Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

Audience

Documentation Accessibility

Related Documents

Conventions

What's New

Part I Oracle Help Overview

1 Introduction to Oracle Help

1.1 Overview of Oracle Help

1.2 Oracle Help for Java

1.3 Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client

1.4 Oracle Help for the Web – UIX

1.5 Oracle Help in Oracle JDeveloper

1.6 Oracle Help Licensing and Support

2 OHJ User Interface

2.1 Overview of Oracle Help for Java User Interface

2.2 OHJ Topic Windows

2.3 OHJ Navigator Window

2.3.1 Contents Tab

2.3.2 Index Tab

2.3.3 Search Tab

2.3.4 Favorites Tabs

2.3.5 Custom Navigator Tabs

2.4 Merged Helpsets

2.4.1 Merging Table of Contents

2.5 Other OHJ Features

2.5.1 Accessibility Features

2.5.2 Internationalization Features

2.5.3 Java Foundation Class (JFC) Swing Components

2.5.4 Open, Pluggable Architecture

3 OHW-RC User Interface

3.1 Overview of Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client (OHW-RC) Interface

3.2 OHW-RC Global Toolbar

3.3 OHW-RC Contents Navigator

3.4 OHW-RC Index Navigator

3.5 OHW-RC Search Navigator

3.6 OHW-RC Topic Pane

3.7 Other OHW-RC Features

3.7.1 About OHW-RC Feature

3.7.2 Bookmarking Feature

3.7.2.1 Backward Compatibility

3.7.3 Single Pane Layout Feature

4 OHW-UIX User Interface

4.1 Overview of Oracle Help for the Web – UIX (OHW-UIX) User Interface

4.2 OHW-UIX Table of Contents

4.3 OHW-UIX Index

4.4 OHW-UIX Search

4.5 OHW-UIX Topics

Part II Oracle Help File Formats

5 Introduction to Oracle Help File Formats

5.1 Overview of Oracle Help File Formats

5.2 File Name Extensions

6 Metadata Files

6.1 Overview of Metadata Files

6.2 Helpset File

6.2.1 The <helpset> Element

6.2.2 The <title> Element

6.2.3 The <maps> Element

6.2.4 The <wintype> Element

6.2.5 The <links> Element

6.2.6 The <view> Element

6.2.6.1 Data View Type and Engines

6.2.7 The <subhelpset> Element

6.2.8 Sample Helpset File

6.3 Map Files

6.3.1 Map File Elements

7 Help Information Files

7.1 Overview of Help Information Files

7.2 Table of Contents File

7.2.1 TOC Elements

7.3 Index File

7.3.1 Index Elements

7.4 Search Index File

7.5 Link File

7.5.1 Link File Elements

8 Topic Files

8.1 Overview of Topic Files

8.2 Topic ID Links

8.3 Associative Links

8.4 Custom Protocol Links

8.5 Popups

8.6 Topic IDs

8.7 Window Types

8.8 Dynamic Mapping of Topic IDs to Files

8.8.1 The oracle.help.engine.XMLMapFixedConventionEngine Help Engine

8.8.2 The oracle.help.engine.XMLMapConventionEngine Help Engine

8.8.3 Optimizing Dynamic Maps

9 Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File

9.1 Overview of Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File

9.2 The <helpConfiguration> Element

9.2.1 The debugMode Attribute

9.3 The <brandings> Element

9.3.1 Best Practice for Internationalization

9.4 The <locales> Element

9.4.1 The <locale> Child Element <books>

9.4.2 The <contentLocation> Element

9.4.3 Sample <locales> Section

9.5 Sharing Resources Across Helpsets

9.6 The <parameters> Element

9.7 The <navigatorAliases> Element

9.8 Custom Protocol Links

9.9 Preloading Helpsets Containing Embedded Help

Part III Authoring Oracle Help

10 Authoring Oracle Help Systems

10.1 Overview of Authoring

10.2 Authoring Utilities Included with Oracle Help for Java

10.3 Authoring Embedded Help

10.3.1 HTML Files

11 Helpset Authoring Wizard

11.1 Overview of Helpset Authoring Wizard

11.2 Starting the Wizard

11.3 Creating a Helpset File

11.4 Specifying Authoring Tool and HTML Browser

11.5 Specifying Source Directory

11.6 Defining Views

11.6.1 Defining a New View

11.6.2 Defining a Custom View Type

11.6.3 Defining a Custom Data Engine

11.7 Defining Full-Text Search View

11.8 Defining Map File

11.9 Converting Associative Links

11.10 Converting Popup Window Links

11.11 Defining Window Types

11.11.1 Window Identity

11.11.2 Placement Attributes

11.11.3 Style Attributes

11.11.4 Toolbar Buttons

11.12 Finalizing the HelpSet

12 Using the Text Search Indexer

12.1 Overview of Text Search Indexer

12.2 Java Requirements

12.3 Running the Indexer

12.4 Running the JapaneseIndexer

Part IV Oracle Help for Java

13 Introduction to Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit

13.1 Overview of Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit

13.2 Oracle Help for Java Runtime in JDeveloper

13.3 Getting Started with the OHJDK

13.3.1 Installing OHJDK

13.3.2 Contents of an OHJDK Release

13.3.2.1 OHJ Engine

13.3.2.2 Authoring Tools

13.3.2.3 Demonstration Files

13.3.2.4 Documentation

13.3.3 Setting the Java CLASSPATH for OHJDK Development

14 Adding OHJ to Your Application

14.1 Overview of Adding OHJ to an Application

14.2 Constructing the Help Object

14.3 Adding the Help Data

14.3.1 Constructing a HelpSet

14.3.2 Adding Books to Help

14.4 Adding the Favorites Tab or Custom Tab

14.5 When to Create the Help object

14.6 Showing the Navigator Window

14.7 Showing a Topic

14.7.1 Catching TopicDisplayExceptions

14.8 Disposing of the Help Object

15 Enabling Context-Sensitive Help in Your Application

15.1 Overview of Context-Sensitive Help

15.2 Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics

15.3 Programming Your Application to Support Context-Sensitive Help

15.4 Using CSHManager to Implement Context-Sensitive Help

15.4.1 CSHManager Constructors

15.4.2 Setting the Default Book

15.4.3 Associating Topic IDs with User Interface Components

15.4.4 Explicitly Showing Help for Components

16 Deploying an OHJ Help System

16.1 Supported Java Virtual Machines

16.2 Which OHJ JAR Files Must Be Shipped

16.3 Deploying Compressed Help Content in JARs

16.3.1 Creating JAR files

16.3.2 Which Book Constructor to Use

Part V Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client

17 Deploying OHW-RC Demo File

17.1 Overview of Deploying OHW Demo Files

17.2 Understanding the OHW-RC Demo Files

17.3 Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server

17.4 Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle JDeveloper

17.5 Running the OHW-RC Demo EAR File

18 Understanding OHW-RC Deployment

18.1 Overview of OHW-RC Deployment

18.2 Verifying Requirements and Dependencies

18.3 Verifying OHW-RC Library Files

18.4 Installing OHW-RC Artifacts

18.5 Understanding OHW-RC Configuration Files

18.6 Configuring OHW-RC to Display Custom Helpsets

18.7 Changing the OHW-RC Access URL

18.7.1 Changing the final URL element of the access URL

18.7.2 Changing the access URL to another name

18.8 Deploying OHW-RC as a Standalone Web Application

18.8.1 Installing the OHW-RC Artifacts

18.8.2 Configuring OHW-RC as Standalone Web Application

18.9 Deploying OHW-RC as part of a Web Application

18.9.1 Installing the OHW-RC Artifacts

18.9.2 Configuring OHW-RC as Part of Web Application

18.10 Deploying Multiple Help Instances in a Web Application

18.10.1 Application and OHW-RC Configuration Files and Setup

18.10.2 Running the application

19 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Application

19.1 Overview of Implementing Context-Sensitive Help In a Web Application

19.2 Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics

19.3 Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System

19.3.1 Linking to the Front Main Page

19.3.2 Linking to a Topic

19.3.3 Specifying the Locale and Group

20 ADF Rich Client Help Provider

20.1 Overview of ADF Rich Client Help Provider

20.2 Integrating Online Help With ADF Faces Application

20.3 Registering OHW-RC as an ADF Rich Client Help Provider

20.4 Using HelpTopicId Attribute

20.5 Using Other Help Providers

Part VI Oracle Help for the Web – UIX

21 Deploying OHW-UIX Demo File

21.1 Overview of Deploying OHW-UIX Demo Files

21.2 Understanding the OHW-UIX Demo File

21.3 Installing the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server

21.4 Installing the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File using Oracle JDeveloper

21.5 Running the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File

22 Understanding OHW-UIX Deployment

22.1 Overview of OHW-UIX Deployment

22.2 Verifying Requirements and Dependencies

22.3 Understanding OHW-UIX Configuration Files

22.4 Configuring OHW-UIX to Display Custom Helpsets

22.5 Changing the OHW-UIX Access URL

22.5.1 Changing the final URL element of the access URL

22.5.2 Changing the access URL to another name

22.6 Upgrading OHW-UIX and UIX

23 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Application

23.1 Overview of Implementing Context-Sensitive Help In a Web Application

23.2 Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics

23.3 Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System

23.3.1 Linking to the Front Page

23.3.2 Linking to a Topic

23.3.3 Specifying the Locale

23.4 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in Oracle UIX-based Applications

23.4.1 Registering OHW-UIX in the OracleHelpProvider

23.4.2 Databinding a Destination

24 Upgrading OHW-UIX

24.1 Upgrading OHW-UIX to OHW-RC

A Oracle Help and JavaHelp File Formats

A.1 Helpset File

A.2 Map File

A.3 Table of Contents File

A.4 Index File

A.5 Search Index File

A.6 Link File

A.7 OHW Configuration File

B Working Around the Java Modal Window Problem

B.1 About the Java Modal Window Problem

B.2 Registering a Window

B.3 Unregistering a Window

C Working With HelpBooks

C.1 HelpBook File Name Extensions

C.2 Adding the Help Data in OHJ

C.2.1 Constructing a HelpBook

C.2.2 Adding Books to Help

C.3 Locales in Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File

C.3.1 The <locale> Child Element <books>

C.3.2 The <contentLocation> Element

Index

List of Figures

2-1 Help Navigator and Help Topic Windows

2-2 Docked Windows

2-3 Topic Windows

2-4 Contents Tab in the Navigator Window

2-5 Index Tab in the Navigator Window

2-6 Search Tab in the Navigator Window

2-7 Favorites Tab in the Navigator Window

2-8 Custom Navigator Tab in the Navigator Window

2-9 Merged Helpsets in a Choice List

2-10 Results of the Merging

3-1 Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client User Interface

3-2 OHW-RC Global Toolbar

3-3 OHW-RC Contents Navigator

3-4 OHW-RC Index Navigator

3-5 OHW-RC Search Navigator

3-6 OHW-RC Topic Pane

3-7 About OHW-RC Window

4-1 OHW-UIX User Interface

4-2 Table of Contents View in OHW-UIX

4-3 Navigation Links

4-4 Index Views in OHW-UIX

4-5 Search Navigator in OHW-UIX

4-6 Advanced Search Navigator in OHW-UIX

4-7 Content (Topic) Views in OHW-UIX

9-1 Helpset Information in Debug Mode

9-2 Missing Helpset Information in Debug Mode

11-1 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Welcome

11-2 OHJ Authoring Wizard: HelpSet File

11-3 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Select Source and Target

11-4 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Specify Directory

11-5 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Views

11-6 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define New Views

11-7 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Custom View Type

11-8 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Custom Data Engine

11-9 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Full-Text Search View

11-10 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Full-Text Search View

11-11 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Associative Links

11-12 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Popup Windows

11-13 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Window Types

11-14 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Identity Property

11-15 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Placement Property

11-16 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Style Property

11-17 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Toolbar Buttons Property

11-18 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Finish Helpset

20-1 Help Icon in an ADF Faces Application

20-2 HelpTopicId Attribute

List of Tables

5-1 OHJ and OHW Files

6-1 <maps> Child Elements

6-2 <wintype> Child Elements

6-3 <links> Child Elements

6-4 <view> Child Elements

6-5 View Type: oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator

6-6 View Type: oracle.help.navigator.keywordNavigator.KeywordNavigator

6-7 View Type: oracle.help.navigator.searchNavigator.SearchNavigator

6-8 Map File Elements

7-1 TOC File Elements

7-2 Index File Elements

7-3 Link File Elements

9-1 <brandings> Child Elements

9-2 <locales> Child Element

9-3 <books> Child Elements

9-4 <parameters> Child Elements

9-5 <parameters> Keyword Child Elements

9-6 <parameters> Performance Child Elements

9-7 Preload Value Behavior

13-1 OHJ Binaries

13-2 OHJ Authoring Tools

13-3 OHJ Demonstration JAR File

13-4 OHJ Demonstration Files

13-5 OHJ Documentation

14-1 Help() Constructors

14-2 HelpSet() Constructors

14-3 addBook() Constructors

14-4 showNavigatorWindow() Constructors

14-5 showTopic() Constructors

14-6 dispose() Constructors

15-1 CSHManager() Constructors

15-2 setDefaultBook() Constructors

15-3 addComponent() Constructors

15-4 showHelpForComponent() Method

17-1 OHW-RC Demo Files and Directories

18-1 OHW-RC Deployment Minimum Requirements

21-1 OHW-UIX Demo Files

22-1 OHW-UIX Deployment Minimum Requirements

A-1 Helpset Elements

A-2 Map File Elements

A-3 Table of Contents Elements

A-4 Index File Elements

B-1 registerClientWindow() Method

B-2 unregisterClientWindow() Method

C-1 HelpBook() Constructors

C-2 addBook() Constructors

C-3 <books> Child Elements

Oracle® Fusion Middleware

Developer's Guide for Oracle Help

11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0)

E14149-04

November 2011

Documentation for Oracle Help developers that describes how to develop and display HTML-based help systems for Java applications and web applications.

Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Help, 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0)

E14149-04

Copyright © 2002, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Primary Author: Himanshu Marathe

This software and related documentation are provided under a license agreement containing restrictions on use and disclosure and are protected by intellectual property laws. Except as expressly permitted in your license agreement or allowed by law, you may not use, copy, reproduce, translate, broadcast, modify, license, transmit, distribute, exhibit, perform, publish, or display any part, in any form, or by any means. Reverse engineering, disassembly, or decompilation of this software, unless required by law for interoperability, is prohibited.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice and is not warranted to be error-free. If you find any errors, please report them to us in writing.

If this is software or related documentation that is delivered to the U.S. Government or anyone licensing it on behalf of the U.S. Government, the following notice is applicable:

U.S. GOVERNMENT RIGHTS Programs, software, databases, and related documentation and technical data delivered to U.S. Government customers are "commercial computer software" or "commercial technical data" pursuant to the applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation and agency-specific supplemental regulations. As such, the use, duplication, disclosure, modification, and adaptation shall be subject to the restrictions and license terms set forth in the applicable Government contract, and, to the extent applicable by the terms of the Government contract, the additional rights set forth in FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software License (December 2007). Oracle America, Inc., 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065.

This software or hardware is developed for general use in a variety of information management applications. It is not developed or intended for use in any inherently dangerous applications, including applications that may create a risk of personal injury. If you use this software or hardware in dangerous applications, then you shall be responsible to take all appropriate fail-safe, backup, redundancy, and other measures to ensure its safe use. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates disclaim any liability for any damages caused by use of this software or hardware in dangerous applications.

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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This software or hardware and documentation may provide access to or information on content, products, and services from third parties. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates are not responsible for and expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind with respect to third-party content, products, and services. Oracle Corporation and its affiliates will not be responsible for any loss, costs, or damages incurred due to your access to or use of third-party content, products, or services.

Preface

Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Help explains how to use Oracle Help to develop and display HTML-based help systems for Java applications and for web applications.

Audience

This document is intended for authors who wish to create a single help system that can be displayed both in a Java environment and in a web environment.

Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Related Documents

For more information, refer to Oracle Help Technologies at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/index-083946.html.

Conventions

The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention | Meaning
boldface | Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.
italic | Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for which you supply particular values.
monospace | Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.

What's New

Oracle Help Release 5.0 includes many features that help you create and manage help systems for your application. In the current release, Oracle Help includes Oracle Help for Java Release 5.0, Oracle Help for the Web – UIX Release 5.0, and Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client Release 5.0. Oracle Help Release 5.0 also supports Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g Release 1 (11.1.1.6.0).

The most significant feature of this release is the Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client (OHW-RC). OHW-RC provides the following functionality enhancements over Oracle Help for the Web – UIX (OHW-UIX):

A user interface that:

looks and functions like the familiar tri-pane (menu toolbar, navigator, topic view) design of native help systems, similar to Oracle Help for Java.

has a better Index navigator, which provides scrolling instead of paging, supports incremental search.

enables users to view the current navigator and the current topic at the same time.

Quick search and bookmarking support

Support for Custom Protocol Links or xlinks

Support for Embedded Help

Usage as an inline Help provider for applications built on Oracle ADF

Other enhancements include:

Oracle WebLogic Server and Oracle JDeveloper support for OHW-UIX and OHW-RC

Debug mode in OHW-UIX and OHW-RC that indicates how many malformed helpsets were skipped while running the application

Part I

Oracle Help Overview

This part describes an overview of the Oracle Help. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 1, "Introduction to Oracle Help"

This chapter provides an introduction to Oracle Help.

Chapter 2, "OHJ User Interface"

This chapter describes the user interface components of Oracle Help for Java.

Chapter 4, "OHW-UIX User Interface"

This chapter describes the user interface components of Oracle Help for Web – UIX.

Chapter 3, "OHW-RC User Interface"

This chapter describes the user interface components of Oracle Help for Web – Rich Client.

1 Introduction to Oracle Help

This chapter introduces Oracle Help technologies, Oracle Help for Java and Oracle Help for the Web. It also provides an overview of developing and displaying HTML-based help systems for Java-based environment applications and web applications.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 1.1, "Overview of Oracle Help"

Section 1.2, "Oracle Help for Java"

Section 1.3, "Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client"

Section 1.4, "Oracle Help for the Web – UIX"

Section 1.5, "Oracle Help in Oracle JDeveloper"

Section 1.6, "Oracle Help Licensing and Support"

1.1 Overview of Oracle Help

Oracle Help technologies can be categorized into two: Oracle Help for Java and Oracle Help for the Web. Authors can create a single help system that can be displayed—without modification—both in a Java environment, using Oracle Help for Java (OHJ); and in a web environment, using Oracle Help for the Web. Alternatively, authors can just use Oracle Help for Java to create a help system for a Java environment application, or use Oracle Help for the Web to create a help system for a web environment application. Oracle Help for the Web is available in two versions: Oracle Help for the Web and Oracle Help for the Web – UIX.

Throughout this guide, Oracle Help is used when the comments apply to both Oracle Help for Java and Oracle Help for the Web. OHJ is used when the comments apply only to Oracle Help for Java. OHW is used when the comments apply only to Oracle Help for the Web.

1.2 Oracle Help for Java

Oracle Help for Java is a set of Java components, a Java API, and a file formats specification for developing and displaying HTML-based help content in a Java environment. OHJ is designed primarily for displaying help for Java applications, although it can also be implemented as a stand-alone document viewer for use in a Java environment.

The Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit (OHJDK) includes the OHJ technology plus tools and documentation for developing context-sensitive help for Java applets and applications. This includes the following:

Java components: OHJ includes a set of default Java user interface components that together comprise a complete help system, with a table of contents, index, search, and topic windows

API: The OHJ API includes features for implementing context-sensitive help, for programmatically controlling how help is displayed (size, position, etc.), and for customizing and extending the help system. For example, you can replace a default component with your own, create custom controls, or embed selected components in an application

Documentation: Documentation includes this Guide, plus the API reference (provided as JavaDoc documentation).

Helpset Authoring Wizard: The Helpset Authoring Wizard helps you create Oracle Help control files without using a third-party authoring tool.

