 

Help Snapshot windows do not browse further into the help system, but the do support all the other Help window functions: text scrolling, word searching, and printing.  The intent of the snapshot windows are to give the user the ability to compare/save multiple Help text views at the same time. 

Once a Snapshot window is created, its existence is managed by the user.  That is, it will be the user’s responsibility to close the view. Exiting the Help Window will leave any snapshot windows intact. 

The Snapshot window contains three areas.  From top to bottom they are:

TextThis area contains a copy of the Help text in the current Help Viewer window. 

Word SearchA word search mechanism provided here is the same as the word search mechanisms in the Help window.  The intent is to give the user the ability to search through the Snapshot window Help text for a user-selected word or phrase.  The Find Next and Find Previous buttons allow the user to search forwards and backwards within the text for the given word or phrase.  As each instance of the search string is found, it is highlighted. 

Command Options
This area displays three buttons: a Print button, which prints a copy of the current Snapshot Help-Text; a Help button, which causes the Help Viewer window to display help information about the Snapshot Window; and a Close button, which closes the window. 

FILE VIEWER WINDOW

The File Viewer Window provides an application with a means of viewing a text file in a window.  Access the File Viewer window from the File Manager (vuefile (1X)) by choosing "VIEW" from the "Actions" menu.  There is no direct way via the help system that a user can request that a file be viewed.  Files may only be viewed by an application making the proper help API call.  The File Viewer window looks and works just like the Snapshot windows. 

Once a File Viewer is created, its existence is managed by the user.  That is, it is the user’s responsibility to close the view. 

The File Viewer window contains three areas.  From top to bottom they are:

TextThis area contains the text of the file requested. 

Word SearchA word search mechanism provided here is the same as the word search mechanisms in the Help Window.  This allows the user the ability to search through the File Viewer text for user-selected words or phrases.  The Find Next and Find Previous buttons allow the user to search forwards and backwards within the text for the given word or phrase.  As each instance of the search string is found, it is highlighted. 

Command Options
This area displays three buttons: a Print button, which prints a copy of the current File View Help-Text;  a Help button, which causes the Help Window to display help information about the File Viewer window; and a Close button, which closes the window. 

X DEFAULTS

VUE Help is configured from its resource database.  This database is built from the following sources. They are listed in order of precedence, low to high:   app-defaults/Vuehelp
  RESOURCE_MANAGER root window property or $HOME/.vue/vue.resources
  XENVIRONMENT variable or $HOME/.vue/vue.resources Entries in the resource database may refer to other resource files for specific types of resources.

Vuehelp is the resource class name of vuehelp and vuehelp is the resource name used by vuehelp to look up resources. 

COPYRIGHT

(c) Copyright 1989 by Open Software Foundation, Inc. 
(c) Copyright 1987, 1988, 1989 by Hewlett-Packard Company
All rights reserved.

ORIGIN

Hewlett-Packard Company ITO. 

SEE ALSO

X(1), vuefile(1X). 

  —  HP VUE 2.01 (2/91)