ALPHA-VISION® AbHelp: Help Files

Help Files

SUMMARY

Help Files in ALPHA-VISION^®.

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Structure of the HTML Files
3. Calling Help Files

Introduction

Help files may be of the following type:

• HTML- Files

Special case:

• *.pdf- Files
• *.ppt- Files

The Help Files delivered with ALPHA-VISION^® are exclusively of the‘HTML’ type.

The customer is free to create and integrate his own Help Files in any of the given formats.

Structure of the HTML Files

To access a Help File in runtime it must be defined via at least one Keyword.
The 'KEYWORD' has to stay within a comment with the following syntax:

<!-- AbHelp-Keywords:KEYWORD, -->

In the actual version:

• The comment must start right after the HTML-Tag (i.e. without a space or a new line)
• The position of the comment within the file is insignificant.
• Keywords must be written in CAPITAL LETTERS.
• Multiple keywords may be defined.
• All keywords must be contained in a single comment.

A help file is positioned within the help tree via a comment with the following syntax:

<!--AbHelp-ContentEntry:KapitelA\KapitelA.1\KapitelA.1.1-->

In the actual version:

• The comment must start right after the HTML-Tag.
• The position of the comment within the file is arbitrary.
• The HTML-File must have one "ContentEntry" comment only.
• The help directory must be a subfolder of the program directory containing the 'AbHelp.exe' program.
• All help files must be located in the help directory or a subfolder to it.
• The "\" -character is used to separate the headers of the chapters.

Example of a simple help tree structure:

Comment in file "Administration.html":
<!--AbHelp-ContentEntry:Administration\Administration-->

Comment in file "Department.html":
<!--AbHelp-ContentEntry:Administration\Departments-->

Comment in file "Section_1.html":
<!--AbHelp-ContentEntry:Administration\Department\Section_1-->

Comment in file "Section_2.html":
<!--AbHelp-ContentEntry:Administration\Department\Section_2-->

gives the following tree structure:
			 
Administration
     Administration
     Departments
  Department
       Section_1
       Section_2
			

Calling Help Files

Help files may be called via:

• AbHelp.exe
• The short-cut created in the Windows START-Menu when installing ALPHA-VISION^®.
• The function key “F1” in the AvEditor
• Keywords (in runtime)
• Hints & Tips (in runtime)
• other help files

The action Usr_DisHiTi(Keyword) was bound to a button. In runtime then all help directories are scanned for HTML-Files containing the keyword in question. AbHelp then offers a bifid dialog window with the help tree in the left part and a list of files containing the keyword in the right part. The listed names are the ‘titles’ given in the HTML-Files. Via mouse-click any file can be opened directly.

When creating a process picture a "Hints & Tips" Id (similar to keyword) is selected for that particular picture. It is done via AbvEditor - Edit, Item "Information".


Via a button with the function sequence:
Wnd_HitiId() (queries "Hints & Tips")
Usr_PushArgs() (push to stack)
Usr_DisHiTi() (calling Help file)

It creates the same result as calling a help file via keyword.

*.pdf and *.ppt help file are integrated as described by PDF_PPT.