For more information about OHJ features, see Chapter 2, "OHJ User Interface".

1.3 Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client

Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client (OHW-RC), delivers HTML-based Help content in a Web environment. It uses the Oracle Application Developer Framework (ADF), which is based on the Java Server Faces (JSF) technology, to build a user interface that follows Oracle's Browser Look And Feel Plus (BLAF+) behaviors and guidelines.

Both OHW-RC and OHW-UIX share the same model layer to provide Help content, build the table of contents, process indexes, and execute searches. Similar to OHW-UIX, many users can have access to a single instance of OHW-RC, because the Help contents are processed at the server side.

The OHW-RC can be used in many different situations:

As a help system providing context-sensitive Help to a rich client application in a new browser window

As a standalone document viewer of Help content on a public website

When a user performs a search on any popular search engine and the results link to indexed OHW-RC content

When an ADF Faces component's runtime implementation requires to retrieve Embedded Help information (Definition Text, Instructions Text, or Full Help) using the HelpProvider interface it defines

OHW-RC includes the following:

The OHW-RC Front Servlet: This is installed on a Web server, which enables OHW-RC to support same URL syntax for context sensitive help requests that was used in OHW UIX. It also enables an easy configuration to support multiple OHW-RC helpsets in a single web application.

The OHW-RC Servlet Filter: This is used to pre-process requests sent to the JSF servlet.

Documentation: Documentation includes this Guide.

1.4 Oracle Help for the Web – UIX

Oracle Help for the Web – UIX is a Java servlet and a file formats specification for developing and delivering HTML-based help content in a web environment. OHW-UIX can be used to provide context-sensitive help for web applications or as means for processing and displaying structured views of independent HTML content on the web. With OHW-UIX, a user needs only a web browser to navigate and view help content. The processing takes place on the server, via the OHW-UIX servlet. Because the help content is managed on a server and displayed in any number of web browsers, many users have access to a single installation of the help.

You should use OHW-UIX if you are building applications with Oracle's ADF UIX technology. If you are not using ADF UIX technology, you must use Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client help system. For more information, see Chapter 4, "OHW-UIX User Interface".

OHW-UIX includes the following:

The OHW-UIX servlet: The OHW-UIX servlet is installed on a web server to provide help to multiple users who access the help system via a web browser. Among other tasks, the OHW-UIX servlet does the following:

Parses and merges helpsets

Processes searches

Generates the OHW-UIX user interface and delivers it to users' web browsers

Delivers the help content for display through OHW-UIX in users' web browsers

The OHW-UIX user interface includes all features available in OHJ's Java user interface, but they are rendered as HTML in users' browsers. Features include a table of contents, index, and text search.

The help content files and control files (the same HTML and XML files that are used in OHJ) can be stored on the same server as the servlet or can be spread out over multiple servers in different locations.

Documentation: Documentation includes this Guide.

1.5 Oracle Help in Oracle JDeveloper

Besides being used for the internal JDeveloper help system itself, JDeveloper includes the Oracle Help for Java runtime library, so if you are developing Java applications with JDeveloper, it is easy to include OHJ as the Java help system technology. For more information, see Chapter 13, "Introduction to Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit".

JDeveloper does not include the Oracle Help for the Web. You can obtain it, as well as the complete Oracle Help for Java development kit, from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

1.6 Oracle Help Licensing and Support

As a service to our customers and the software community, Oracle provides Oracle Help software and support for free. This includes both Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) and Oracle Help for the Web.

Oracle Help is available for free and may be redistributed as the help system for your application. For full information, see the license distributed with the release.

Post your questions on the Oracle Help Technologies Forum on the Oracle Technology Network, or send e-mail to ohinfo_us@oracle.com.

2 OHJ User Interface

This chapter describes Oracle Help for Java user interface components, such as Navigator window, Topic window, Index tab, Search tab, and Favorites tab.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 2.1, "Overview of Oracle Help for Java User Interface"

Section 2.2, "OHJ Topic Windows"

Section 2.3, "OHJ Navigator Window"

Section 2.4, "Merged Helpsets"

Section 2.5, "Other OHJ Features"

2.1 Overview of Oracle Help for Java User Interface

The Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) user interface has two main parts, Help Navigator window and Help Topic window. The Help Navigator window includes controls for finding topics and the Help Topic window displays HTML content.

Figure 2-1 Help Navigator and Help Topic Windows

Users can undock the windows, so they appear as panes in separate windows, as shown in Figure 2-1, or dock them so they appear in as single window as shown in Figure 2-2.

Figure 2-2 Docked Windows

2.2 OHJ Topic Windows

The OHJ Help Topic windows (or topic panes, when docked) display HTML content. Figure 2-3 shows topic windows with different types of HTML content.

Figure 2-3 Topic Windows

The default HTML display component included in the OHJDK is a special implementation of the ICEbrowser from ICEsoft Technologies, Inc. For more information about the browser and its supported technologies, see http://www.icesoft.com. You may use and redistribute this component free of charge as long as it is used as part of a help system using OHJ. This HTML display component supports the following:

HTML 4.0

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) 1 and most of CSS 2. CSS 3 is not supported.

Java applets

Multimedia, as supported by Java Media Framework 2.0.

JavaScript

Support for Screen Reader software

Single topic and multiple topic printing

GIF animation

Popups with HTML support

Associative links, where a single index word or phrase can be associated with multiple topics. When the user selects one of these links, a list of all topics associated with the link is presented, and the user can choose a topic from the list.

Author-defined window types, where authors can specify colors such as background color, text color, and link color, window size and position, window title, and toolbar buttons.

Topic ID linking—hyperlink targets are specified by ID rather than URL

Synchronization with items in the table of contents

You do not have to use the default HTML display. You can replace it with a different HTML display component. Or, if your application and the help system are running as an applet in a Web browser, you can use a browser window as the topic window. Consequently, the display capabilities for your implementation of OHJ rely on the HTML display you chose to embed in the system.

2.3 OHJ Navigator Window

The navigator window is a tabbed control for navigating and finding topics in the help system. By default, the navigator window contains tabs for a Contents, Index, and Search. Authors can control several characteristics of the navigator window simply by setting parameters for the help system. For example, you can change the labels on the tabs and add icons. You could also display multiple tables of contents, for example, one for product help and one for a tutorial. For a more complex system, a Java programmer can create custom tabs, and the author can add them to the navigator window.

This topic contains the following sections:

Section 2.3.1, "Contents Tab"

Section 2.3.2, "Index Tab"

Section 2.3.3, "Search Tab"

Section 2.3.4, "Favorites Tabs"

Section 2.3.5, "Custom Navigator Tabs"

2.3.1 Contents Tab

The Contents tab displays topics in a hierarchical tree. The contents and structure of the tree are specified by the author. Multiple file formats are supported for defining the tree.

Figure 2-4 Contents Tab in the Navigator Window

When a user double-clicks a topic title in the table of contents, that topic is displayed in the topic window. The user may also open a topic in a new, additional, topic window by selecting a button on the toolbar, or by selecting a command from the right-click context menu.

The table of contents view has the following features:

The item selected (highlighted) in the table of contents is automatically synchronized to the topic shown in the topic window. For example, if you click a hyperlink in a topic and jump to a new topic, the selection in the table of contents switches from the old topic to the new one.

Unlimited levels of hierarchy are allowed.

The list of items in the navigator window can be printed.

2.3.2 Index Tab

The Index tab displays an alphabetical list of keywords associated with topics. The keywords are defined by the help author, and, like the table of contents, multiple file formats are supported for specifying the list.

Figure 2-5 Index Tab in the Navigator Window

Figure 2-5 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Text entry field: The user types a word or words in this field.

Keyword list: As the user types, the first keyword in the list that matches the typed letters is selected. As more letters are typed, a more accurate selection is made. Alternatively, the user can simply select a keyword from this list.

Topic list: The titles of any topics that are associated with the keyword selected in Keyword List are displayed in this list. When the user double-clicks one of these titles, the topic is displayed in the topic window. The user may also select the topic and click Open.

The index provides many useful features:

One keyword can be associated with many topics, and many keywords can be associated with a single topic.

Two levels of indenting are supported.

When merging helpsets, one unified index is created with proper alphabetization for the entire index. In other words, the entries are merged and resorted; they are not concatenated.

Indexes are properly alphabetized when translated into languages other than that used to create the index.

Identical entries are collapsed to show only one.

2.3.3 Search Tab

The Search tab displays a text field where the user can enter text, then select Search. The titles of topics whose content contains that word or phrase are listed in the Results list at the bottom of the tab. When the user double-clicks a title, that topic appears in the topic window.

Figure 2-6 Search Tab in the Navigator Window

Figure 2-6 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Search text: The user enters a word or words in this field.

Case Sensitive: A checkbox, when selected, enables searching for words having the same case as the words entered by the user.

Search for: A set of option buttons that allows a user to specify whether to list topics that contain any or all of the specified words, or perform a search based on a Boolean expression (AND, OR).

Topic List: The results area displays the Rank, Topic Title, and Source of each topic that matches the search criteria. The Rank column indicates the ranking of the topics according to how well they match the search criteria. All columns can be sorted in the ascending or descending alphabetical order. By default, all topics are sorted by Rank. When the user selects a particular result, the associated topic is displayed in the topic pane.

Users can set the following options when performing a search:

Enable or disable case-sensitivity of search keywords.

List topics that contain all search words or at least one of the search words.

Search based on a Boolean expression (AND, OR).

Search tab provides many useful features:

Results are ranked according to how well they match the search criteria.

Previously entered search criteria are saved and can be displayed in a drop-down list.

Results list the title of the topic and its source.

Users can sort results by rank, topic title, or topic source.

The search database is generated when authoring the help system. The OHJDK and as other authoring tools that support OHJ include a utility for generating this database, called the Text Search Indexer. The search database uses an Oracle-defined file format. This search database is always used when you implement it on the client. You can also implement your own search on a server. For example, if you store your topics in an Oracle database, you can use the database's text processing capabilities to perform the search.

For more information about Text Search Indexer, see Chapter 12, "Using the Text Search Indexer".

Note:

An Oracle database is not required to use OHJ.

2.3.4 Favorites Tabs

Users can mark topics in a helpset as favorites using the Favorites Navigator, similar to the Favorites functionality in web browsers.

Figure 2-7 Favorites Tab in the Navigator Window

Users can identify and manage favorite topics from a helpset:

Add or delete favorite topics

Create folders and subfolders

Rename current topics from the default topic title name

Users can access Favorites navigator functionality from the Tools menu of Help Topic window, which displays an Add Favorites dialog, or by right-clicking a favorite in the Favorites navigator.

Note:

Unlike Contents, Search, or Index, the Favorites navigator is displayed by invoking the method enableFavoritesNavigator() URL, which specifies a file, favorites.xml, to contain favorites information. For more information, see Section 14.4, "Adding the Favorites Tab or Custom Tab"

2.3.5 Custom Navigator Tabs

Among other features, the OHJ API allows you to customize the default OHJ user interface. For example, you can program custom tabs, also called navigators, in Java and add them to the navigator window. Figure 2-8 shows a custom tab Product Education.

Figure 2-8 Custom Navigator Tab in the Navigator Window

2.4 Merged Helpsets

A collection of help topics, with their associated control files, is called a helpset. Helpsets can be merged at runtime. That means that multiple authors can create multiple helpsets which will be seamlessly merged after authoring has been completed. Similarly, new components can be added to a user's help system without having to rework the entire system.

Several features support merged helpsets:

The Contents navigator merges helpsets into one tree with the contents from all merged helpsets. As of Oracle Help for Java and Oracle Help for the Web, the Contents navigator merges all tree nodes that have the same labels and do not have conflicting targets.

The index shows the index entries from all helpsets, properly sorted.

The text search searches through all merged helpsets.

Alternatively, authors can specify that selected helpsets are displayed in a drop down list in the toolbar. This can simplify the presentation of a complex help system to the user.

Figure 2-9 Merged Helpsets in a Choice List

When this implementation is used, the Contents and the Index tabs show only items from the helpset that is selected from the list. The Search text searches only for items in the selected helpset.

When an author provides associative links, the list of topics associated with a link includes items from the merged helpsets.

2.4.1 Merging Table of Contents

Oracle Help for Java and Oracle Help for the Web, both support the merging of TOC files from multiple helpsets to create one tree. The TOC that results from merging multiple tables is essentially the result of laying all trees on top of one another. If multiple TOCs contain identical nodes (nodes that have the same text and target topic Id), then these nodes are combined into one node that has all original nodes' children.

Consider the scenario when you have two helpsets that make use of toc1.xml and toc2.xml:

toc1.xml

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<toc version="1.0">
  <tocitem text="1" target="1_topic" />
  <tocitem text="2" target="2_topic" >
    <tocitem text="2.1" target="2.1_topic" />
    <tocitem text="2.2" target="2.2_topic" />
  </tocitem>
  <tocitem text="3" target="3_topic" />
</toc>

toc2.xml

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<toc version="1.0">
  <tocitem text="2" target="2_topic" >
    <tocitem text="2.2" target="2.2_topic">
      <tocitem text="2.2.1" target="2.2.1_topic" />
      <tocitem text="2.2.2" target="2.2.2_topic" />
    </tocitem>
  </tocitem>
</toc>

Figure 2-10 shows the TOC that results from merging toc1.xmland toc2.xml. You can see that there is only one node for 2 because the target is 2_topic for both the <tocitem> items with text=2. The same applies for the node with text=2.2 .

Figure 2-10 Results of the Merging

This example assumes that the <view> elements defining the Contents navigators for the helpsets do not have titles. If a <view> for a Contents navigator includes a <title>, then this title is used as a parent node to all <tocitem> items defined by the toc.xml file. For more information, see Chapter 6, "Metadata Files".

2.5 Other OHJ Features

Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) features, not otherwise mentioned in this Oracle Help Guide, include the following features:

Accessibility Features

Internationalization Features

Java Foundation Class (JFC) Swing Components

Open, Pluggable Architecture

2.5.1 Accessibility Features

OHJ has the following accessibility features:

All user interface features are keyboard accessible, including the default HTML display component (the ICEbrowser). Oracle has modified the ICEbrowser that ships with OHJ to provide this accessibility support.

The most recent versions of OHJ and of the ICEbrowser have been successfully tested with the JAWS for Windows Screen Reader from Freedom Scientific. For more information, see http://www.freedomscientific.com.

2.5.2 Internationalization Features

OHJ has the following internationalization features:

All text strings in the user interface are stored in resource files, for easy translation.

The locale and encoding can be set programmatically.

The default HTML display component (the ICEbrowser) supports wrapping for non-space separated languages.

Help authors can set the charset of the HTML file, using the IANA character set encoding names (when using the default ICEbrowser HTML display component).

The OHJ user interface has been translated by Oracle into several languages.

2.5.3 Java Foundation Class (JFC) Swing Components

The OHJ Help system is implemented using Java Foundation Class (JFC) Swing components.

2.5.4 Open, Pluggable Architecture

OHJ has an open, pluggable architecture. That means that you can substitute your own components for default components such as the search facility or the HTML display component. In addition, components such as the Navigator tabs and the HTML display can be embedded into an application's user interface, to provide completely integrated help.

All OHJ application class files, control files, and content files can be encapsulated and compressed into JAR (Java Archive) files. It is not necessary to unJAR these files to run the help system.

3 OHW-RC User Interface

This chapter describes Oracle Help for the Web user interface components, such as global toolbar, topic navigator, index navigator, and search navigator.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 3.1, "Overview of Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client (OHW-RC) Interface"

Section 3.2, "OHW-RC Global Toolbar"

Section 3.3, "OHW-RC Contents Navigator"

Section 3.4, "OHW-RC Index Navigator"

Section 3.5, "OHW-RC Search Navigator"

Section 3.6, "OHW-RC Topic Pane"

Section 3.7, "Other OHW-RC Features"

3.1 Overview of Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client (OHW-RC) Interface

The Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client (OHW-RC) user interface provides the same features as that of OHJ. However, since OHW-RC is a Web application, there are some differences in appearance and behavior.

Figure 3-1 shows OHW-RC in a Web browser.

Figure 3-1 Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client User Interface

Figure 3-1 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Branding area: Located at the top of the rich client interface, this area can contain text, an image, or both. Typically, this area identifies the help content or provides company information, such as the name and logo.

Toolbar area: Located below the branding area, this area provides the main menu items, a helpset switcher (where applicable), and a quick search control.

Navigator area: Located on the left side of the page, this area uses the accordions approach, and each accordion panel represents one navigator. The OHW-RC framework provides three standard navigators: Contents, Index, and Search. The exact set of navigators in an OHW-RC instance is dynamically determined from the helpset definition file (for example, the.hs file).

Topic view area: When a topic is selected in any tab of the Navigator area, the contents of that topic appear in this area.

With the exception of the branding area, these elements are configured in the helpset file. OHW-RC and OHJ use the exact same file formats, including the helpset file. That means that one can take an existing OHJ help system and deploy it as an OHW-UIX or OHW-RC system, without changing any of the existing control files. OHW-RC uses the same directives from the helpset file to construct its user interface as are used by OHJ to configure its user interface.

For more information about deploying OHW-RC system, see Chapter 17, "Deploying OHW-RC Demo File".

3.2 OHW-RC Global Toolbar

The top area of the rich client contains a helpset switcher (where applicable), a quick search control, a View menu that enables users to manipulate areas on the page, and a toolbar.

Figure 3-2 OHW-RC Global Toolbar

Figure 3-2 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Helpset Switcher: A dropdown list that contains all helpsets defined in an OHW-RC application. The helpset that is currently open is shown in the dropdown box, and users can use the list to switch to a different helpset. The Helpset Switcher is visible only when there are multiple independent sets of content and the combineBooks parameter, in the ohwconfig.xml file, is set to false.

Search This Helpset: A quick search control that allows users to perform a quick search without switching to the Search navigator. The default search options in this case will be set to case insensitive, all words and all sources. If there are multiple search navigators, the quick search control is not displayed. Multiple search navigators can be present when the helpset file contains more than one views with the navigator of type: oracle.help.navigator.searchNavigator.SearchNavigator.

View: A menu that provides a list of command menu items to control visibility and navigation of the helpset. The command items are grouped into similar functionalities as follows:

Maximize Reading Pane toggles the expansion or collapse of the navigator pane.

Restore Default Window Layout rearranges the panes according to the default layout.

The navigator items section contains command items to navigate to all available navigators panes (Contents, Index, and Search, and the custom navigators, if any).

Show bookmarkable link for this topic page displays a popup that contains the permanent link to the current topic, which can then be used to create a bookmark.

The toolbar contains the following buttons:

Back To Topic: reopens the topic the user previously visited

Forward To Topic: reopens the topic the user just returned from.

Print this topic page: prints the current topic.

Email link to this topic page: opens the default email application, copies the URL of the current topic into the message body, and the topic title into the subject field.

Show permanent link for this topic page: displays a popup that contains the permanent link to the current topic, which can then be used to create a bookmark.

A Collapse Pane button is also available to hide the toolbar and maximize the Topic Pane.

3.3 OHW-RC Contents Navigator

The Contents Navigator displays topics in a hierarchical tree. The contents and structure of the tree shows the merged data from the table of contents views in the loaded helpsets. Users can expand or collapse branches of the tree and select leaves (and branches that have associated topics). When a leaf or branch associated with a topic is selected, the topic is displayed in the Topic Pane on the right. A scroll bar will be shown when necessary.If the Table of Contents in the Contents Navigator is not visible, use the View menu in the global toolbar to navigate to the tab.

Figure 3-3 OHW-RC Contents Navigator

The Contents Navigator is always in sync with the topic displayed in the Topic Pane. For example, if you click a link in a topic and jump to another topic, the new topic is automatically highlighted in the Contents tab.The state of the Contents tab is maintained even when a user switches between navigators. For example, if a user selects a topic and switches to the Index navigator and back (without opening any other topic), the selected topic, scroll position, and expansion state of the tree remain unchanged. This works together with the auto-sync functionality.The context menu provides a list of command menu items to control visibility and navigation of the helpset. The items are:

Print This Page: prints the contents of the selected topic.

