Progress
Help Development
Guide


Help Windows

You can define more than one type of help window for a help file. The help engine recognizes two broad categories of window types: main and secondary. By default, there is only one main window and it must have the name, “main.” However, you can use several secondary window types, or none at all, depending on the types of information you need to present in help topics.

It is helpful to think of window types as corresponding to different types of information, so that end users will associate each window type (distinguished by size, location, color scheme, and/or viewer features) with its particular type of information. You should define and use secondary window types sparingly.

All the help files for the Progress ADE tools (including the Procedure Editor help file) use only a main window. In the Progress help files, this main window appears as a relatively large window centered on the screen.

The next two sections present the features of a main window and a secondary window as they might be implemented for the Progress Procedure Editor help system. You can also customize the menus and the buttons that appear in any help window, as well as its size and placement and other properties. You do this through entries in the help project file and by embedding macros in the project file or help source files. See "Completing Help Systems," for a more detailed discussion of the methods for customizing help windows.

The Main Window

Figure 2–4 shows the main window for the Procedure Editor help file. The menus and buttons shown are standard for Windows help and appear in the main window for almost all help files.

Figure 2–4: Main Window for the Procedure Editor Help File

Table 2–1 summarizes the standard main window menus. Also note that if you right-click anywhere in the help topic display area, a popup menu appears that duplicates some of the commands from the main window menus.

Table 2–1: Main Window Menus 
Menu
Purpose
File
Opens a help file and prints help topics.
Edit
Copies or annotates a help topic. An annotated topic displays a paper clip icon that you can select to view the annotation.
Bookmark
Marks a help topic so you can access it directly from the Bookmark menu.
Options
Sets any of several options that affect the display properties of the window.
Help
Accesses version information about the help engine and the help file.

Table 2–2 summarizes the standard main window buttons.

Table 2–2: Main Window Buttons 
Function
Purpose
Help Topics
Displays the Help Topics dialog box for the current help file.
Back
Displays the most recently viewed help topic.
Print
Displays the Print dialog box, allowing the user to print the current topic.
<<
Moves backward in a browse sequence.
>>
Moves forward in a browse sequence.

Secondary Windows

Figure 2–5 shows how a secondary window could appear in the Procedure Editor help file. The buttons shown are standard for Windows help and appear in the secondary window for almost all help files.

A secondary window, by definition, does not have a menu bar. However, the Options button that appears in a secondary window displays a popup menu that includes some of the most frequently used commands in the main window’s menus. The Options button in the secondary window performs the same function as right-clicking in the display area of a window.

Secondary windows offer the advantage that a help author can specify that they are “sized to fit.” This type of secondary window sizes itself to fit its content. Also, multiple secondary windows (up to nine) can remain open at the same time.

Figure 2–5: A Secondary Window

Table 2–3 summarizes the standard secondary window buttons.

Table 2–3: Secondary Window Buttons 
Function
Purpose
Help Topics
Displays the Help Topics dialog box for the current help file.
Back
Displays the most recently viewed help topic.
Options
Displays a popup menu that duplicates some of the commands from the main window menus. This menu is the same as the menu that appears when you right-click in the display area of either a main or secondary window.


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