org.eclipse.help
Interface IHelp

public interface IHelp

Interface to the help system UI.

The Eclipse platform defines an extension point ("org.eclipse.help.support") for plugging in a help system UI. The help system UI is entirely optional. Clients may provide a UI for presenting help to the user by implementing this interface and including the name of their class in the <config> element in an extension to the platform's help support extension point ("org.eclipse.help.support").

Note that an implementation of the help system UI is provided by the "org.eclipse.help.ui" plug-in (This plug-in is not mandatory, and can be removed). Since the platform can only make use of a single help system UI implementation, make sure that the platform is not configured with more than one plug-in trying to extend this extension point.

Method Summary

void	displayContext(IContext context, int x, int y) Displays context-sensitive help for the given context.
void	displayContext(String contextId, int x, int y) Displays context-sensitive help for context with the given context id.
void	displayHelp() Displays the entire help bookshelf.
void	displayHelp(IContext context, int x, int y) Deprecated. use displayContext(context, x, y)
void	displayHelp(String toc) Deprecated. use displayHelpResource(toc) instead
void	displayHelp(String contextId, int x, int y) Deprecated. use displayContext(contextId, x, y)
void	displayHelp(String toc, String selectedTopic) Deprecated. use displayHelpResource(selectedTopic).
void	displayHelpResource(IHelpResource helpResource) Displays help content for the help resource.
void	displayHelpResource(String href) Displays help content for the help resource with the given URL.
IContext	getContext(String contextId) Computes and returns context information for the given context id.
IToc[]	getTocs() Returns the list of all integrated tables of contents available.
boolean	isContextHelpDisplayed() Returns true if the context-sensitive help window is currently being displayed, false if not.

Method Detail

displayHelp

public void displayHelp()

Displays the entire help bookshelf.

This method is called by the platform to launch the help system UI

Since:

2.0

displayContext

public void displayContext(IContext context,
                           int x,
                           int y)

Displays context-sensitive help for the given context.

(x,y) coordinates specify the location where the context sensitive help UI will be presented. These coordinates are screen-relative (ie: (0,0) is the top left-most screen corner). The platform is responsible for calling this method and supplying the appropriate location.

Parameters:

context - the context to display

x - horizontal position

y - verifical position

Since:

2.0

displayContext

public void displayContext(String contextId,
                           int x,
                           int y)

Displays context-sensitive help for context with the given context id.

(x,y) coordinates specify the location where the context sensitive help UI will be presented. These coordinates are screen-relative (ie: (0,0) is the top left-most screen corner). The platform is responsible for calling this method and supplying the appropriate location.

Parameters:

contextId - the help context identifier; the parameter needs to have a form pluginID.pluginContextId, where pluginID is ID of plug-in contributing a context, and pluginContextID is ID of context contributed in a plug-in.

x - horizontal position

y - verifical position

Since:

2.0

See Also:

getContext(String)

displayHelpResource

public void displayHelpResource(String href)

Displays help content for the help resource with the given URL.

This method is called by the platform to launch the help system UI, displaying the documentation identified by the href parameter.

The help system makes no guarantee that all the help resources can be displayed or how they are displayed.

Parameters:

href - the URL of the help resource.

Valid href are as described in IHelpResource.getHref()

Since:

2.0

displayHelpResource

public void displayHelpResource(IHelpResource helpResource)

Displays help content for the help resource.

This method is called by the platform to launch the help system UI, displaying the documentation identified by the helpResource parameter.

The help system makes no guarantee that all the help resources can be displayed or how they are displayed.

Parameters:

helpResource - the URL of the help resource.

Since:

2.0

See Also:

displayHelpResource(String)

displayHelp

public void displayHelp(String toc)

Deprecated. use displayHelpResource(toc) instead

Displays help content for the toc with the given URL.

This method is called by the platform to launch the help system UI, displaying the documentation identified by the toc parameter.

Valid toc are contributed through the toc element of the "org.eclipse.help.toc" extension point.

Parameters:

toc - the URL of the toc as specified in the "org.eclipse.help.toc" extenstion point

displayHelp

public void displayHelp(String toc,
                        String selectedTopic)

Deprecated. use displayHelpResource(selectedTopic).

This method is an extension to the displayHelp(String toc) method, providing the ability to open the specified help topic.

selectedTopic should be a valid help topic url contained in the specified toc and have the following format: /pluginID/path_to_document
where

pluginID is the unique identifier of the plugin containing the help topic,

path_to_document is the help topic path, relative to the plugin directory

Parameters:

toc - the URL of the toc

selectedTopic - the help topic url.

See Also:

displayHelp(java.lang.String)

displayHelp

public void displayHelp(String contextId,
                        int x,
                        int y)

Deprecated. use displayContext(contextId, x, y)

Displays context-sensitive help for context with the given context id.

(x,y) coordinates specify the location where the context sensitive help UI will be presented. These coordinates are screen-relative (ie: (0,0) is the top left-most screen corner). The platform is responsible for calling this method and supplying the appropriate location.

Parameters:

contextId - the help context identifier

x - horizontal position

y - verifical position

See Also:

getContext(String)

displayHelp

public void displayHelp(IContext context,
                        int x,
                        int y)

Deprecated. use displayContext(context, x, y)

Displays context-sensitive help for the given context.

(x,y) coordinates specify the location where the context sensitive help UI will be presented. These coordinates are screen-relative (ie: (0,0) is the top left-most screen corner). The platform is responsible for calling this method and supplying the appropriate location.

Parameters:

context - the context to display

x - horizontal position

y - verifical position

getContext

public IContext getContext(String contextId)

Computes and returns context information for the given context id.

Parameters:

contextId - the context id

Returns:

the context, or null if none

getTocs

public IToc[] getTocs()

Returns the list of all integrated tables of contents available.

Returns:

an array of TOC's

Since:

2.0

isContextHelpDisplayed

public boolean isContextHelpDisplayed()

Returns true if the context-sensitive help window is currently being displayed, false if not.