Email This Page: opens the default email application, copies the URL of the current topic into the message body, and the topic title into the subject field (also available through the global toolbar).

Link to This Page: displays a popup that contains the permanent link to the selected topic, which can then be used to create a bookmark (also available through the global toolbar).

Expand: expands the tree to display the child topics of the selected node.

Collapse: collapses the tree to hide the child topics of the selected node.

Expand All Below: expands all nodes under the selected node to display their respective child topics.

Collapse All Below: collapses all nodes under the selected node to hide their respective child topics.

Show As Top: displays the current node as the root of the tree.

Note:

The functions provided by the first three context menu items are also available through the global toolbar. For more information, see Section 3.2, "OHW-RC Global Toolbar".

3.4 OHW-RC Index Navigator

The Index Navigator displays a sorted list of keywords, in a hierarchy of two levels. A keyword can be associated with multiple topics. The hierarchy is indicated by indented child items.

Figure 3-4 OHW-RC Index Navigator

Figure 3-4 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Jump to keyword: The user enters a word or words in this field. As the user types, the first keyword in the list that matches the typed letters is selected. As more letters are typed, a more accurate selection is made. Alternatively, the user can simply select a keyword from the keyword list.

Keyword list: A list that contains a 2-level locale-sensitive collated list of keywords. Selecting a keyword in the list displays the associated topics in the topic list.

Expand/Collapse: Click the button to hide the Keyword List and Jump to keyword text field, and expand the topic list to occupy all Index navigator. The button is useful if you have list of topics for the search keyword and you want to browse through them.

Topic list: A list that displays the title and source of each topic that is associated with the keyword selected in the keyword list. When the user selects one of these titles, the topic is displayed in the Topic pane. Both the Topic and Source columns can be sorted in the ascending or descending alphabetical order.

3.5 OHW-RC Search Navigator

The Search Navigator provides a user interface for constructing a full-text search query. The user may enter multiple words for the search string.

Figure 3-5 OHW-RC Search Navigator

Figure 3-5 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Search text: The user enters a word or words in this field. To search for an exact phrase, enclose the search phrase in double quotes.

You can also use the * wildcard character in your search string. Note that the support for the * wildcard character is available in between and in the end of the search string, but not in the beginning of the search string. For example, John*Doe and John* are valid search strings, *Doe is an invalid search string.

Source: A dropdown that allows users to specify the set source topics among which the search is to be performed.

Match: A dropdown that allows users to specify whether to list topics that contain any or all of the specified words, or perform a search based on a Boolean expression (AND, OR).

Case Sensitive: A checkbox, when selected, enables searching for words having the same case as the words entered by the user.

Expand/Collapse: Click the button to hide the Search text, Source, Match, and Case Sensitive fields; and expand the topic list to occupy all Search navigator. The button is useful if you have list of topics for the search keyword and you want to browse through them.

Topic List: The results area displays the Topic Title, Score and Source of each topic that matches the search criteria. The Score column indicates the ranking of the topics according to how well they match the search criteria. All columns can be sorted in the ascending or descending alphabetical order. By default, all topics are sorted by Score. When a user hovers the mouse on an item, a tooltip appears to show the full names of relevant folders, topics, and source data. When the user selects a particular result, the associated topic is displayed in the topic pane.

3.6 OHW-RC Topic Pane

The Topic pane displays the HTML help content.

Figure 3-6 OHW-RC Topic Pane

The Topic pane has its own toolbar to manipulate the currently displayed topic. Figure 3-6 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Find in page: The user enters some specific text, which is to be searched in the topic content, in this field.

Next: Searches for the next occurrence of the text specified by the user, and highlights the same if a match is found.

Previous: Searches for the previous occurrence of the text specified by the user, and highlights the same if a match is found.

Topic Pane: The pane with the help content.

3.7 Other OHW-RC Features

OHW-RC features, not otherwise mentioned in this Oracle Help Guide, include the following.

3.7.1 About OHW-RC Feature

The About OHW-RC feature displays information about the OHW-RC help system, Oracle copyright information, and the OHW-RC build you are using.

Note:

Oracle Help for Java supports the About OHW-RC feature using the request query parameter aboutOHW.

To view the About OHW-RC page, the user must navigate to the following URL:

http://localhost:<port_number>/<help ohw-rcf context-root>/faces/helppages/main.jspx?config=OHW+Servlet+1&aboutOHW=true

Upon navigating to this URL, the Topic pane will displays the current OHW-RC build information along with copyright information.

Figure 3-7 About OHW-RC Window

3.7.2 Bookmarking Feature

Users can bookmark a page, and the same topic will be displayed when navigating to the bookmark. Users will also be able to save a URL link and send the link by email. The following points must be noted for Bookmarking feature:

To bookmark a page, users need to use the Show permanent link for this topic page button on the global toolbar, which will refresh the rich client URL to a bookmarkable URL. Users can then use then browser's bookmarking feature to save the URL.

The state of the Index and Search navigators will not be part of the bookmark information. The Contents navigator will automatically be in sync with the displayed topic.

3.7.2.1 Backward Compatibility

A bookmark from OHW-RC will be able to display the same topic view in OHW-RC given the topic ID, group, and locale. However, since OHW-RC bookmarks have many other parameters besides the ones that are supported, the state of all navigators may not be restored.

OHW-RC URLs indexed by search engines will still link to valid help content.

3.7.3 Single Pane Layout Feature

Users can view the current topic in a single pane layout by altering the URL.

For example:

topicId

http://localhost:7101/help-ohw-rcf-context-root/ohguide/?topic=ohg_about_about_html&linkHelp=false

vtTopicFile

http://localhost:7101/help-ohw-rcf-context-root/ohguide/?vtTopicFile=ohguide/ohg_about_about.html&linkHelp=false

4 OHW-UIX User Interface

This chapter describes Oracle Help for the Web – UIX (OHW-UIX) user interface.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 4.1, "Overview of Oracle Help for the Web – UIX (OHW-UIX) User Interface"

Section 4.2, "OHW-UIX Table of Contents"

Section 4.3, "OHW-UIX Index"

Section 4.4, "OHW-UIX Search"

Section 4.5, "OHW-UIX Topics"

4.1 Overview of Oracle Help for the Web – UIX (OHW-UIX) User Interface

OHW-UIX provides the same features as that of Oracle Help for Java (OHJ). However, since OHW-UIX is a web application, there are some differences in appearance and behavior.

OHW-UIX help system is recommended if you are building applications with Oracle ADF UIX technology. If you are not using ADF UIX technology, you must use Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client help system. For more information, see Chapter 3, "OHW-RC User Interface".

Figure 4-1 OHW-UIX User Interface

Figure 4-1 numbered callouts identify the following user interface components:

Branding area: This area can contain text, an image, or both. Typically, this area identifies the help content or provides company information, such as the name and logo.

Helpset switcher: If you have more than one helpset, you can specify whether to merge them or to enlist them separately in this dropdown.

Tab bar: The default tabs are Contents, Index, Search, and View Topic.

Content area: When a tab is selected, the content associated with that tab appears in this area.

With the exception of the branding area, these elements are configured in the helpset file. OHW-UIX and OHJ use the exact same file formats, including the helpset file. That means that you can take an existing OHJ help system and deploy it as an OHW-UIX system, without changing any of your existing control files. OHW-UIX uses the same directives from the helpset file to construct its user interface as are used by OHJ to configure its user interface. To deploy a help system as an OHW-UIX system, you have to configure and deploy a servlet container, and you have to add an OHW-UIX configuration file. The branding information is specified in this file, among other configuration parameters.

For more information about deploying OHW-UIX system, see Chapter 22, "Understanding OHW-UIX Deployment".

Comparing OHW-UIX Tabs with OHJ Tabs

The standard tabs (also called Navigators) in OHW-UIX are Contents, Index, Search, and View Topic. The Contents, Index, and Search tabs correspond to the same tabs that appear in an OHJ navigation window for a helpset. The View Topic tab takes the place of the topic window in OHJ.The OHW-UIX navigators remember their state for the current user. That means that if you switch from one tab to another, or follow a series of links from a topic, the previously visited tabs retain their contents. For example, if you perform a search in the Search tab and then follow several links from one of the topics found in your search, when you return to the Search tab, your most recent search criteria and results will still be displayed. This is not a surprising feature for an application that resides on a local machine (such as OHJ), but it is an important feature for a web application, where the application runs on a server and can be accessed by many remote users at the same time.The following topics describe the OHW-UIX user interface elements in more detail, including comparisons to OHJ:

4.2 OHW-UIX Table of Contents

In contrast to OHJ, which shows the Table of Contents (TOC) as a tree, the OHW-UIX TOC displays the hierarchy of a help system as a sequence of pages. Each page shows one node in the hierarchy, and that page can list both, topics and child nodes (that is, nodes that fall under the current node). When you select a topic title, OHW-UIX switches to the View Topic tab, where the contents of that topic are displayed. When you click the title of a node in the Contents tab, the page is refreshed to show the listing for that node. When you navigate through a hierarchy, the navigation trail, or breadcrumbs, is shown as a set of links at the top of the page. This provides a quick way to navigate back to a previous level in the hierarchy.

Figure 4-2 Table of Contents View in OHW-UIX

Figure 4-3 Navigation Links

4.3 OHW-UIX Index

The OHW-UIX keyword index is also slightly different from the one in OHJ. As in OHJ, the OHW-UIX index has a text field labelled Go to where you can enter words you want to find in the index. In contrast to OHJ, you have to select Go or press the Enter key before the associated words are displayed. OHW-UIX displays only 10 items at a time, but it also has controls for navigating through the entire list of items that match what was entered in the Go To field. If there is no entry in the Go To field, you can navigate through the entire keyword list.

When you select an item from the list of keywords, the page is refreshed with a list of topics associated with the selected keyword. This is equivalent to the list of found topics at the bottom of the OHJ Index tab. When you select an item from the list, OHW-UIX switches to the View Topic tab, where the topic is displayed.

The Topics for page in the index has navigation links at the top of the page, similar to the one described for the table of contents. However, this link always takes you back to the list of keywords.

Figure 4-4 Index Views in OHW-UIX

4.4 OHW-UIX Search

The OHW-UIX text search is similar to the index. You enter a word or phrase in the Search text field, press Enter, and OHW-UIX displays a list of associated topics. The first ten items are displayed (the list is sorted by rank), and you can navigate through further items in the list. In Advanced Search mode, you can also specify options for your search, like case sensitivity, match all words, match any words, or use a boolean expression.

As in the index, when you select an item from the list of topics found, the topic is displayed in the View Topic tab.

Figure 4-5 Search Navigator in OHW-UIX

Figure 4-6 Advanced Search Navigator in OHW-UIX

4.5 OHW-UIX Topics

Topics in OHW-UIX are displayed in the View Topics tab. This navigator supports several special features from OHJ, including topic ID links, associative links, and popups. In OHJ, these features were processed by the ICEbrowser display engine. In OHW-UIX they work in any browser. For more information about these features, see Chapter 8, "Topic Files".

Figure 4-7 Content (Topic) Views in OHW-UIX

To locate the topic in Table of Contents, click Locate in 'Contents'. To take a print of the topic, click Printable Page. A new printable page is created without navigation tabs, help title, and helpset switcher.

Part II

Oracle Help File Formats

This part describes the Oracle Help file formats. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 5, "Introduction to Oracle Help File Formats"

This chapter provides an introduction to Oracle Help file formats.

Chapter 6, "Metadata Files"

This chapter describes the metadata files used in Oracle Help. These include helpset files and map files.

Chapter 7, "Help Information Files"

This chapter describes the information files used in Oracle Help. These include Table of Contents file, Index file, Search Index file, and Link file.

Chapter 8, "Topic Files"

This chapter describes the topic files used in Oracle Help.

Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File"

This chapter describes the configuration files of Oracle Help for Web.

5 Introduction to Oracle Help File Formats

This chapter describes the various file formats (such as metadata files, information files, and topic files) used by Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) and Oracle Help for the Web (OHW-UIX and OHW-RC).

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 5.1, "Overview of Oracle Help File Formats"

Section 5.2, "File Name Extensions"

5.1 Overview of Oracle Help File Formats

The following help file formats are supported by OHJ, OHW-RC, and OHW-UIX.

Metadata files provide information about the structure and operation of the help system. For more information, see Chapter 6, "Metadata Files".

Help information files contain information about the content of the help system. For more information, see Chapter 7, "Help Information Files".

Topic files are the HTML files containing the content for the help system. For more information, see Chapter 8, "Topic Files".

In addition to the above files, OHW-UIX and OHW-RC use a configuration file to configure the servlet file. For more information, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

The Oracle Help file formats are based on the JavaHelp™ Specification. For more information about differences between Java Help and Oracle Help file formats, see Appendix A, "Oracle Help and JavaHelp File Formats".

5.2 File Name Extensions

When you use helpsets, you don't have to use specific extensions for the names of the associated control files, but you must ensure that the correct file name and extensions are used when the file is referenced.

Table 5-1 shows conventional (but not required) extensions for the helpset-related file formats. It also shows where these files are referenced, so you can be sure that the correct name and extension are used.

Table 5-1 OHJ and OHW Files

Type of File
Conventional Extension
Referenced By

Helpset

.hs

In OHJ, the calls from the Java program that launches the help.

In OHW-RC and OHW-UIX, from the configuration file:

<books>
  <helpSet location="filename.hs" />
</books>

Helpset used as a subhelpset

.hs

Master helpset file in

<subhelpset location="filename.hs"/>

Map

.xml

Helpset file in

<maps>
  <mapref>filename.xml</mapref>
</maps>

TOC

.xml

Helpset file in

<maps>
<view>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">filename.xml</data>
</view>

Keyword Index

.xml

Helpset file in

<view>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLIndexEngine">filename.xml</data>
</view>

Link

.xml

Helpset file in

<links>
  <linkref>filename.xml</linkref>
</links>

Search Index

.idx

Helpset file in

<view>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.SeearchEngine">filename.idx</data>
</view>

6 Metadata Files

This chapter describes the metadata files (helpset and map files) used by OHJ and OHW.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 6.1, "Overview of Metadata Files"

Section 6.2, "Helpset File"

Section 6.3, "Map Files"

6.1 Overview of Metadata Files

Metadata files provide information about the structure and operation of the help system. Metadata files can be categorized into two types, Helpset files and Map files. Both files are XML files.

6.2 Helpset File

The helpset file is an XML file with .hs extension that organizes project-level information about the helpset. For example, it points to other control files to be used for the helpset, including map, table of contents, index, associative links, and search. These references are used, in part to define the set of navigational views that Oracle Help uses to construct the user interface.

The helpset file consists of the following elements and their child elements:

Section 6.2.1, "The <helpset> Element"

Section 6.2.2, "The <title> Element"

Section 6.2.3, "The <maps> Element"

Section 6.2.4, "The <wintype> Element"

Section 6.2.5, "The <links> Element"

Section 6.2.6, "The <view> Element"

Section 6.2.7, "The <subhelpset> Element"

Section 6.2.8, "Sample Helpset File"

6.2.1 The <helpset> Element

The contents of a helpset file are entirely contained within a single <helpset> element.That is, a helpset file must begin with <helpset> and end with </helpset>. Only one <helpset> element is allowed in a helpset file.

6.2.2 The <title> Element

The <title> element assigns a name to the helpset, for example:

<title>API Reference</title>

Under certain conditions, this title is displayed in the Oracle Help user interface as the name of the helpset. For example, it is displayed in the dropdown list of helpsets when Oracle Help is implemented to display a list of merged helpsets, instead of concatenating them.

6.2.3 The <maps> Element

The <maps> element points to one or more map files, which are used to map topic IDs to topic files. The <maps> element has the following child elements:

Table 6-1 <maps> Child Elements

Element
Description

<mapref>

The location of a map file for this book. When multiple map files are specified, they are merged. Each <mapref> item is searched in order and a merged map is constructed. The <mapref> element has the following attributes:

location – The URL of the map file relative to the helpset.

class – [optional] A class whose location is the base location for the map file. Any path information in the location attribute is relative to this base location.

<homeID>

The ID (defined in the map file) of a topic that is used in some cases as the default topic for the helpset. That is, if no topic is specified when OHJ is launched, this topic is displayed by default. The <homeID> element is functional only in the following OHJ implementations:

OHJ Documentation Viewer (installed with OHJ).

When OHJ is implemented so that the navigator window and the topic window are docked by default.

The <homeID> element is not used in OHW-UIX or OHW-RC.

For example:

<maps>
  <mapref location="main_map.xml"/>
  <mapref location="tutorial/tut_map.xml"/>
</maps>

6.2.4 The <wintype> Element

The <wintype> element defines the characteristics of one or more windows that can be used by OHJ to display topics, including size, screen placement, text color, and background color. For more information about how this looks in the OHJ user interface, see Section 2.2, "OHJ Topic Windows".

Note:

OHW-UIX and OHW-RC do not recognize <wintype> element. This information is also ignored if topics are displayed directly in a web browser.

The helpset file can have any number of <wintype> sections; one for each window type. The <wintype> tag has one valid attribute:

default – If true, the current window type is the default window type to be used if a topic file does not designate a window type. If false, this window type is not a default and will not be used except when explicitly listed in the map file. When the default attribute is not present, its value is assumed to be false.

The <wintype> element can have the following child elements:

Table 6-2 <wintype> Child Elements

Element
Description

<name>

The name of this window type. This name is used to associate topics with the window type. If multiple windows are defined in a helpset, they must have unique names.

<height>

The height of the window. A numeric value indicates a distance in pixels. A numeric value followed by a percent sign (%) indicates a percentage of the visible screen.

<width>

The width of the window in pixels. A numeric value indicates a distance in pixels. A numeric value followed by a percent sign (%) indicates a percentage of the visible screen.

<x>

The horizontal position of the window. A numeric value indicates a distance in pixels. A negative value indicates distance between the right edge of the window and the right edge of the screen. A numeric value followed by a percent sign (%) indicates a percentage of the visible screen.

<y>

The vertical position of the window in pixels. A numeric value indicates a distance in pixels. A negative value indicates distance between the bottom edge of the window and the bottom of the screen. A numeric value followed by a percent sign (%) indicates a percentage of the visible screen.

<textfg>

The six-digit hexadecimal RGB value of the foreground color of the text in the window. A preceding # on the value may be present, but is ignored. For any single topic, a foreground color specified in the HTML topic file or CSS will override this value.

<linkfg>

The six -digit hexadecimal RGB value of the foreground color of the links in the window. A preceding # on the value may be present but is ignored. For any single topic, a link color specified in the HTML topic file or CSS will override this value.

<bg>

The six -digit hexadecimal RGB value of the background color of the window. A preceding # on the value may be present but is ignored. For any single topic, a background color specified in the HTML topic file or CSS will override this value.

<title>

Text that appears in the title bar of the window.

<toolbar>

Defines the buttons to display in the window's toolbar. A five-digit hexadecimal value which is the sum of one or more of the following:

00004 – Turns off the default buttons on the toolbar.

00040 – Adds a URL address field to display the current URL.

00400 – Add the Navigator button.

02000 – Add the Print button

04000 – Add the Back and Forward buttons.

08000 – Add the Search button.

10000 – Add the Dock/Undock buttons

A preceding # on the value may be present, but it is ignored.

Note that attributes specified in HTML topic content files always take precedence over attributes specified in the <wintype> section of the helpset.

