JHelp 1.2 Documentation
  Main Page  
  API Specification  
  Sample Code  
  Using JHelp  
  License Agreement  
Using JHelp in your Application

JHelp Developer

  • jhelp.jar is an executable jar that can be used to develop the help contents independent of the application. It assumes a content hierarchy file name of help.txt located in the same directory.

Help Content Hierarchy File Structure

  • Each line in the file represents a different help content topic.
  • The title of the topic begins the line and the location of the content topic is specified by a "?=" followed by the path to the html file for this topic.
  • A unique ID can be specified for each help content topic by using "uid=" followed by a unique ID. This ID can then be used to set the JHelpFrame to go to the target ID using the displayContentUID(String uid) method.
  • A space before the topic title indicates a subtopic in the hierarchy.
  • Example file:
    Getting Started  ?=help/start.html uid=start
    Content Hierarchy  ?=help/hierchy.html
    Topic  ?=help/topic.html
     Subtopic 1  ?=help/stopic1.html
     Subtopic 2  ?=help/stopic2.html
      Sub-Subtopic  ?=help/sstopic.html
    Graphics  ?=help/graphics.html
    Links  ?=help/links.html
    Search Tab  ?=help/search.html
    

Tip Content File Structure

  • The tip content file is similarly structured to the help content file but there is no hierarchy or UIDs.
  • The tips are indexed from 0 and can be displayed by using the showIndex(int index) method.
  • The tip title is only used as an identification of the tip and never actually displayed in the JTipsDialog.
  • Example file:
    Tip #1  ?=tips/tip1.html
    Tip #2  ?=tips/tip2.html
    Tip #3  ?=tips/tip3.html
    

Usage Requirements

  • Classes within jhelp.jar should be included within your own jar file or among your classes.
    Many current Java IDE's easily provide this ability.
    The JHelp license agreement does not allow the inclusion of the jhelp.jar file with your commercial applications.
Copyright 2003 Vermalt LLC. All rights reserved.