Thanks to vaclav slavik, we now have a good wxwidgets based, multiplatform capability for viewing online help from within an application or alternatively using an external viewer application. With so many different help formats available, you may be wondering which is best for you. The following clarifies some of the pros and cons, and you can also look at the 'help' sample in the wxwidgets distribution which demonstrates a variety of formats and help controllers. If you want all the power of html for your help files, then you may consider using plain html files on unix invoked by wxexthelpcontroller.

However, the formatting of most help files doesn't need to be very complex and so a better approach would be to use the internal wxhtml help system and wxhtmlhelpcontroller. Ms html help is now the favoured format on windows invoked by wxchmhelpcontroller. Sometimes one can rely on wxhelpcontroller being aliased to the standard help system for that platform wxhtml help for unix, winhelp for windows. To use a different help controller than the standard one, you have to include the file for that controller and create an object using the relevant class name e.g. Please see the wxhelpcontroller documentation in the wxwidgets manual for details. To create and initialize a help controller: to access the contents, use code like the following: to access a particular section, use code like the following: displaysection has different meanings for different help controllers, but for most controllers it does a keyword search.

It can also be used to display a particular html file within the help file, for example in ms html help. To clean up as the application is ending: there is a variety of freeware, shareware and commercial tools for this purpose, some of which generate both html and winhelp rtf. Available for windows and linux and making it easy to write and preview html pages that can be converted to wxwidgets html help and ms html help formats. You can use tex2rtf which is bundled with the wxwidgets distribution or available separately. With tex2rtf, you write your manual in an extended form of latex, and produce as output a variety of formats. You can also run your.tex files through a real latex processor, but this is optional. With tex2rtf you can produce manuals in the following formats: linear rtf, for importing into a wide range of word processors.

Tex2rtf also outputs the project, contents and keyword files required by the html help workshop and by wxhtml help. Once in ms word rtf format, other formats can be generated, such as postscript by printing to a postscript file and adobe acrobat portable document format pdf. Alternatively, you can try using ghostscript to generate pdf, and in the miktex package there is a latex2pdf converter. A short list of tools: helpblocks by julian smart of anthemion software doc2help robohelp electronic manuals and printed manuals tend to have different characteristics. Printed manuals are intended to be read mostly in sequence, whereas online help usually consists of little chunks of information to be called up from the application when necessary, in addition to longer descriptive sections.

This would seem to rule out the production of printed and online help from the same source, but in fact a reasonable compromise can be reached, where sections make sense when read sequentially as well as out of context. Also, tex2rtf allows conditional processing of source for different output formats. Welcome installation read me change log, release notes getting started using menu commands using toolbar commands the status bar working with window x working with window y working with.

Dialogs description of a dialog per section how to a tip per section glossary index non hypertext version only prepare any bitmaps in both gif and bmp form with the same root name so html and winhelp generation will work properly. Staff writers mdash february 19, 2013 it doesnt matter if youre a student or a professional writer: theres always something new to learn and ways to make your writing more refined, better researched, and more effective. Writing is essential for students who want to succeed, whether theyre enrolled in one of the top online colleges or an ivy league university. The best practices for writing and research can sometimes be subjective, and the finer points of syntax and style often take a backseat to looming deadlines and strict citation guidelines. Luckily, there are many helpful resources that make it easier to build on your existing skills while learning new ones. Weve compiled links to sites dedicated to helping students, bloggers, and professional writers improve their techniques while also becoming better editors and researchers. With more than 150 resources to chose from, youre bound to find something that can make your writing life a little easier.

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