The following <wintype> element defines a window to be used for tutorial topics:

<wintype default=false>
  <name>Tutorial</name>
  <height>50%</height>
  <width>200</width>
  <x>10</x>
  <y>10</y>
  <textfg>000000</textfg>
  <linkfg>0000cc</linkfg>
  <bg>ffffff</bg>
  <title>Tutorial</title>
  <toolbar>06004</toolbar>
</wintype>

This example defines a window type called Tutorial with a default height that is 50% of the screen height and a default width of 200 pixels. This window will display 10 pixels from the top and left side of the screen. The background of the window will be white, with black text and blue links. The title bar of this window will read Tutorial. The window toolbar will contain the Print, Back, and Forward buttons.

6.2.5 The <links> Element

The <links> element points to one or more link files, which are used to associate multiple targets with link IDs. For more information about links, see Section 7.5, "Link File".

The <links> element has the following child element:

Table 6-3 <links> Child Elements

Element
Description

<linkref>

The location of a map file for this book. When multiple map files are specified, they are merged. Each <linkref> item is searched in order and a merged link database is constructed. <linkref> has the following attributes:

location – The URL of the link file relative to the helpset.

class – [optional] A class whose location is the base location for the map file. Any path information in the location attribute is relative to this base location.

For example:

<links>
  <linkref location="linkfile1.xml"/>
  <linkref location="linkfile2.xml"/>
</links>

6.2.6 The <view> Element

The <view> element specifies how Oracle Help should render navigational views. A navigational view is a representation of the data in the navigation control files (such as TOC, index, and search) plus the user interface controls for navigating through them. Oracle Help includes Java classes to render standard types of views. Each type of view is presented on its own accordian panel: by default, the Contents, Index, and Search panels.

A helpset can include multiple views of each type. That is, the user interface can display multiple TOC tabs, Index tabs, and so forth. Oracle Help can also merge views of the same type. It does this by merging all views of the same type that have the same label. Views with the same type and label are merged as follows:

TOC views are appended together.

Index views are merged in a sorted order.

Search views are merged in no order. Order is irrelevant, since all search results are sorted by the user interface.

The <view> element can have the following child elements:

Table 6-4 <view> Child Elements

Element
Description

<label>

The label displayed on the navigator tab in the user interface. This label is optional. If no label is provided, Oracle Help uses Contents, Index, and Search for the appropriate tabs. The <label> element supports the following attribute:

image - [optional] An ID in the map file that is associated with an image file. The image appears next to the label text in the navigator tab.

<title>

A title for the view. This title appears in different places in the different navigational views:

In the TOC, the title is displayed as the title of the top-level node. All top-level nodes from the TOC file (or from multiple TOC files, if they are merged) are then placed under this title node. If a title is not provided for a TOC view, then all top-level nodes in the TOC definition appear as top-level nodes in the TOC view.

In the search and index views, the title is displayed as the Source location for any topics listed as the result of a search or from choosing an index item. If a title is not provided for a search or index view, the Source location is blank.

The title tag supports the following attribute:

image - [optional] An ID in the map file that is associated with an image file. If provided for a table-of-contents view, the image appears next to the text for the top-level node. If provided for an index or search view, the image is ignored.

<type>

The name of the Java class to be used as the user interface for this view. The following types are provided with the default implementation:

oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator
oracle.help.navigator.keywordNavigator.KeywordNavigator
oracle.help.navigator.searchNavigator.SearchNavigator

If JavaHelp types are specified, Oracle Help maps these correctly to Oracle Help types.

<data>

The path to the data used by this view, in other words, to the pertinent navigational control file, such as table-of-contents file, index file, or search file. The contents of this element can be a file name or a URL. The <data> element supports the following attributes:

class – [optional] A class whose location is the base location for the data file. Any path information is relative to this base location, including any references to HTML files.

engine – The name of the Java class to process the data file. A different engine is required for each of the file types supported by Oracle Help, including Oracle Help's XML formats (based on the JavaHelp formats), the MS HTML Help HHC/HHK file formats, and the TOC/TOK formats supported by earlier versions of OHJ. For more information about supported engines and view type, see Section 6.2.6.1, "Data View Type and Engines".

In the following example, two TOC tabs are created, one labeled User's Guide and the other labeled Reference. They both use the XML file format for the table of contents (specified in the <data> element), but they have different values in the <label> element. If both of the labels were the same, the TOC files, ug_toc.xml and ref_toc.xml, would be combined into a single TOC, and it would be shown in a single tab.

<view>
  <label>User's Guide</label>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">ug_toc.xml</data>
</view>
<view>
  <label>Reference</label>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">ref_toc.xml</data>
</view>

In the following example code, only one Contents tab is created, even though the two views use different file formats (XML vs. HHC) and different data engines. That is because the label and the type are the same. One advantage of this feature is that you can merge help systems using the old format with help systems using the new one without compromising the way the tabs are presented.

<view>
  <label>Table of Contents</label>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">new_toc.xml</data>
</view>
<view>
  <label>Table of Contents</label>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.HHCEngine"old_toc.hhc</data>
</view>

The next example shows one view each for a table of contents, an index, and a search. They do not have labels, so Oracle Help creates three tabs with the default labels, Contents, Index, and Search. Each view contains a <title> element with the value User's Guide. This produces the following results:

In the Contents tab, the items from the ug_toc.xml table of contents file appear under a single top-level node called User's Guide.

When a user selects an item from the keyword list in the Index tab, a list of associated topics is displayed. User's Guide will appear as the source for any topic from this helpset.

When a user performs a search in the Search tab, User's Guide will be shown in the list of results as the source for any topics found from this helpset.

This feature is useful when you merge several helpsets. It helps to keep the user oriented by reducing the number of top-level nodes in the table of contents and by showing the sources of topics found when using the index and search.

<view>
  <title>User's Guide</title>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">ug_toc.xml</data>
</view>
<view>
  <title>User's Guide</title>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.keywordNavigator.KeywordNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLIndexEngine">ugindex.xml</data>
</view>
<view>
  <title>User's Guide</title>
  <type>oracle.help.navigator.searchNavigator.SearchNavigator</type>
  <data engine="oracle.help.engine.SearchEngine">search.idx</data>
</view>

6.2.6.1 Data View Type and Engines

The following tables lists valid engine values for each view type:

Table 6-5 View Type: oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator

Engine
Description

oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine (default)

Oracle Help XML table of contents (extension of JavaHelp TOC)

oracle.help.engine.HHCEngine

Microsoft HTMLHelp 1.x table of contents

oracle.help.engine.TOCEngine

Table of contents from previous versions of OHJ

Table 6-6 View Type: oracle.help.navigator.keywordNavigator.KeywordNavigator

Engine
Description

oracle.help.engine.XMLIndexEngine (default)

Oracle Help XML keyword index (extension of JavaHelp keyword index)

oracle.help.engine.HHKEngine

Microsoft HTMLHelp keyword index.

oracle.help.engine.TOKEngine

Keyword index from previous versions of OHJ

Table 6-7 View Type: oracle.help.navigator.searchNavigator.SearchNavigator

Engine
Description

oracle.help.engine.SearchEngine (default)

Oracle help text search database.

6.2.7 The <subhelpset> Element

The <subhelpset> element is used to include other helpsets with the one defined in this helpset file. The views from combined subhelpsets are merged in the same way multiple views are merged in a single helpset. That is, subhelpset views with the same <type> and <label> are merged. For more information, see Section 6.2.6, "The <view> Element".

The <subhelpset> element supports the following attributes:

location – Specifies the URL of the helpset to be merged.

class – [optional] A class whose location is the base location for the subhelpset file. Any path information in the location attribute is relative to this base location.

Oracle Help assumes that subhelpsets may not always be present. For example, a master helpset for a suite of products may have a subhelpset for each product in the suite: product A, product B, and product C. The user might initially install just product A. At a later time, the user might install product C. Subhelpsets aid in this situation, because you can specify subhelpsets that will be loaded if they are found, and will be ignored if they are not found.

6.2.8 Sample Helpset File

The following listing shows a sample helpset with all of the sections discussed above, including five views: two tables of contents, two keyword indexes, and a text search.

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<helpset version="1.1">

  <maps>
    <mapref location="topics.xml"/>
  </maps>

  <wintype>
    <name>Tutorial</name>
    <height>50%</height>
    <width>200</width>
    <x>10</x>
    <y>10</y>
    <title>Tutorial</title>
    <toolbar>06004</toolbar>
  </wintype>

  <links>
    <linkref location="linkfile1.xml"/>
    <linkref location="linkfile2.xml"/>
  </links>

  <view>
    <label image="tocgif">Table of Contents</label>
    <title image="uggif">Forms User's Guide</title>
    <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
    <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">ugcontents.xml</data>
  </view>

  <view>
    <label>Keyword Index</label>
    <type>oracle.help.navigator.keywordNavigator.KeywordNavigator</type>
    <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLIndexEngine">ugindex.xml</data>
  </view>

  <view>
    <label image="tocgif">Table of Contents</label>
    <title image="dggif">Forms Developer's Guide</title>
    <type>oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator</type>
    <data engine="oracle.help.engine.HHCEngine"
      class="oracle.forms.documentation.dev">
      dgcontents.hhc
    </data>
  </view>

  <view>
    <label>Keyword Index</label>
    <type>oracle.help.navigator.keywordNavigator.KeywordNavigator</type>
    <data engine="oracle.help.engine.HHKEngine"
      class="oracle.forms.documentation.dev">
      dgindex.hhk</data>
  </view>

  <view>
    <label>Search</label>
    <title>Forms Documentation</title>
    <type>oracle.help.navigator.searchNavigator.SearchNavigator</type>
    <data engine="oracle.help.engine.SearchEngine"
      class="oracle.forms.documentation.dev">
      search.idx</data>
  </view>

  <subhelpset location="prodsup.hs"/>
  <subhelpset location="advanced.hs"/>

</helpset>

6.3 Map Files

The map file is an XML file that associates IDs with files. The primary use of the map file is to define topic IDs and associate them with topic files. You can also associate topic IDs (and thereby the topics) with any window types defined in <wintype> elements in the helpset file. These IDs are used in the table of contents files, in index files, and in the API for context-sensitive calls.

The map file can also be used to define image IDs and associate them with image files. These image IDs can be used to display images next to tab labels (specified in <view> elements in the helpset file). They can also be used to display images next to items in the table of contents specified in <tocitem> elements in the table of contents file.

6.3.1 Map File Elements

The following table describes the elements used in the map file:

Table 6-8 Map File Elements

Element
Description

<map>

Defines the mappings. The <map> element contains only <mapID> elements.

<mapID>

An ID and its associations. The <mapID> element has the following attributes:

target – The ID for the associated file. Valid characters are any alphanumeric character or punctuation symbol except the equals sign (=). IDs must be unique across all helpsets in a given help instance. However, you can assign multiple IDs to a single file. For example, you could assign one ID for a topic file to appear in one window type and a different ID for the same topic file to appear in a different window type.

url – The location of the file to associate with this ID (target). Relative URLs are resolved against the absolute URL for the map file. You may also specify a section of the file using anchor links.

wintype – [optional] The name of a windows type, defined using <wintype> elements in the helpset file. If a windows type is not specified, the topic associated with this ID is displayed in the default window defined in the helpset. The attribute is applicable for OHJ only.

In the following example, the map IDs topic_1 and topic_2 are not associated with window types and therefore use the helpset's default window type. The map IDs topic_3 and topic_4 map to topic files that will be displayed in the window defined by the intro window type. Map ID topic_5.tsk will display File_5.html in the window defined by the task window type. Map ID topic_5.cncpt will display the same topic file (File_5.html) in a different window type (concept). The association between URL and wintype will be used when linking from topic to topic using URLs instead of topic IDs. For example, if a topic had a hard-coded target to File_5.html, clicking the link would display the HTML content in a task window type.

<?xml version='1.0' ?>

<map version="1.0">
    <mapID target="topic_1" url="file_1.html" />
    <mapID target="topic_2" url="file_2.html#a1" />
    <mapID target="topic_3" url="file_3.html" wintype="intro" />
    <mapID target="topic_4" url="file_4.html#a2" wintype="intro" />
    <mapID target="topic_5.tsk" url="file_5.html" wintype="task" />
    <mapID target="topic_5.cncpt" url="file_5.html" wintype="concept" />
</map>

This scheme allows authors to assign window types to HTML files and to also override those associations by linking to an alternate topic ID. For example, for topic-to-topic links, TOC links, index links, and hard-coded links to File_5.html, the author might use topic_5.tsk, but for links from a tutorial, the author might use topic_5.cncpt. By keeping this information in the map file, the author has one central repository for managing these assignments.

7 Help Information Files

This chapter describes the help information files (table of contents, index, and link files) used by OHJ and OHW. Help information files contain information about the content of the help system.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 7.1, "Overview of Help Information Files"

Section 7.2, "Table of Contents File"

Section 7.3, "Index File"

Section 7.4, "Search Index File"

Section 7.5, "Link File"

7.1 Overview of Help Information Files

Help Information files can be categorized into three types, Table of Contents files, Index files, and Link files. All these files are XML files.

7.2 Table of Contents File

The Table of Contents (TOC) file is an XML file that describes the content and layout of the table of contents. It is typically rendered as the Contents tab.

7.2.1 TOC Elements

Table 7-1 describes the elements used in the table of contents file:

Table 7-1 TOC File Elements

Element
Description

<toc>

Defines the table of contents. This element contains <tocitem> elements. The <toc> element supports the following attribute:

version - The version of the table of contents file format specification. The version documented here is 1.0.

<tocitem>

Defines a table of contents entry. A <tocitem> element can contain other <tocitem> elements to create a hierarchy of topics. Nesting "tocitem_1" within "tocitem_2" defines "tocitem_1" to be hierarchically contained within "tocitem_2." The <tocitem> element supports the following attributes:

target - The topic ID of the topic to display when this item is selected by a user. Topic IDs are maintained in the map file. A parent node (that is, an item that contains others beneath it in the hierarchy) may or may not include a target. If it does not have a target, selecting that node will simply display its child items and nodes.

text - The text displayed in the table of contents for this item.

image - An image to display next to this item. The value of this attribute is an image ID specified in the map file.

The following example shows a short table of contents file:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
  <toc version="1.0">
  <tocitem text="Introduction to My Product">
    <tocitem target="aboutmyp" text="About My Product" />
    <tocitem target="architec" text="My Product Architecture" />
    <tocitem target="feature1" text="About Feature One" />
    <tocitem target="feature2" text="About Feature Two" />
    <tocitem target="feature3" text="About Feature Three" />
    <tocitem text="Learning My product">
      <tocitem target="qtour" text="Quick Tour" />
      <tocitem target="docguide" text="Guide to Documentation" />
    </tocitem>
  </tocitem>
  <tocitem text="Step-by-step Procedures">
    <tocitem text="Basic Tasks">
      <tocitem target="task1" text="To..." />
      <tocitem target="task2" text="To..." />
      <tocitem target="task3" text="To..." />
    </tocitem>
    <tocitem text="Working with ...">
      <tocitem target="task4" text="To..." />
      <tocitem target="task5" text="To..." />
    </tocitem>
  </tocitem>
  </toc>

This definition produces the following TOC hierarchy:

Introduction to My Product

About My Product

My Product Architecture

About Feature One

About Feature Two

About Feature Three

Learning My Product

Quick Tour

Guide to Documentation

Step-by-step Procedures

Basic Tasks

To...

To...

To...

Working with ...

To ...

To ...

7.3 Index File

The index file is an XML file that describes the content and layout of the index. It is typically rendered as the Index tab.

7.3.1 Index Elements

Table 7-2 describes the elements used in the index file:

Table 7-2 Index File Elements

Element
Description

<index>

Defines the index. It can contain <indexitem> and <indexentry> tags.

<indexitem>

Defines an index item that appears in the keyword list. Nesting index_item_1 within index_item_2 defines index_item_1 to be hierarchically contained within index_item_2, listed and indented below index_item_2 in the index. Oracle Help currently supports only two levels of keywords. The index view collapses any nesting beyond two levels.

If an index item has more than one topic associated with it, the topics should be listed as index entries defined in <indexentry> elements.

The <indexitem> element has the following attribute:

target - The topic ID (defined in the map file) of the topic to display when the entry is chosen by the user.

<indexentry>

Defines an index entry displayed in the topics list when the parent index item is selected in the index list. This tag uses the following attribute:

target - The topic ID (defined in the map file) of the topic to display when the entry is chosen by the user.

This example defines a very short index file:

<?xml version='1.0' ?>
  <index version="1.0">

  <indexitem target="Add_Icon"
      text="Add Icon Command">
    <indexitem target="addtosheet"
        text="Adding an icon to a sheet />
    <indexitem target="addtoworkbook"
        text="Adding an icon to a workbook" />
  </indexitem>

  <indexitem target="Sheet_Background"
       text="Adding a background to a sheet" />

  <indexitem text="Adding a new sheet to a workbook">
    <indexentry target="New_Sheet_command"
        text="New Sheet Command />
    <indexentry target="Add_new_sheet"
        text="To add a new sheet to a workbook" />
  </indexitem>

  <indexitem target="Add_item_to_sheet"
      text="Adding an item to a sheet" />
  </index>

The file in the example above produces this index list:

Add Icon Command
    Adding an icon to a sheet
    Adding an icon to a workbook
  Adding a background to a sheet
  Adding a new sheet to a workbook
  Adding an item to a sheet

If a user selects Adding a new sheet to a workbook from that list, a list of the following topics will be displayed:

New Sheet Command
  To add a new sheet to a workbook

This topic list appears at the bottom of the index pane, as opposed to indented topics, Adding an icon to a sheet and Adding an icon to a workbook, which show up in the keyword list at the top of the index pane.

Selecting a keyword that does not have index entries but has a directly associated target (for example, Adding an item to a sheet) displays the same text in the topics list as it does in the keyword list. Because of the way Oracle Help displays the index, it is a better practice never to use targets in the <indexitem> tags. Instead, always use the <indexentry> tags to specify topics associated with an <indexitem> -- even when there's only one target for a keyword.

In other words, the following code:

<indexitem text="sheet backgrounds">
    <indexentry target="Sheet_Background" text="adding a background to a sheet" />
</indexitem>

...is better than the following code:

<indexitem target="Sheet_Background" text="adding a background to a sheet" />

7.4 Search Index File

The search index file is used when a user performs a text search in Oracle Help, ordinarily from the Search tab. This file uses a proprietary binary format. Any third-party help authoring tool that supports Oracle Help should be able to generate this file. In addition, the OHJDK includes two utilities that generate a search index file:

The Helpset Authoring Wizard provides limited authoring support, including generating search indexes. For more information, see Chapter 10, "Authoring Oracle Help Systems".

The Text Search Indexer is a Java command-line tool that generates search indexes. For more information, see Chapter 12, "Using the Text Search Indexer".

7.5 Link File

The link file is an XML file that defines link IDs and associates them with multiple topic IDs (which are defined in the map file). A link ID, or a link keyword, can be used with the alink protocol in a topic file to display a list of links to the topics associated with the ID. In other words, associative links make it possible to associate an HTML link with multiple targets. The user can then choose which target to follow.

7.5.1 Link File Elements

Table 7-3 describes the elements used in the link file:

Table 7-3 Link File Elements

Element
Description

<link>

Defines the link file. The <link> element can contain only <linkitem> elements and their child <linkentry> elements.

<linkitem>

Defines the associative link. The <linkitem> element can only include <linkentry> elements. It has the following required attribute:

topicid – Defines the link ID.

<linkentry>

Defines an entry in the list of links displayed when an associative link is clicked. This element supports the following attributes:

target – Specifies the topic ID (defined in the map file) of the topic to display when the entry is chosen by the user.

text – The text displayed in the link list

The following example defines two associative links:

<?xml version='1.0' ?>
  <link version="1.0">

  <linkitem topic="dog_links">
    <linkentry target="about_dogs" text="About Dogs" />
    <linkentry target="dog_species" text="A List of Dog Species" />
    <linkentry target="dog_stories" text="Dog Stories" />
    <linkentry target="dog_lore" text="Dog Lore" />
  </linkitem>

  <linkitem topic="cat_links">
    <linkentry target="about_cats" text="About Cats" />
    <linkentry target="cat_species" text="A List of Cat Species" />
    <linkentry target="cat_stories" text="Cat Stories" />
  </linkitem>
  </link>

Using the first link ID from that example, you could define a link <a href="alink:dog_links">dogs</a>. When a user selected the dogs link, the following list of links would be displayed:

About Dogs
A List of Dog Species
Dog Stories
Dog Lore

Clicking About Dogs would display the topic mapped to the about_dogs ID in the map file.

8 Topic Files

This chapter describes the topic files, topic ID and associative links, popups, window types, and custom protocol links used by OHJ , OHW-RC, and OHW-UIX.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 8.1, "Overview of Topic Files"

Section 8.2, "Topic ID Links"

Section 8.3, "Associative Links"

Section 8.4, "Custom Protocol Links"

Section 8.5, "Popups"

Section 8.6, "Topic IDs"

Section 8.7, "Window Types"

8.1 Overview of Topic Files

Topic files are HTML files that contain the content for a help topic. The features supported in the HTML files depend on the browser (or HTML display component) used to display them.

For these features to work in OHJ, you must use the default ICEbrowser version of OHJ. If you substitute a different HTML display component, these features will not work. Also, if you display your HTML topic files directly in a web browser, that browser will not recognize the protocols and metadata documented on this page; therefore these features will not work.

OHW-UIX and OHW-RC do support these features. However, the process is different than in OHJ. An Oracle Help for the Web help system can be viewed in any current web browser, and those browsers do not directly support these conventions. Therefore, these custom features are processed in the OHW-UIX or OHW-RC servlet on the web server and are streamed to users' browsers as standard HTML links and as browser-specific JavaScript.

8.2 Topic ID Links

The target of an HTML <a href="target"> link can be specified using either a URL (as with standard HTML links), anchor links, or by using the Oracle Help topicid protocol, along with a topic ID specified in the helpset's map file. For example:

<a href="topicid:getting_started">Getting Started</a>

When the Getting Started link is clicked, Oracle Help references the map file and jumps to the HTML file associated with the link's topic ID.

The topicid protocol also supports anchor links. For example:

<a href="topicid:getting_started#advanced">Getting Started</a>

When the Getting Started link is clicked, Oracle Help references the map file and jumps to the advanced anchor position in HTML file associated with the link's topic ID.

8.3 Associative Links

An associative link is a link that is associated with more than one target. When the user selects an associative link in a topic, a list of all topics associated with the link is displayed, and the user can choose a topic from the list.

Oracle Help supports associative links through the Oracle Help alink protocol, along with the link file that specifies the associative links for the helpset. For example, an associative link that displays all topics associated with the "worksheet" keyword is specified as follows:

<a href="alink:worksheet">Related Topics</a>

Oracle Help uses the associative link keyword (in this case "worksheet") to search the link file (or files) and display a pop-up window with a list of related topics. This feature is particularly useful when link files from multiple helpsets are merged.

For example, select this link to display a list of associative links defined as follows:

<a href="alink:alinkexamples">this link</a>

For more information about link file, see Section 7.5, "Link File".

8.4 Custom Protocol Links

Oracle Help for Java support links for custom protocols through the Oracle Help custom protocol. For example, a link that uses a custom protocol named myProtocol is specified as follows:

<a href="custom:myProtocol:myValue">Link to activate custom protocol</a>

Defining custom protocols is a powerful way for your help system to call back into your application. You can handle such links in your application by registering a CustomProtocolHandler with your Help instance. Create an implementation of oracle.help.CustomProtocolHandler and register it with your oracle.help.Help instance via the registerCustomProtocolHandler method. For this example link, you would register an instance of your CustomProtocolHandler using the string myProtocol as the first argument to the registerCustomProtocolHandler method.

When Oracle Help for Java encounters custom protocol links, it searches for a CustomProtocolHandler registered with the Help object using the identifier myProtocol. If one is found, the handleValue(String value) method of the CustomProtocolHandler is invoked, passing myValue as the value.

8.5 Popups

Popups are supported through the Oracle Help popup protocol. For example:

<a href="popup:sheetdefinition">Sheet Definition</a>

The keyword that follows the popup protocol is a topic ID, as specified in the helpset's map file. When the pop-up link is clicked, the contents of the file associated with the topic ID is displayed in a lightweight pop-up window.

For example:

<a href="popup:ohff_popupdemo_html">this link</a>

8.6 Topic IDs

Oracle Help topic IDs are maintained in the map file, and when Oracle Help needs to reference a topic ID, it uses the data from the map file. However, you can specify topic IDs in the topics file themselves and then use the Helpset Authoring Wizard to generate a map file from that information. To define a topic ID in a topic file, insert a META tag with this syntax:

<META name="topic-id" content="topic_id_name">

where topic_id_name specifies the topic ID to be used in the map file.

Note:

Third-party authoring tools may use this META tag for generating map files

For more information about Helpset Authoring Wizard, see Chapter 11, "Helpset Authoring Wizard".

8.7 Window Types

The helpset file can contain a WinType section where you can define one or more named windows with characteristics such as size, position, and background color. You can associate topics (and topic IDs) with these window types in the map file so that whenever the topic is displayed, it is displayed in the specified window.

Note:

Window Types are available for OHJ only.

If you plan to use the Helpset Authoring Wizard, you can associate a window type with a topic in the topic file itself. If you want to do this, you must also specify a topic ID in the topic-id META tag for the topic. Then the wizard uses the information from both META tags to generate the map file.

To associate a window with a topic in a topic file, insert a META tag with this syntax:

<META name="window-type" content="window_name">

where window_name is the name of a window defined in the helpset file.

Note:

You do not have to use this method for associating topics with window types. It may be easier to do it directly in the map file.

Third-party authoring tools may use this META tag for associating topics with window types.

In older versions of OHJ, the OHJ display engine read and used this META tag directly. This is no longer the case: the map file is now the central repository for this information.

8.8 Dynamic Mapping of Topic IDs to Files

If your helpset uses a simple convention to map between topic IDs and map files, you may be able to significantly enhance Oracle Help's memory usage and startup time with dynamic mapping.

Oracle Help supports an engine attribute on the <mapref> subelement of the helpset's <maps> area. By setting the engine attribute, one can use a custom engine to parse the map file and create an object used to map between topic IDs and files. In fact, by using certain engines, you may actually eliminate the map file altogether.The engine attribute is optional, so if it goes unspecified, Oracle Help will expect the location attribute to be set on the <mapref>, and the map file will be parsed and stored in the same manner as it was in older versions of Oracle Help.However, Oracle Help supports two engines that support certain common conventions for mediating between topic IDs and files:

oracle.help.engine.XMLMapFixedConventionEngine

oracle.help.engine.XMLMapConventionEngine

If those two engines do not satisfy your needs for dynamic mapping, you can write a custom implementation of oracle.help.engine.DataEngine.

8.8.1 The oracle.help.engine.XMLMapFixedConventionEngine Help Engine

In many cases, for a filename of myfile.html, the corresponding topic ID is just myfile_html. If your map file is simply a long, redundant list of obvious topic mappings of this form, you will want to set the engine attribute on <mapref> to oracle.help.engine.XMLMapFixedConventionEngine.

While using Oracle Help, setting the engine to this value will make your old map file expendable. However, if your help content may be viewed using an older version of Oracle Help, you should keep your old map file around so that the older versions of Oracle Help can fall back to the standard mechanism of topic mapping.

If you are concerned about the help system's memory usage and startup time, it is strongly recommended that you use this new engine. Doing so implies that your map file is never read, and therefore its contents are not stored in the memory. However, there is one caveat to the engine's use:

All help content (HTML files) must reside in the same directory as the helpset file. In addition, any subhelpsets must also reside in the same directory as the master helpset file. Subdirectories for subhelpsets are not permitted because the help system will not be able to find your content unless it is in the same directory as the master helpset. However, different helpsets may reside in different directories.:

In the following example, the map IDs topic_1 and topic_2 are not associated with window types and therefore use the helpset's default window type. The map IDs topic_3 and topic_4 map to topic files that will be displayed in the window defined by the intro window type. Map ID topic_5.tsk will display File_5.html in the window defined by the task window type. Map ID topic_5.cncpt will display the same topic file (File_5.html) in a different window type (concept). Note also that the association between URL and wintype will be used when linking from topic to topic using URLs instead of topic IDs. For example, if a topic had a hard-coded target to File_5.html, clicking the link would display the HTML content in a task window type.

<?xml version='1.0' ?>
<map version="1.0">
    <mapID target="topic_1" url="file_1.html" />
    <mapID target="topic_2" url="file_2.html#a1" />
    <mapID target="topic_3" url="file_3.html" wintype="intro" />
    <mapID target="topic_4" url="file_4.html#a2" wintype="intro" />
    <mapID target="topic_5.tsk" url="file_5.html" wintype="task" />
    <mapID target="topic_5.cncpt" url="file_5.html" wintype="concept" />
</map>

This scheme allows authors to assign window types to HTML files and to also override those associations by linking to an alternate topic ID. For example, for topic-to-topic links, TOC links, index links, and hard-coded links to File_5.html, the author might use topic_5.tsk, but for links from a tutorial, the author might use topic_5.cncpt. By keeping this information in the map file, the author has one central repository for managing these assignments.

8.8.2 The oracle.help.engine.XMLMapConventionEngine Help Engine

If on your <mapref> element you set engine to be oracle.help.engine.XMLMapConventionEngine you may define your own topic name convention in your map file. For example, consider the following <maps> definition in a helpset:

<maps>
  <mapref location="map.xml" engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLMapConventionEngine"/>
</maps>

The XMLMapConventionEngine supports the standard mechanisms for setting up topic ID and window type mappings. However, it also supports the new <topicNameConvention> element.

If using the XMLMapConventionEngine, your map.xml may resemble the following:

<map version="1.1">
  <topicNameConvention urlbase="http://www.example.org/help">
    <text>beginningText</text>
    <filename/>
    <text>_</text>
    <extension/>
    <text>endingText</text>
  </topicNameConvention>
</map>

The idea of the <topicNameConvention> is simple.You simply specify how your topic IDs are structured. If you set the urlBase attribute on the <topicNameConvention>, all help content files are assumed to be located at that URL. If all of your topic IDs begin with a string that is not a part of the filename or extension, you can specify a value for <text> at the beginning of the convention. Then you must specify either the <filename/> or the <extension/> to indicate whether the filename or extension appears first in your topic name convention. Then you can specify the <text> that separates the filename and extension. Either the <filename/> or the <extension/> should follow to indicate whether the filename or extension appears second in the convention. A final <text> may be specified if all topic IDs end with some text that is not part of the filename or extension.

According to the above topic name convention, the topic ID of beginningTextmyfile_htmlendingText would resolve to the file http://www.example.org/help/myfile.html. If the urlBase attribute was unspecified, it would be assumed that myfile.html is in the same directory as the helpset file.

If you want to set up some standard topic mappings and window types in your map file but still use the topic name convention provided by the XMLMapFixedConventionEngine, you could define a topicNameConvention in your map file as follows:

<map version="1.1">
  <topicNameConvention>
    <filename/>
    <text>_</text>
    <extension/>
  </topicNameConvention>
  <mapID etc.../>
</map>

In the above convention and the XMLMapFixedConventionEngine, the text that separates the filename and extension can appear multiple times in the topic ID. For example, consider the topic my_file_html. The engines assume that the separator between filename and extension is actually the last appearance of the "_" character in the topic ID. Therefore, the topic resolves to my_file.html.

8.8.3 Optimizing Dynamic Maps

Dynamic mapping of topic IDs to files can result in great improvements in your help system performance. However, context sensitive help calls to specific topics may take a long time to resolve if your library includes many helpsets.

The fundamental reason for this is that the convention-based mapping engines return URLs for topic IDs even if the URLs do not resolve to anything. Because of this, context sensitive help calls go through each helpset in the library and check whether the URLs generated by the engines actually resolve.

In the worst case, for a single context sensitive help call, the help system will attempt to connect to as many URLs as there are helpsets in your library. However, Oracle Help provides a simple remedy to alleviate the problem. If you set an engine on your <mapref> element, you may also set the engineParams attribute.

If you use the XMLMapConventionEngine or the XMLMapFixedConventionEngine, you may want to set engineParams to be a space-separated list of prefixes for the topics in your helpset. For example, if all topics in your helpset begin with either oh or help, your mapref would look like the following:

<mapref engine="XMLMap..." engineParams="oh help">

Setting engineParams for either of the convention-based engines ensures that the helpset will only try to resolve topics if they start with a valid prefix, preventing an attempted connection to an URL. Failure to set engineParams will not break your help system, but performance will not be optimal.

9 Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File

This chapter describes the Oracle Help for the Web configuration file and the various elements (such as helpConfiguration, brandings, locales, parameters, and navigatorAliases) of the file.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 9.1, "Overview of Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File"

Section 9.2, "The <helpConfiguration> Element"

Section 9.3, "The <brandings> Element"

Section 9.4, "The <locales> Element"

Section 9.5, "Sharing Resources Across Helpsets"

Section 9.6, "The <parameters> Element"

Section 9.7, "The <navigatorAliases> Element"

Section 9.8, "Custom Protocol Links"

Section 9.9, "Preloading Helpsets Containing Embedded Help"

9.1 Overview of Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File

The Oracle Help for the Web configuration file is an XML file that defines a OHW configuration. This configuration controls all adjustable features of the OHW-RC and OHW-UIX servlet. A typical name for this file is ohwconfig.xml, but it can have any name, as long as that name is specified as the value of the configFileName initialization parameter for the servlet. The OHW-UIX and OHW-RC demonstration files uses ohwconfig.xml.

9.2 The <helpConfiguration> Element

The <helpConfiguration> element is the top-level element in the help configuration file. All of the elements of the configuration, described below, should appear between the <helpConfiguration> tag and the </helpConfiguration> tag. The helpConfiguration element has two attributes, version and debugMode.

You must always set the version attribute of helpConfiguration element. For Oracle Help for the Web, the value of the attribute should be 2.0.

For example:

<helpConfiguration version="2.0">

9.2.1 The debugMode Attribute

Enable debug mode by setting debugMode="true" on the <helpConfiguration> element in ohwconfig.xml. This allows helpsets to be loaded in debug mode, where malformed helpsets are skipped over. The debug text is displayed along with the branding information in the upper left corner of the screen and in the title bar of the browser. The debug text indicates how many malformed helpsets have been skipped over while running the application.

If there are no malformed helpsets, following message is displayed in the branding area, also shown in Figure 9-1:

Debug Mode: 0 Missing Helpsets".

Figure 9-1 Helpset Information in Debug Mode

There could be many reasons for a malformed helpset. The following are some common reasons:

id attribute is missing

id attribute is a duplicate id

location attribute is missing

location points to an invalid location

Whe you deploy the help system, a WARNING message is logged to indicate that debug mode is being used. Whenever a helpset is skipped over, a SEVERE message is logged (instead of throwing an exception), and the log message displays the id and location attributes of the helpset that was skipped over. By default, the log messages are logged through System.err stream and are displayed in the developer environment's console window. If you're using JDeveloper, the messages are logged in the Log window and a log file is created at <JDEV_HOME>\jdeveloper\systemversion\DefaultDomain\servers\DefaultServer\logs\DefaultDomain.log.

For example:

Let's assume you enabled the debugMode as follows:

<helpConfiguration version="2.0"
  xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/help/web/config" debugMode="true" >

Then, if you changed the location of your ohguide helpset to ohguide_new directory, but forgot to update the corresponding path in ohwconfig.xml:

<books>
    <helpSet id="ohguide" location="ohguide/ohguide.hs"/>
    <helpSet id="shake" location="shakespeare/shakespeare.hs"/>
</books>

The following message is displayed in the branding area, also shown in Figure 9-2:

Debug Mode: 1 Missing Helpsets".

Figure 9-2 Missing Helpset Information in Debug Mode

9.3 The <brandings> Element

The <brandings> element specifies the product branding text or image that appears above the tab bar. The <brandings> does not have any attributes, and is a placeholder for all brandings information.

The <brandings> element can contain only one of the elements described in the following table. If no branding information is specified, the default branding text is used.

Table 9-1 <brandings> Child Elements

Element
Description

<branding>

Renders branding information from attribute information and can be specified to work with certain locales. This element supports the following attributes:

text – The text to be rendered. Note that you can provide simple HTML attributes such as italics by using the special character named entities (escape characters). For example, to preserve the italics in the name MyItalics, the branding text line would be:

<branding text="My&lt;i&gt;Italics&lt;/i&gt;" />

imageHeight – The image height for the branding image. If not specified, the image is displayed with default height of 25 pixels.

imageSource – The image source for a branding image. This takes precedence over the text if both are set.

The declaration of an image location is not always the same as the translated path:

For a servlet path like /foo/myImage.jpg,

the translated path is /<context-root>/foo/myImage.jpg

For an absolute path like http://mydomain.com/myImage.jpg

the translated path is http://mydomain.com/myImage.jpg

For an off the server root path like //foo/myImage.jpg

the translated path is /foo/myImage.jpg

imageShortDesc – A short description for the image. This text is displayed in the same way an ALT description is handled in HTML. For example, it appears when the mouse rolls over the image.

locales – A space deliminated list of locales that this branding should be supplied for. If this is missing, the branding information will be applied across all registered locales.

OHW narrows the locale used, but does not expand it. For instance, if you specified a locale nl and the browser was set to use locale nl_NL, OHW will first try and fail to find nl_NL, then try and succeed in finding nl. Thus, if you specify a more specific locale in OHW (nl_NL) and a less specific locale in the browser (nl), the specification will be ignored, in alignment with other standard locale mechanisms such as resource bundle.

<brandingFromResource>

Renders branding information from a ResourceBundle. This element supports the following attributes:

resource - Java classname of ResourceBundle to use.

textKey - The key into the ResourceBundle for the branding text.

imageSourceKey - The key into the ResourceBundle for the branding image source. This takes precedence over the textKey is both are present.

imageShortDescKey - The key into the ResourceBundle for the branding image description. This text is displayed in the same way an alt description is handled in HTML. For example, it appears when the mouse rolls over the image.

locales - A space deliminated list of locales that this branding should be supplied for. If this is missing, the branding information will be applied across all registered locales.

OHW narrows the locale used, but does not expand it. For instance, if you specified a locale nl and the browser was set to use locale nl_NL, OHW will first try and fail to find nl_NL, then try and succeed in finding nl. As a consequence of this, if you specify a more specific locale in OHW (nl_NL) and a less specific locale in the browser (nl), the specification will be ignored, in alignment with other standard locale mechanisms such as the resource bundle.

For example:

<brandings>
  <branding text="Oracle Help" />
</branding>

or

<brandings>
  <branding text="Help" locales="en en_US" />
  <branding text="Ayuda" locales="es" />
</brandings>

or

<brandings>
  <brandingFromResource resource="myApp.resource.MyBundle" textKey="title" />
</brandings>

9.3.1 Best Practice for Internationalization

When implementing internationalization, you can avoid having to translate ohwconfig.xml by using these best practices for helpsets that require translation:

Use <brandingFromResource> to reference a bundle that is translated for all locales, instead of putting the branding information directly into ohwconfig.xml. Because the branding information comes from a standard Java resource bundle, the bundle can be translated as part of the regular translation process.

Put an XML declaration at the top of all help control files: map, TOC, index, and helpset files. If you do this, you do not need to use <controlFileEncoding>. Use the same encoding for all control files in a given localized helpset. The encoding specified in the helpset file will be used to read in all of the control files.

Note:

If you are using an old version of OHJ, the helpset may not recognize an XML declaration and so may require <controlFileEncoding> to be set.

You need not separate out each different locale into a different file, because the file has nothing that needs to be translated. Some sites may wish to maintain the separation for other reasons.

9.4 The <locales> Element

You can specify a single locale or multiple locales in the <locales> section of the ohwconfig.xml file. The locales section has one or more tags specifying a single locale in the system. These tags are either of type <locale> element or <localeFromFile> element. As the names suggest, the <locale> element specifies the locale inline, whereas the <localeFromFile> element delegates the declaration of the locale to an external file. The external file, in turn, will contain a single <locale> element.

Table 9-2 <locales> Child Element

Element
Description

<localeFromFile>

The <localeFromFile> element contains a single attribute and no children. The <locale> element within the external file will effectively replace the <localeFromFile> element functionally. This element supports the following attribute:

source - The source of the file containing the <locale> element for this locale. This filename is relative to the configuration file.

<locale>

Specifies the ISO language, country, and (optionally) variant codes that will be used to construct a Java Locale for locale-sensitive operations. Also specifies the Java-supported encoding name for the character set encoding of the Oracle Help control files (for example, ISO8859_1). The first <locale> element listed is the default locale. This element supports the following attributes:

language - A lowercase two-letter language code as defined by ISO-639 (for example, en for English).

country - An uppercase two-letter country code as defined by ISO-3166 (for example, US for United States).

variant - Optional variant code for browser or platform specific locales.

group - Optional group that the locale is associated with. Group selection occurs on the URL with the special group parameter.

The <locale> section supports children of type <book>.

For example:

<locales>
  <locale language="en">
    ... set of books for this locale ...
  </locale>
</locales>

9.4.1 The <locale> Child Element <books>

The <books> element specifies the content to be displayed in Oracle Help for the Web. The <books> element can contain any number of helpsets. Helpsets are also called as books.

The <books> element can contain the following elements:

Table 9-3 <books> Child Elements

Element
Description

<helpSet>

A helpset to include in this instance of OHW. This element has the following attributes:

id – Unique id to this book. This attribute is required.

jar – The location of the JAR (Java Archive) file, if the helpset is in a JAR file. If this attribute is used, the location attribute must also be used to specify the location of the helpset file inside the JAR file.

location – The location of the helpset file. If the helpset is not JARred, this is name of the helpset file, with any appropriate path information. The path can be either absolute or relative to the location of the configuration file. If this attribute is used with the jar attribute, the location is the location of the helpset file in the JAR file.

controlFileencoding – A Java-supported encoding name. The set of supported encodings varies with JDK version. For a list of supported encodings for Java SE, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html.

For example:

<books>
 <helpSet id="shakre" location="shakespeare/shakespeare.hs" />
 <helpSet id="myproduct" location="myProduct/myProductHelp.hs" />
 <helpSet id="myhelpset" jar="myJar.jar" location="myHelpset.hs" />
</books>

The <helpSet> elements can contain zero or more <contentLocation> elements for situation when help topic files are located in locations other than those expected by Oracle Help.

9.4.2 The <contentLocation> Element

By default OHW automatically processes help topic files that are located in the same locations as helpset (.hs) files.

In helpsets, OHW processes help topic HTML files:

in the same directory as the .hs file and subdirectories under that location

or if the helpset is in a JAR file, all help topic files in the same JAR

If you have help topic files in some other location, you must use the <contentLocation> element to point to that location.

The <contentLocation> element has the attribute baseURI. It represents a URI to the root location of a set of help content, using a path that is either absolute or relative.

The <contentLocation> element can be a child of <helpSet> (which are themselves children of <books>). A <helpSet> can contain zero or more <contentLocation> elements.

This element is needed because, unlike plain HTML files, Oracle Help help topic files must be processed by the servlet in order to be displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to explicitly list the locations where help topic files referenced in the helpset reside, if they are not in the default locations. This can happen if your helpset includes a subhelpset in another location or even on another web server or if your context sensitive map file contains references to help topic files located elsewhere on the same server or on a different server.

Absolute Path Content Locations

If you know the absolute path of content location, you can specify the absolute path.

For example, if OHW is configured with a local helpset, myHelpSet.hs, that references a subhelpset on another server, http://www.myCompany.com/help/remoteHelpSet.hs, the configuration file should contain:

<books>
  <helpSet id="myhelpset" location="myHelpSet.hs">
    <contentLocation baseURI="http://www.myCompany.com/help/" />
  </helpSet>
</books>

This configuration informs OHW that the local myHelpSet.hs file references help content on that server. For example, http://www.myCompany.com/help/remoteHelpSet.hs.

OHW thus processes help topic files both in the same location as myHelpSet.hs and in the remote location.

Relative Path Content Locations

If you do not know the absolute path of the content location, you can specify a relative content location. These locations are relative to the configuration file, not the helpset file, and must be terminated with a trailing slash.

For example, to specify a content location that is under images directory, which is located in the same directory as the configuration file, you could declare the following:

<contentLocation baseURI="images/" />

To specify a content location pointing to an images directory that is located one directory below the configuration file, you can declare the following:

<contentLocation baseURI="../images/" />

The location is relative to the helpset. If the helpset is inside a JAR file, the JAR file is evaluated as a directory when resolving the relative path. For instance, assume these directory paths:

/myhelpsets/myhs.jar
/myhelpsets/myhs.jar!myhelpset.xml
/common_images

The <baseURI> value would be:

../../common_images

9.4.3 Sample <locales> Section

This sample of the section of a configuration file specifies an English and Japanese configuration file.

<locales>

  <!-- An English locale -->
  <locale language="en" country="US" controlFileEncoding="UTF-8">
    <books>
      <helpSet id="hs1" location="ohguide/ohguide.hs"/>
      <helpSet id="hs2" location="shakespeare/shakespeare.hs"/>
    </books>
  </locale>

  <!-- A Japanese locale from an external file -->
  <localeFromFile source="jp_config.xml" />

</locales>

9.5 Sharing Resources Across Helpsets

If you have many localized helpsets all using the same images, CSS stylesheets, or other resources, OHW can support the sharing of these resources across the helpsets. Typically, shared resources exist in a separate directory, usually below any subdirectories holding the localized helpeset information. For instance, the following is a typical directory structure for using shared resources:

<main directory>
       ohwconfig.xml
       /en
          - owh_helpset_en.hs
          - English helpset files
       /es
          - ohw_helpset_es.hs
          - Spanish helpset files
       /shared
          /images
             - shared images
          /css
             - shared stylesheets

Since OHW by default can only access directories that are underneath the .hs file. Thus to make the shared directory available to OHW, you will need to define a content location for this directory. For best results, use a relative content location for this task.

OHW supports relative paths when dealing with resources, and will appropriately convert these paths to the correct paths at runtime. To make use of shared resources, an HTML file can point to the resource using a relative path. For example, if you have an HTML file in the ./en directory that you want to point to a shared image resource, the HTML file should contain the following code:

<img alt="Image of cat" src="../shared/images/cat.gif />

If you have the content location defined, OHW will fix this path so that it works under runtime. You can also use relative paths within the control files for your helpset. For example, you could define the following code in your map file that is located in the ./en directory:

<mapID target="someDescriptor" url="../shared/html_files/theContent.html" />

Finally, if your localized helpset is contained in a JAR file, then the JAR file is counted as a directory when specifying the relative path. Thus, if all helpset files are contained in a JAR under the ./en directory, and you wish to point to a shared image resource, the HTML file should contain this code:

<img alt="Image of cat" src="../../shared/images/cat.gif />

The extra .. in above code is required because the JAR file counts as a directory.

9.6 The <parameters> Element

The <parameters> element specifies the values of various other OHW parameters. These parameters are all case-insensitive.

Table 9-4 <parameters> Child Elements

Element
Description

<combineBooks>

If true, the views from all books are displayed in one set of navigators (tabs). If false, each book has its own set of navigators displaying just the information for that book.

<useLabelInfo>

If true, the author-defined labels are used for the navigators of merged helpsets. If false, the default labels are used, for example, the tab labels Contents, Index, and Search.

<displaySiteNavigation>

If true, turns on site navigation links across all supported navigators. For browsers that support site navigation, the appropriate links will be generated in the meta content of pages served by OHW.

When combineBooks is true, only navigators of the same type and with the same label are merged into the same navigator, for example the Index tab. That can lead to unintended results if you have set useLabelInfo to true. For example, if one helpset has overridden the default Index label with Keyword Index and left another with the default, the indexes won't be merged in the same tab. You can change this by setting the labels to be the same (in the helpset file for a helpset) or by setting useLabelInfo to false in the configuration file.

For example:

<parameters>
  <combineBooks>true</combineBooks>
  <useLabelInfo>false</useLabelInfo>
</parameters>

Other important parameters include:

Table 9-5 <parameters> Keyword Child Elements

Element
Description

<keywordBlockSize>

The number of keywords to show on one page. The default value is 10.

<keywordTopicsBlockSize>

The number of topics to show on one page. The default value is 10.

<searchBlockSize>

The number of search results to show on one page. The default value is 10.

These elements are used to support performance tuning or specify non-default error, state, or locale handling.

Table 9-6 <parameters> Performance Child Elements

Element
Description

<maxSearchThreads>

The maximum number of threads that OHW can use to perform searches. Default value is 10.

<errorPage>

When a topic is not found, OHW displays this topic instead. The value of this parameter is a topic ID. OHW provides a standard error page if no value is set.

<stateManager>

Specifies the state manager OHW should use. If set to 'cookie', user state will be saved for one month. If set to 'session', the user state will be saved through single request. The default is 'session'.

<localeDeterminer>

OHW uses the specified locale determiner to select a localized helpset based on a user request. OHW provides a default locale determiner that uses browser settings to determine the locale if no value is set.

<cacheSize>

The number of active localized helpsets to be kept in memory at one time. The default value is 3.

9.7 The <navigatorAliases> Element

The optional <navigatorAliases> element allows you to use classnames in your helpset file that do not correspond to the classnames of the navigators in OHW. Alias registrations are done through the use of the <alias> element. The <alias> elements are contained within a single <navigatorAliases> element, and has the following attributes:

name - The name to use as the alias.

value - The value this alias should map to.

For example:

<navigatorAliases>
  <alias name="oracle.help.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCNavigator" value="oracle.help.web.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCTreeNavigator" />
</navigatorAliases>

Note:

The tree-based TOC Navigator of OHW uses the oracle.help.web.navigator.tocNavigator.TOCTreeNavigator class name.

9.8 Custom Protocol Links

OHW supports links for custom protocols through the Oracle Help custom protocol. For information about custom protocol links in OHJ, see Section 8.4, "Custom Protocol Links".

In order to handle custom protocol links in OHW, clients need to register Custom Protocol Converters in the ohwconfig.xml file for each custom protocol used in their help content. The syntax in the ohwconfig.xml file looks like this:

<customProtocolRegistry>
  <customProtocol name="xlink" class="oracle.help.web.converter.ConfigurableCustomProtocolConverter">
    <parameters>
      <prepend>http://www.myserver.com/index.jsp?someParam=</prepend>
      <targetFrame>_blank</targetFrame>
    </parameters>
  </customProtocol>
</customProtocolRegistry>

Users may write their own implementations of CustomProtocolConverter. However, OHW includes the ConfigurableCustomProtocolConverter, which is configurable using parameters set in ohwconfig.xml. The supported parameters are:

<prepend>optional string to be prepended to the value</prepend>
<append>optional string to be appended to the value</append>
<targetFrame>optional target frame</targetFrame>

In an HTML topic file, authors could use the standard Oracle Help custom protocol syntax. For example:

<a href="custom:xlink:someXLINKID">An Example Custom Protocol Link</a>

OHW will process all custom:links and run them through the Custom Protocol Converter registered for that custom protocol name.

The link in the above example would be replaced with:

<a href="http://www.myserver.com/index.jsp?someParam=someXLINKID" target="_blank" />

In OHJ, it is a popular convention to use custom:external: to launch a link in a new browser window. In OHW, the built-in CustomProtocolConverter for the external protocol enables the links to work without the users having to explicitly register a converter.

9.9 Preloading Helpsets Containing Embedded Help

OHW supports the <locale> tag in the OHW configuration file, which defines a single instance of a locale that OHW supports. The <locale> tag specifies the ISO language, country, and (optionally) variant codes that will be used to construct a Java Locale for locale-sensitive operations. It also specifies the Java-supported encoding name for the character set encoding of the Oracle Help control files (for example, ISO8859_1). The first <locale> element listed is the default locale.

In OHW-UIX, all helpsets for a locale are loaded on demand and all at once. In OHW-RC, the loading of helpsets is handled in a different manner. The OHW-RC as an RCF application may have a screen with 50 components, with Definition Text content, specified in a single file within its own helpset. To avoid loading all helpsets and reduce the lag that this would cause when a user simply opens that screen, preloading of a selected helpset is desirable.

So, for OHW-RC, the configuration file supports an optional attribute for the <locale> tag, which is called preload. The possible values that this attribute can take are NONE, ALL, and TOPICMAP. If not specified, its value defaults to NONE.

The behaviors of each value are:

Table 9-7 Preload Value Behavior

Preload Value
Initial Start of OHW
When Topic is Accessed
When UI is Accessed

NONE

No action required.

Load the topic map until the requested topic is found.

Load all views and navigators in the selected helpset.

ALL

Load all helpsets in the locale (which initializes all views and navigators) and also load all topic maps.

Access from cache.

Access from cache.

TOPICMAP

Load only the topic maps for all helpsets in the locale.

Access from cache.

Load all views and navigators in the selected helpset.

For example, the configuration file could look like this:

<?xml version='1.0' ?>
<helpConfiguration>
  ...
  <locales>
    <locale language="en" preload="ALL">
      <books>
        <helpset id="helpset1" location=" helpset1.hs"/>
        <helpset id=" helpset2" location=" helpset2.hs"/>
      </books>
      ...
    </locale>
  </locales>
  ...
</helpConfiguration>

Part III

Authoring Oracle Help

This part contains information on authoring Oracle Help systems. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 10, "Authoring Oracle Help Systems"

This chapter provides an introduction to Oracle Help authoring.

Chapter 11, "Helpset Authoring Wizard"

This chapter describes how to use the Oracle Help for Java authoring wizard to convert help systems created using other formats.

Chapter 12, "Using the Text Search Indexer"

This chapter describes how to use the text search indexer.

10 Authoring Oracle Help Systems

This chapter describes the utilities and processes of authoring Oracle Help systems.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 10.1, "Overview of Authoring"

Section 10.2, "Authoring Utilities Included with Oracle Help for Java"

Section 10.3, "Authoring Embedded Help"

10.1 Overview of Authoring

Oracle Help does not include a complete authoring environment. While it is fairly straightforward to author a help system without using an authoring tool, you may prefer to use a tool that supports Oracle Help directly, such as Adobe RoboHelp, Quadralay WebWorks, or AuthorIT Software Corporation's AuthorIT.

Because Oracle Help's file formats are based on JavaHelp file formats, you could also start with any authoring tool that creates JavaHelp systems. However, you will have to add features specific to Oracle Help manually. Oracle Help also supports the control file formats from Microsoft's HTML Help, so you could start with a help authoring tool that supports HTML Help. Again, you will have to add any Oracle Help-specific features manually.

OHJ and OHW use the same file formats, so you can author a help system once and display it without modification.

The basic steps for authoring an Oracle Help help system are as follows:

Write the HTML pages that comprise the topics of your help system.

Create a helpset file. This XML file identifies the help system and specifies many of its properties, including certain aspects of the user interface. For example, this is where you specify which "navigators" (generally displayed as tabs) are displayed. The standard navigators are Contents, Index, and Search. This is the main Oracle Help control file, and it is required.

Create a map file. This XML file maps topic IDs to HTML pages. These IDs are used in the API for context-sensitive calls; in table-of-contents, index, and link files; and in topic ID links in topic files. This file is required.

Create an index file. This XML file defines the keyword index that appears in the Index tab. If your help system does not have an index, this file is not required. However, if you don't have an index, you should not define an index tab in the helpset file.

Create a table of contents file. This XML file defines the table of contents that appears in the Contents tab. If your help system does not have a table of contents, this file is not required. However, if you don't have a table of contents, you should not define a Contents tab in the helpset file.

Generate a search index. This file contains the data used when a user searches for a word or phrase in the Search tab. This file is optional. However, if you don't have a text search index, you should not define a Search tab in the helpset file. If you aren't using an authoring tool to create your help system, you can use the indexing tool, which is included with Oracle Help. See Using the Text Search Indexer.

If you want to use associative links, create a link file. This XML file associates topics with associative link keywords. This file is optional.

10.2 Authoring Utilities Included with Oracle Help for Java

Two authoring utilities are included with Oracle Help for Java. You can use these tools to help author an Oracle Help system if you don't have an authoring tool that supports Oracle Help. Follow the links below for more information on each:

Helpset Authoring Wizard: This wizard converts certain noncompatible help content and control files into files that can be used by Oracle Help. For example, you can use the wizard to create an Oracle Help system from files generated by RoboHelp 2000 for Microsoft HTML Help.

Text Search Indexer: This utility generates the search index file used in Oracle Help when a user searches on a word or phrase in the Search tab.

10.3 Authoring Embedded Help

As part of the embedded Help feature in OHW-RC, each component in an application can have multiple levels of Help associated with it that get triggered on a certain user gesture. The levels of help are:

Definition Text

Instructions Text

Full Help

Each of these levels can be any arbitrary HTML content. Definition and Instructions Text are collectively referred to as Embedded Help Content. Full Help content is the content that appears as a separate topic in a Help window.

Definition Text is to be specified within a <div> with the hardcoded style class name definition. The title attribute, if present, represents the topic ID of the Definition Text. Note that only plain text can be entered here, HTML content will not be processed for this <div> tag. For example,

<div title="topicId" class="definition"> Any plain text </div>

Instructions Text is to be specified within a <div> with the hardcoded style class name instructions. The title attribute, if present, represents the topic ID of the Instructions Text. For example,

<div title="topicId" class="instructions"> Any HTML content </div>

Definition and Instructions Text content for a topic are to be specified using typical HTML in a topic file as follows:

10.3.1 HTML Files

The <div> tags for the Definition Text and expanded Help appear within the HTML body. It is required that the content for the both these levels of Help is specified in the same file. If either of them is not available in the same file, the content is assumed to be undefined.

Help authors specify the Definition Text and expanded Help content for a topic ID in an existing topic HTML file. Here is a sample topic named topic1.html.

<html>
<body>

<div title="topic1" class="definition">
  This is Definition Text help content.
</div>

...

<div title="topic1" class="expandedHelp">
  This is <b>Instructions Text</b> help content.
</div>

...

This is the regular Full Help content.

...

</body>
</html>

Note:

The title attribute represents the topic ID, and is optional. If not specified, the topic ID of the container HTML file is considered. If specified, it must match the topic ID of the HTML file in which the embedded Help is contained.

The <div> can appear anywhere within the <body>.

The definition and instructions style classes can be defined in the existing style sheet

The two style classes can be defined in such a way that they provide the necessary visual cues to distinguish them from the full Help content. For example, Help authors can use a light yellow background with a gray border to indicate Definition Text and a light blue background with a blue border to indicate expanded Help. This is useful for creating and editing content.

The two style classes can be defined to be invisible (display:none) when Help authors need to view the full Help content alone. This is useful for previewing.

HTML within a <div> that has either of the style class names will not be indexed.

11 Helpset Authoring Wizard

This chapter describes the Helpset Authoring Wizard, its various screens, and how to use it to create help system.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 11.1, "Overview of Helpset Authoring Wizard"

Section 11.2, "Starting the Wizard"

Section 11.3, "Creating a Helpset File"

Section 11.4, "Specifying Authoring Tool and HTML Browser"

Section 11.5, "Specifying Source Directory"

Section 11.6, "Defining Views"

Section 11.7, "Defining Full-Text Search View"

Section 11.8, "Defining Map File"

Section 11.9, "Converting Associative Links"

Section 11.10, "Converting Popup Window Links"

Section 11.11, "Defining Window Types"

Section 11.12, "Finalizing the HelpSet"

11.1 Overview of Helpset Authoring Wizard

The Helpset Authoring Wizard, also known as OHJ Authoring Wizard, generates certain control files used by Oracle Help. The functionality of the authoring wizard is limited: it is primarily intended to be used to convert help systems created using other formats, not to be a full-featured help authoring tool. For example, you can use the helpset wizard to create an Oracle Help system from files generated by an old release of RoboHelp HTML which did not yet support Oracle Help.

The current version of the wizard can generate a helpset file, a search index file, and a map file. It also converts certain JavaScript pop-up links to the Oracle Help format. However, the wizard does not currently convert RoboHelp HTML associative links to their Oracle Help equivalents (despite the option being present).

11.2 Starting the Wizard

When you install OHJ on Windows, a batch file and an initialization file for starting the wizard are generated, using the path into which you installed OHJ. A shortcut for starting the wizard is also added to the Windows Start menu. Select this shortcut to start the wizard. Alternatively, you can issue the following command at the command prompt:

<OHJ_HOME>\bin\authoringWizard.bat

For example, if you have installed OHJ in D:\ohelp folder, you can run the wizard with the following command:

D:\ohelp\bin\authoringWizard.bat

When you run the above command, you are greeted with a Welcome screen of OHJ Authoring Wizard. Click Next to continue.

Figure 11-1 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Welcome

11.3 Creating a Helpset File

The first step of the OHJ Authoring Wizard is to create a new helpset (.hs) file. You may also open an existing helpset file, and edit it later. For more information about helpsets, see Section 6.2, "Helpset File".

Figure 11-2 OHJ Authoring Wizard: HelpSet File

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the HelpSet File page:

Field | Description
Create a new Oracle Help for Java HelpSet File | Select the option if you want to create a new helpset file.
Open an existing Oracle Help for Java HelpSet File | Select the option if you have a helpset file ready and want to edit it.
File | Click Browse and select the helpset file you want to edit.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.4 Specifying Authoring Tool and HTML Browser

The Select Source and Target page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to choose the authoring tool and the browser to display the help files.

Figure 11-3 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Select Source and Target

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Select Source and Target page:

Field | Description
Choose the authoring tool | Select the authoring tool used to create the help files.
Choose the HTML browser | Select the browser you want to use to display the html files.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.5 Specifying Source Directory

The Specify Directory page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to choose the directory containing the html files and other control files.

Figure 11-4 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Specify Directory

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Specify Directory page:

Field | Description
Directory | Click Browse and select the source directory of the html files. If you have specified an existing helpset file, the field is not available for editing and displays the directory location of the helpset file.
Include Subdirectories | Select the checkbox to include subdirectories of the selected Directory.
HelpSet Title | Specify the title of the helpset file

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.6 Defining Views

The Define Views page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to define views in the OHJ Help Navigator window. You can create views for table of contents, keyword index, and define custom views.

Figure 11-5 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Views

Field | Description
New | Creates a new view and adds the name of the view in Current Views list.
Delete | Deletes the selected view from the Current Views list.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.6.1 Defining a New View

OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to create multiple views in your help. By default, no views are defined. To define a new view, click New. Figure 11-6 shows the fields available in the Define Views page of the wizard when a new view is created.

Figure 11-6 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define New Views

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Define Views page:

Field | Description
View Type | Select the view type of new view defined. You can choose the view type as OHJ TOC Navigator, OHJ Keyword Navigator, OHJ Search Navigator, or define a custom navigator.
Data Engine | Select the data engine for the new view. You can choose the engine as HHC Engine, HHK Engine, XML TOC Engine, XML Index Engine, TOC Engine, TOK Engine, Search Engine; or define a custom data engine.
Data Location | Click Browse and select the location of the control file.
Tab Label | Select the checkbox and enter the label of the tab displayed in OHJ Help Navigator window.
View Title | Select the checkbox and enter the title of the view.

11.6.2 Defining a Custom View Type

You can define a custom view if the available views do not meet your requirements.

To create a custom view type, select Custom from the View Type dropdown list of Define Views page. The Define the Custom Type dialog appears.

Figure 11-7 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Custom View Type

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Define Views page:

Field | Description
Identifying Name | Specify the unique name of the view.
Navigator Subclass | Specify the name of the Java class. The class must be a subclass of oracle.help.navigator.Navigator.

11.6.3 Defining a Custom Data Engine

You can define a custom data engine if the available data engines do not meet your requirements.

To create a custom data engine, select Custom from the Data Engine dropdown list of Define Views page. The Define the Custom Data Engine dialog appears.

Figure 11-8 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Custom Data Engine

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Define Views page:

Field | Description
Identifying Name | Specify the unique name of the data engine.
DataEngine Subclass | Specify the name of the Java class. The class must be a subclass of oracle.help.dataengine.DataEngine.

11.7 Defining Full-Text Search View

The Full-Text Search View page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to create a Search View and generate a full-text search index for the help.

To create a full-text search index, select the Generate a full text search index for the HelpSet checkbox.

Figure 11-9 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Full-Text Search View

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Full Text Search View page:

Field | Description
Generate a full text search index for the HelpSet | Select the checkbox to create a full-text search index.
Specify the character set encoding | Select the desired character set encoding from the dropdown list. By default, Western Europe (ISO 8859-1) is selected.
Enable case-sensitive searches | Select the checkbox if you want to allow case sensitive search feature in your help.
Enable searches for numbers | Select the checkbox if you want to allow numeric search feature in your help.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.8 Defining Map File

The Map File page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to create a map file for your help and associate unique topic ids with your help topics.

Figure 11-10 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Full-Text Search View

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Full Text Search View page:

Field
Description

Do not include map file
Specifies that you do not want to provide a map file. This option is helpful if your help is not a context-sensitive help.

Create a Map file using the <meta> tag information in each HTML file
Specifies to create a map file from <meta> tags.

Some help authoring tools (such as RoboHelp) insert topic-ids in meta tags in the HTML file. This wizard option finds the meta tags and creates a map file from them

Create a Map file using tool generated aliases (.ali) or header (.h) files
Specifies to create a map file from generated aliases or header files. Click Browse to specify the map file name and location.

Include an existing Map file
Specifies to use an existing map file. Click Browse to specify the map file name and location.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.9 Converting Associative Links

The Associative Links page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you convert the associative links defined in the existing help to it's own associative link protocol.

Figure 11-11 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Associative Links

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Associative Links page:

Field | Description
Convert associative links to use OHJ ICEbrowser protocol | Specifies to convert all associative links into ICEbrowser supported alink protocol.
Convert associative links to a hard coded list of links | Specifies to convert all associative links into hard coded list of links.
Delete all associative links | Specifies to remove all associative links from the help pages.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.10 Converting Popup Window Links

The Popup Windows page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to convert the popup window links defined in the existing help to it's own popup link protocol.

Figure 11-12 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Popup Windows

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Popup Windows page:

Field | Description
Convert popup windows to use the OHJ ICEbrowser protocol | Specifies to convert all popup window links into ICEbrowser supported protocol.
Delete all popup windows | Specifies to remove all popup window links from the help pages.

When you are done, click Next to continue.

11.11 Defining Window Types

The Window Types page of OHJ Authoring Wizard allows you to define window types. By default, no window types are defined. When you define a new window type, you can configure the window's identity, it's placement on the screen, color attributes, and the toolbar buttons available on the window.

Figure 11-13 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Define Window Types

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Define Window Type page:

Field | Description
New | Creates a new window type and adds the name of the window in Window Types list.
Delete | Deletes the selected window type from the Window Types list.

To define a new window type, click New and configure its attributes. You can configure following attributes:

11.11.1 Window Identity

The Identity tab of the Define Window Types page allows you to define the window name and title.

Figure 11-14 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Identity Property

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Identity tab of the Define Window Type page:

Field | Description
Name | Specifies the unique window name.
Title | Specifies the window title.
Use this Window Type if none is specified | Select the checkbox if you want to make the window as default window.

11.11.2 Placement Attributes

The Placement tab of the Define Window Types page allows you to configure the window size and position on the screen.

Figure 11-15 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Placement Property

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Placement tab of the Define Window Type page:

Field | Description
Height | Specifies the windows height, and choose the desired unit as pixels or percent.
Width | Specifies the windows width, and choose the desired unit as pixels or percent.
X Position | Specifies the windows X coordinate, choose the desired unit as pixels or percent, and direction as from left or from right.
Y Position | Specifies the windows Y coordinate, choose the desired unit as pixels or percent, and direction as from top or from bottom.

11.11.3 Style Attributes

The Style tab of the Define Window Types page allows you to configure the window colors, text and background.

Figure 11-16 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Style Property

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Style tab of the Define Window Type page:

Field | Description
Text Foreground Color | Specifies the hexadecimal color code of text in the window. To choose a color, click Choose and select your desired text color.
Link Foreground Color | Specifies the hexadecimal color code of link text in the window. To choose a color, click Choose and select your desired link text color.
Page Background Color | Specifies the hexadecimal color code of page background in the window. To choose a color, click Choose and select your desired page background color.

11.11.4 Toolbar Buttons

The Toolbar Buttons tab of the Define Window Types page allows you to configure the toolbar buttons available in the Help Topic window.

Figure 11-17 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Window Type Toolbar Buttons Property

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Toolbar Buttons tab of the Define Window Type page:

Field | Description
Show the default set of buttons | Select the checkbox to show the default set of toolbar buttons. By default, all toolbar buttons are available. To customize toolbar buttons, clear the checkbox.
Navigator Button | Select the checkbox to add the Navigator toolbar button in the window. The Navigator button allows you to open the Help Navigator window.
Search Button | Select the checkbox to add the Search toolbar button in the window. The Search button allows you to search for a text across the help pages.
Print Button | Select the checkbox to add the Print toolbar button in the window. The Print button allows you to print a topic.
Forward and Back Buttons | Select the checkbox to add the Forward and Backward toolbar buttons in the window. The Forward and Backward buttons allow you to navigate to previously opened topics, and return back to current topic.
Dock and Undock Buttons | Select the checkbox to add the Dock and Undock toolbar buttons in the window. The Dock and Undock buttons allow you to dock and undock the Help Topic and Help Navigator windows.

11.12 Finalizing the HelpSet

The Finish page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard creates the helpset as per options selected in the wizard.

Figure 11-18 OHJ Authoring Wizard: Finish Helpset

Use the following information to enter data in each field of the Finish HelpSet page:

Field | Description
Base Name | Specify the base name of the help set. The base name is without the file name extension, and defines the name of control files. For example, if the base name is myproject, the control files are named as myproject.hhc, myproject.hhk, myproject.idx, and so on.
Create backup copies | Specifies to create backup copies of the updated files. The files are saved with .bak extension.
Do not create backup copies | Specifies not to create backup copies of the updated files.

When you are done, click Finish to generate the helpset file.

12 Using the Text Search Indexer

This chapter describes the text search indexer, and how to use it to generate index files.

This chapter contains the following sections:

Section 12.1, "Overview of Text Search Indexer"

Section 12.2, "Java Requirements"

Section 12.3, "Running the Indexer"

Section 12.4, "Running the JapaneseIndexer"

12.1 Overview of Text Search Indexer

A Java-based text search indexer is included with Oracle Help for Java. The indexer generates the .idx files used for text searches within Oracle Help. Two versions of the Text Search Indexer are provided, one for Japanese content and another for non-Japanese content.

12.2 Java Requirements

The Text Search Indexer requires Java5 SE or later. Performance will be greatly enhanced if you leave the Java JIT (Just In Time Compiler) on. Also ensure that you increase the maximum heap size of the Java Virtual Machine.

12.3 Running the Indexer

Follow these steps to run the indexer:

Include the OHJ Indexer JAR file helpindexer-version.jar in your CLASSPATH.

Run the indexer from the command prompt. The indexer supports the following command-line arguments:

[-l=locale] [-e=charset] dirnameindexfilename

where,

Argument
Description

-l=locale
The optional (but recommended) locale parameter is specified using the two-letter ISO 639 language codes and ISO 3166 country codes. The format is language_COUNTRY or language_COUNTRY_VARIANT. If the locale is not supplied, the system default locale is used.

-e=charset
The optional (but recommended) charset parameter is the name of the Java-supported character set encoding for the HTML files that are being indexed. If the encoding is not supplied, the default character set encoding of the current system default locale is used. If supplied, the value must be one of the Java supported character set encoding names; for Java SE, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html.

dirname
The base directory that contains the HTML files you want to index. The indexer will index all of the files under this directory (and its subdirectories, if any).

indexfilename
The name of the index file to be generated.

For example, java -mx64m oracle.help.tools.index.Indexer -l=en_US -e=8859_1 D:\MyHTMLFiles myIndex.idx

The above command sets the Locale to language: English, country: Unites States, encoding: 8859_1, and indexes the D:\MyHTMLFiles directory creating the myIndex.idx file as a result.

12.4 Running the JapaneseIndexer

Follow these steps to run the indexer:

Include the OHJ Indexer JAR file helpindexer-version.jar in your CLASSPATH.

Run the indexer from the command prompt. The indexer supports the following command-line arguments:

[-e=charset] dirnameindexfilename

where,

Argument
Description

-e=charset
The optional (but recommended) charset parameter is the name of the Java-supported character set encoding for the HTML files that are being indexed. If the encoding is not supplied, the default character set encoding of the current system default locale is used. If supplied, the value must be one of the Java supported character set encoding names; for Java SE, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html.

dirname
The base directory that contains the HTML files you want to index. The indexer will index all of the files under this directory (and its subdirectories, if any).

indexfilename
The name of the index file to be generated.

For example,java -mx64m oracle.help.tools.index.JapaneseIndexer -e=MS932 D:\MyHTMLFiles myIndex.idx

The above command runs the JapaneseIndexer with the encoding set to MS932, and indexes the D:\MyHTMLFiles directory, creating the myIndex.idx file as a result.

Part IV

Oracle Help for Java

This part contains information on using Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 13, "Introduction to Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit"

This chapter provides an introduction to Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit.

Chapter 14, "Adding OHJ to Your Application"

This chapter describes how to add an OHJ help to an application .

Chapter 15, "Enabling Context-Sensitive Help in Your Application"

This chapter describes how to enable context-sensitive help in an application.

Chapter 16, "Deploying an OHJ Help System"

This chapter provides information on deploying OHJ help.

13 Introduction to Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit

This chapter introduces Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit (OHJDK), the contents of OHJDK, and how to install OHJDK.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 13.1, "Overview of Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit"

Section 13.2, "Oracle Help for Java Runtime in JDeveloper"

Section 13.3, "Getting Started with the OHJDK"

13.1 Overview of Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit

The Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit (OHJDK) is a set of Java components and an API for developing and displaying HTML-based help content in a Java environment. It includes the Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) engine and additional tools necessary for implementing context-sensitive help in Java applets and applications

The Oracle Help for Java engine is a full-featured Java-based help system for Java applications and applets. It provides pure Java components for navigating and displaying context-sensitive help. Oracle Help for Java is available for free, and may be redistributed as the help system for your application (see the license distributed with the release).

Oracle Help for Java supports help content in several file formats, including extensions of the JavaHelp and Microsoft's HTML Help standards. If you are authoring help content without using a help authoring tool, it will be helpful to read Oracle Help File Formats. If you are using a third party help authoring system that supports OHJ, refer to the documentation provided.

13.2 Oracle Help for Java Runtime in JDeveloper

The Oracle Help for Java runtime library, ohj.jar, is distributed as part of JDeveloper. Developers integrating Oracle Help for Java with their applications can modify their project settings to add the Oracle Help for Java library as a dependency. The full Oracle Help for Java release including sample code, helpset authoring wizard, indexer, and demos is available at no cost from the Oracle Technology Network (http://www.oracle.com/technology/index.html) under Oracle Help Technologies.

13.3 Getting Started with the OHJDK

The Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit (OHJDK) is a set of Java components and an API for developing and displaying HTML-based help content in a Java environment. It includes the Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) engine and additional tools necessary for implementing context-sensitive help in Java applets and applications.

This section describes the contents of the OHJDK and tells how to set up for developing OHJ help systems. It contains the following subsections:

Section 13.3.1, "Installing OHJDK"

Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release"

Section 13.3.3, "Setting the Java CLASSPATH for OHJDK Development"

13.3.1 Installing OHJDK

The following steps describe OHJDK installation process:

Download the latest Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit from OTN. For Windows, you may download the Windows executable file or Executable JAR file. For Solaris or UNIX, download the binary file.

In Windows, double click the Windows executable file or executable JAR file to start the installation wizard. By default, the OHJDK is installed at C:\Program Files\ohelp location. For Solaris and UNIX, run the binary file to start the installation wizard.

Open the install folder and verify the files as described in Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release".

13.3.2 Contents of an OHJDK Release

The OHJDK includes the compiled libraries for the OHJ engine as well as libraries for the authoring tools and demonstrations. These libraries are distributed in JAR (Java ARchive) format. The OHJDK also includes documentation, including this document.

The files are discussed in the following sections:

Section 13.3.2.1, "OHJ Engine"

Section 13.3.2.2, "Authoring Tools"

Section 13.3.2.3, "Demonstration Files"

Section 13.3.2.4, "Documentation"

13.3.2.1 OHJ Engine

These files contain binary files for the OHJ engine implementation and its dependencies. You must redistribute these files with your product application.

Table 13-1 OHJ Binaries

File
Contents

helpversion_num.jar

The help engine optimized binaries.

oracle_ice.jar

Oracle's customized version of the ICEbrowser from ICEsoft Technologies, Inc. The OHJ engine uses the ICEbrowser for displaying HTML topics.

13.3.2.2 Authoring Tools

The following JAR files contain the implementation for the Helpset Authoring Wizard and the Text Search Indexer. These files are not intended for distribution with your product application.

Table 13-2 OHJ Authoring Tools

File
Contents

helpwizard-version_num.jar

Helpset Authoring Wizard implementation. Authors can run the Helpset Authoring Wizard using batch files created in the bin directory of their OHJDK installation.

helpindexer-version_num.jar

OHJ Text Search Indexer implementation. Authors can use the Full-Text Search Indexer to process and create Oracle Help search index (.idx) files.

13.3.2.3 Demonstration Files

The following JAR file contains the demonstration programs distributed with the OHJDK. This file is not intended for distribution with your product application.

Table 13-3 OHJ Demonstration JAR File

File
Contents

helpdemo-version_num.jar

Demonstration binaries and source code, plus sample documentation in HTML and the Oracle Help control file formats.

To run the demonstration programs, execute the batch files located in the bin subdirectory of your OHJDK installation. The OHJ installer for Windows adds shortcuts to the Windows Start Menu. The sample content used by the demo programs is located in the demodoc subdirectory.

When integrating OHJ with your application, it may be helpful for you to examine the source code for the demonstration programs (located in the helpdemo-version_num.jar file. The following two demos will be particularly helpful:

Table 13-4 OHJ Demonstration Files

File
Contents

ChoiceDemo.java

(OHJ Features Demo)

Sample Java code that illustrates the following features:

Constructing the Help object

Adding helpsets (data)

Displaying the OHJ navigator window

Displaying multiple helpsets

CSHDemo.java

(Context-Sensitive Help Demo)

Sample Java code that illustrates the following features:

Launching the help system from a menu

Associating help topics with particular application controls

Enabling the F1 key to launch help

Implementing right-click pop-up menu help

13.3.2.4 Documentation

The following documentation is included with the OHJDK:

Table 13-5 OHJ Documentation

Document
Content
Location in OHJDK release

OHJ API Reference Documentation

Reference documentation for the OHJ Application Programming Interface (API), provided as JavaDoc.

The doc/javadoc subdirectory of the OHJDK installation. To view the API documentation, open the index.html file in an HTML browser.

Oracle Help Guide

This document

The doc subdirectory of the OHJDK installation.

13.3.3 Setting the Java CLASSPATH for OHJDK Development

To develop with the OHJDK, you must add the OHJ engine libraries and toolkit dependencies to your environment class path.

For example:

On Windows 2000 or XP, set the CLASSPATH variable in the Environment Variables dialog, accessed from the Advanced tab of the System Properties control panel.

On Windows NT, set the CLASSPATH variable in the Environment tab of the System Properties control panel.

On Windows 95/98, use the SET command in your autoexec.bat file.

On UNIX, use the setenv command to set an environment variable for your shell.

Consult the documentation for your Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and operating system to determine how to set the CLASSPATH variable.

14 Adding OHJ to Your Application

This chapter describes how to integrate OHJ with your product application. It contains the following sections:

Section 14.1, "Overview of Adding OHJ to an Application"

Section 14.2, "Constructing the Help Object"

Section 14.3, "Adding the Help Data"

Section 14.4, "Adding the Favorites Tab or Custom Tab"

Section 14.5, "When to Create the Help object"

Section 14.6, "Showing the Navigator Window"

Section 14.7, "Showing a Topic"

Section 14.8, "Disposing of the Help Object"

These steps are explained in more detail in the following sections.

14.1 Overview of Adding OHJ to an Application

The basic steps for adding OHJ to an application are:

Construct the Help object.

Populate the Help object with help content, as follows:

Create Book objects that represent your help data.

Add the Book objects to the Help object.

Implement methods for showing the OHJ navigator window and for showing help topics.

Dispose of the Help object at the end of your product's lifecycle

14.2 Constructing the Help Object

The Help object is the main entry point for Oracle Help for Java. It includes methods for adding help content, showing the OHJ navigator window, and displaying specific topics. There are several options that can only be set at the time the Help object is constructed.

The boolean combineBooks parameter in the Help object constructor determines how OHJ displays multiple Books, or HelpSets. If the boolean combineBooks parameter is set to true, OHJ merges all author-defined views that have the same type and label. For example, if multiple books include a Keyword Index view with the same label, OHJ displays one keyword index navigator tab with a merged, sorted list of keywords. If the combineBooks parameter is set to false, the views from each book are displayed separately, and the end user can select which book to display using a drop-down list in the OHJ navigator window.

The versions of the Help object constructor are summarized below. For more information on API documentation of oracle.help.Help , see Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release".

Table 14-1 Help() Constructors

Constructor
Description

Help()

Creates an instance of the Help object with the ICEBrowser as the HTMLBrowser component used for topic display. This constructor will instruct the help system to show all of the views from the added books in one tab panel, and to ignore author defined tab labels in favor of standard tab labels.

Help(boolean combineBooks, boolean useLabelInfo)

Creates an instance of the Help object with the ICEBrowser as the HTMLBrowser component used for topic display.

Parameters:

combineBooks – If true, the help system shows all of the views from the books added to the help system in one tab panel. If false, the help system creates a different tab panel for each book and allows the end user to choose which book is displayed.

useLabelInfo – If true, the help system uses the author-defined label information for display and view merging. If false, the help system uses default labels.

Help(Class htmlBrowserClass, boolean combineBooks, boolean useLabelInfo)

Creates an instance of the Help object using the specified HTMLBrowser component for topic display. The ICEBrowser is the only HTMLBrowser subclass currently distributed with OHJ.

Parameters:

htmlBrowserClass – The HTMLBrowser subclass to use as the topic display component

combineBooks – If true, the help system shows all of the views from the books added to the help system in one tab panel. If false, the help system creates a different tab panel for each book and allows the end user to choose which book is displayed.

useLabelInfo – If true, the help system uses the author-defined label information for display and view merging. If false, the help system uses default labels.

Help(Class htmlBrowserClass, boolean combineBooks, boolean useLabelInfo, boolean standAloneMode)

Creates an instance of the Help object using the specified HTMLBrowser component for topic display. The ICEBrowser is the only HTMLBrowser subclass currently distributed with OHJ. This constructor contains an extra parameter enabling a "stand-alone" mode for running OHJ, where the Help object will exit the JVM (via System.exit) once all help windows have been closed. The standAloneMode parameter should be set to false if you are launching OHJ from a Java application (otherwise closing help would exit your application!).

Parameters:

htmlBrowserClass – The HTMLBrowser subclass to use as the topic display component

combineBooks – If true, the help system shows all of the views from the books added to the help system in one tab panel. If false, the help system creates a different tab panel for each book and allows the end user to choose which book is displayed.

useLabelInfo – If true, the help system uses the author-defined label information for display and view merging. If false, the help system uses standard default labels.

standAloneMode – If true, the help system exits the JVM when all help windows have been closed. Set this to false if you are launching OHJ from your Java application.

14.3 Adding the Help Data

After creating a Help object, you must add one or more Book objects to it. A Book object encapsulates a collection, or "book," of help content.

The HelpSet book implementation handles the preferred Oracle Help file formats, as documented in Oracle Help File Formats. These files include the helpset file, which defines the characteristics of the help system.

The following sections describe how to add the help sets, and other optional features:

Section 14.3.1, "Constructing a HelpSet"

Section 14.3.2, "Adding Books to Help"

14.3.1 Constructing a HelpSet

The Table 14-2 lists HelpSet() constructors:

Table 14-2 HelpSet() Constructors

Constructor
Description

HelpSet(URL fileURL)

Constructs a HelpSet object using the helpset file at the specified URL location. Use this constructor when you know the exact location of the helpset file.

Parameters:

fileURL – A URL specifying the exact location of the helpset file.

HelpSet(Class pathClass, String pathExtension)

Use this constructor when you know only the path to the helpset file relative to your application implementation.

Parameters:

pathClass – One of your application classes. The HelpSet object uses the location of this class to determine the location of your helpset file.

pathExtension – The path to the helpset file relative to the location of pathClass. The value of this parameter is appended to the absolute path to the directory containing the pathClass. The resulting path should be the path to your helpset file.

For more information, see the API documentation for oracle.help.library.helpset.HelpSet.

14.3.2 Adding Books to Help

Once you have constructed a Book instance using the HelpSet constructors, you must add the Book to your Help instance. This is accomplished by calling the following method on the Help instance:

Table 14-3 addBook() Constructors

Constructor
Description

addBook(Book book)

This method adds a Book instance to the help system. Author-defined views contained in the Book are displayed in the navigator window, and topics from the Book are available to display.

Parameters:

book - The Book instance to add to the help system.

14.4 Adding the Favorites Tab or Custom Tab

You have the option of adding a Favorites tab or a custom tab after the help object is constructed and before the Navigator window is displayed:

To add a Favorites tab to the navigator window, use the function enableFavoritesNavigator(URL). For more information on API documentation of oracle.help.Help.enableFavoritesNavigator(URL), see Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release", or find this code in PreviewHelpSet.java for an example:

if (!"".equals(_favoritesPath))
    {
      try
      {
        File file = new File(_favoritesPath);
        _help.enableFavoritesNavigator(file.toURL());
      }
      catch (MalformedURLException e)
      {
        e.printStackTrace();
      }
    }

To add a custom tab, see the API documentation for oracle.help.navigator.Navigator in Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release".

14.5 When to Create the Help object

A single instance of the Help object should be created and help data should be added at application startup. You should use this single instance of the Help object throughout the application session. It is not efficient to create unique Help objects each time the user requests help in your application.

14.6 Showing the Navigator Window

Instruct your Help instance to show the OHJ navigator window by calling the showNavigatorWindow() method. Some versions of this method take additional parameters to show the navigator window with a specified navigator tab selected (for example, Contents, Index, Search, etc.).

Table 14-4 showNavigatorWindow() Constructors

Constructor
Description

showNavigatorWindow()

Shows the navigator window with the first tab of the first book selected.

Parameters:

activeBook - The Book object whose associated set of navigators should be initially displayed when the navigator window is shown.

showNavigatorWindow(Book activeBook)

Shows the navigator window with the associated set of navigators from the given book displayed.

Parameters:

activeBook - The Book object whose associated set of navigators should be initially displayed when the navigator window is shown.

showNavigatorWindow(Navigator activeNavigator)

Shows the navigator window with a specific navigator tab selected. Use this method if you want to show a specific navigator from a specific book.

Parameters:

activeNavigator - The navigator to show when initially selected.

14.7 Showing a Topic

Instruct your Help instance to show a specific help topic by calling the showTopic() method and providing the topic ID and the Book instance for that topic. Some versions of this method take additional parameters to specify how the topic should be displayed.

Table 14-5 showTopic() Constructors

Constructor
Description

showTopic(Book book, String topicID)

Shows the given topic from the given book in a currently existing topic window. If no topic windows currently exist, a new topic window will be created with the default size and position.

Parameters:

book - The Book from which to show the topic.

topicID - The topic ID for the topic to show (as specified in the map file of the book)

showTopic(Book book, String topicID, boolean alwaysCreate)

Shows the given topic from the given book. If alwaysCreate is true, a new window will always be created. If false, a new window will only be created if no windows currently exist.

Parameters:

book - The Book to show the topic from.

topicID - The topic ID for the topic to show (as specified in the map file of the book).

alwaysCreate - If true, always create a new window. If false, reuse a window if possible

showTopic(Book book, String topicID, boolean alwaysCreate, Point location, Dimension size)

Shows the given topic from the given book. If alwaysCreate is true, a new window will always be created; if it is false, a new window will only be created if no windows currently exist. The topic window will be shown using the given location and size.

Parameters:

book - The Book to show the topic from.

topicID - The topic ID for the topic to show (as specified in the map file of the book).

alwaysCreate - If true, always create a new window. If false, reuse a window if possible.

location - Location of the topic window in screen coordinates.

size - Size of the topic window in pixels.

14.7.1 Catching TopicDisplayExceptions

Exceptions are thrown by the showTopic() method when an error is encountered when trying to display a topic. For example, if you attempt to display a topic ID which is not in the map file, a TopicDisplayException is thrown. By catching the TopicDisplayException, you have the opportunity to take action when an error occurs. In the following example, an author-defined error topic is displayed when TopicDisplayException is thrown.

For example:

try
{
  myHelp.showTopic(myhelpset, "nonExistingTopic");
}
catch (TopicDisplayException e)
{
  //An error has occurred, try to show an error topic
  myHelp.showTopic(myhelpset, "onErrorTopic");
}

14.8 Disposing of the Help Object

Disposing of the Help object frees OHJ resources. You should dispose of the Help object when you no longer need the help engine. Typically, this would be done at end of the user's application session. Disposing closes all files and frees memory used by the Help object. To dispose of the Help object, call the dispose() method:

Table 14-6 dispose() Constructors

Constructor
Description

dispose()

Dispose of the help system. This method frees up all resources used by the help system. Applications should call this method when they do not need help anymore. You should not call any methods on the Help object after calling dispose().

The dispose() method will eliminate any references to objects held by the OHJ classes, but not other references that you have created from your application to Help objects.

Therefore, after you call dispose() you should eliminate any references to OHJ objects (Help or Book objects) in your application code. This allows the Java garbage collection process to free the OHJ objects.

15 Enabling Context-Sensitive Help in Your Application

This chapter describes how to enable context-sensitive help in your application and how to map topic IDs with the help topics.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 15.1, "Overview of Context-Sensitive Help"

Section 15.2, "Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics"

Section 15.3, "Programming Your Application to Support Context-Sensitive Help"

Section 15.4, "Using CSHManager to Implement Context-Sensitive Help"

15.1 Overview of Context-Sensitive Help

A context-sensitive help topic is one that is associated with a context in a product's user interface and which can be launched from that context. For example, a context-sensitive help system may contain topics that describe the product's menus and dialog boxes. When a user requests help for one of those controls, the appropriate topic for that control is displayed.

Oracle Help for Java provides mechanisms for associating help topics with user interface controls and for launching context-sensitive help when the user presses the F1 key or selects Help from a right-click context menu. OHJ also provides an API for explicitly displaying the help topic associated with a component.

To provide context-sensitive help for an application, the help system source must include one or more map files and you have to add the appropriate help code to your application code, as described in these sections:

15.2 Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics

A context-sensitive help system must include one or more map files that map topic IDs to help topics. Ideally, the map file is created by the help author, not the programmer. OHJ supports two kinds of map files:

When an OHJ system is implemented using a HelpSet, the map file must use the XML file format, also the recommended format for Oracle Help systems. For more information about the map file, see Section 6.3, "Map Files".

You may want to define a set of Java constants in your application code that map to topic IDs in the map file. When using OHJ methods that require topic IDs (such as Help.showTopic()), you can use the constant variable names instead of using explicit topic IDs from the map file. This helps you avoid changing code in several places if topic IDs in the map file are changed later. This is particularly useful when help authors are responsible for maintaining map files.

15.3 Programming Your Application to Support Context-Sensitive Help

The standard Java toolkits (AWT and Swing) do not include built-in mechanisms for associating help topics with components. However, OHJ provides a generic way to implement context-sensitive help in Java applications, using the OHJ CSHManager class. This help manager provides a way to associate help topics with user interface components and to enable F1 and right-click context-sensitive help.

15.4 Using CSHManager to Implement Context-Sensitive Help

OHJ's CSHManager class provides a generic way to associate help topics with user interface controls and to launch context-sensitive help when the end user presses the F1 key or selects Help from a right-click context menu. OHJ also provides an API for explicitly displaying the help topic associated with a component.

The following sections provide an introduction to using CSHManager:

Section 15.4.1, "CSHManager Constructors"

Section 15.4.2, "Setting the Default Book"

Section 15.4.3, "Associating Topic IDs with User Interface Components"

Section 15.4.4, "Explicitly Showing Help for Components"

15.4.1 CSHManager Constructors

You should create an instance of the CSHManager class before creating user interface components. The CSHManager constructor is summarized in Table 15-1.

Table 15-1 CSHManager() Constructors

Constructor
Description

CSHManager(Help help)

Creates a new instance of the CSHManager class. All subsequent calls to this manager object will use the specified Help object.

Parameters:

help – The Help object to be used for displaying help.

15.4.2 Setting the Default Book

If you only have one Book of help content, you may want to use the setDefaultBook() method to define it as the default book for context-sensitive help. This allows you to call the addComponent() method without entering the book parameter.

Table 15-2 setDefaultBook() Constructors

Constructor
Description

setDefaultBook(Book book)

Sets the specified Book as the default Book. This will be as used the default Book for components registered without a specified Book.

Parameters:

book – The Book to be set.

If you have more than one Book, the default Book will only be used for those components for which you have not assigned a specific Book. In a multiple Book help system, you should, in general, assign specific Books to your components.

15.4.3 Associating Topic IDs with User Interface Components

Use the addComponent() method to associate topic IDs, as defined in the map file, with Java user interface components. You can call one of the versions of this method for each component that requires context-sensitive help.

Table 15-3 addComponent() Constructors

Constructor
Description

addComponent(Component component, String topicId)

Registers a component with the help manager.The default Book is used for looking up the topicId. If no default Book is registered at the time of calling this method, then the component is not registered with the help manager, and help will not be shown if showHelpForComponent() is later called for this component.For components registered using this method, CSHManager will not display help in response to an F1 key press or a right mouse-click event.

Parameters:

component – The component to be added.

topicId – The topic ID to associate with this component.

addComponent(Component component, Book book, String topicId)

Registers a component with the help manager. The provided book is used for looking up the topicId.

For components registered using this method, CSHManager will not display help in response to an F1 key press or right mouse-click event.

Parameters:

component – The component to be added.

book – The Book containing the help topic.

topicId – The topic ID to associate with this component.

addComponent(Component component, String topicId, boolean needF1Help, boolean needPopupHelp)

The default Book is used for looking up the topicId. If no default Book is registered at the time of calling this method, the component is not registered with the help manager, and help will not be shown if showHelpForComponent() is later called for this component.

Parameters:

component – The component to be added.

topicId – The topic ID to associate with this component.

needF1Help – If true, displays help for this component in response to F1 key press events.

needPopupHelp – If true, displays a Help pop-up menu upon right mouse click and launches context-sensitive help if the Help menu item is selected.

addComponent(Component component, Book book, String topicId, boolean needF1Help, boolean needPopupHelp)

Registers a component with the help manager. The provided book is used for looking up the topicId.

Parameters:

component – The component to be added.

topicId – The topic ID to associate with this component.

needF1Help – If true, displays help for this component in response to F1 key press events.

needPopupHelp – If true, displays a Help pop-up menu upon right mouse click and launches context-sensitive help if the Help menu item is selected.

needF1Help – If true, displays help for this component in response to F1 key press events.

needPopupHelp – If true, displays a Help pop-up menu upon right mouse click and launches context-sensitive help if the Help menu item is selected.

15.4.4 Explicitly Showing Help for Components

Call the showHelpForComponent() method on the CSHManager when you explicitly want to display the help topic associated with a component. For example, if you want to launch context-sensitive help when the user presses a Help button in a dialog box, you could call this method in the button's event handler.

Table 15-4 showHelpForComponent() Method

Constructor
Description

showHelpForComponent(Component component)

Shows help for the specified component. If the specified component was not registered via addComponent(), no help will be shown.

16 Deploying an OHJ Help System

This chapter describes how to deploy an OHJ help system with your application.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 16.1, "Supported Java Virtual Machines"

Section 16.2, "Which OHJ JAR Files Must Be Shipped"

Section 16.3, "Deploying Compressed Help Content in JARs"

16.1 Supported Java Virtual Machines

Since OHJ is a Java application (or applet), it must run in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). That means that you must ensure that your users have an appropriate JVM installed. If you are using OHJ as help for a Java application, that application must also run in a virtual machine, so it is likely that the JVM is already being distributed with your application.

16.2 Which OHJ JAR Files Must Be Shipped

The following JAR (Java ARchive) files must be redistributed as part of your product install. These files contain the OHJ engine implementation and its dependencies. For more information about these files, see Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release".

helpversion_num.jar

oracle_ice.jar

16.3 Deploying Compressed Help Content in JARs

Java based applications are often distributed in JAR format. You may wish to include your Help content as a JAR file in your distribution, as HTML content files are significantly reduced in size by JAR compression.

16.3.1 Creating JAR files

To create JAR files, use the JAR tool that is distributed with your Java Development Kit. If you are using a third party help authoring system that supports OHJ, it may also be able to perform this task.

Special care should be given to the organization of files and their assigned paths within the JAR archives. The directory structure within your help JAR file must match the directory structure for your product implementation JAR files. Your help content should be after the location of the implementation class that you use as a reference point.

For example,

If your product implementation JAR includes classes with the following directory structure,

/com/yourCompany/yourProduct/SomeProduct.class
/com/yourCompany/yourProduct/SomeClass.class

then your help JARs should contain the matching paths so that the help content is below the product implementation classes in the shared directory structure:

/com/yourCompany/yourProduct/help/ProductHelp.hs
/com/yourCompany/yourProduct/help/TableOfContents.xml
/com/yourCompany/yourProduct/help/SomeHelpTopic.html

16.3.2 Which Book Constructor to Use

To create a Book object with help content loaded from a JAR file, the help JAR file and implementation JAR files must be on the system CLASSPATH. If you have organized the JAR files as described, then you know the location of the help content is relative to the location of your implementation classes on the CLASSPATH.

Thus, you will use the versions of the HelpSet constructors that accept a Java class and a relative path from that class.

For example, if you have two JAR files, construct the helpset object using the following code:

import com.yourCompany.yourProduct.SomeProduct;
helpset myhelpset = new helpset(SomeProduct.class, "help/ProductHelp.hs");

Part V

Oracle Help for the Web – Rich Client

This part contains information on using Oracle Help for Web – Rich Client. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 17, "Deploying OHW-RC Demo File"

This chapter describes how to deploy an OHW-RC demo files. f you are new to OHW-RC, it is recommended to deploy the demo file before you start deploying your own help system

Chapter 18, "Understanding OHW-RC Deployment"

This chapter describes the OHW-RC deployment process.

Chapter 19, "Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Application"

This chapter describes how to implement a context-sensitive OHW-RC help in a web application.

Chapter 20, "ADF Rich Client Help Provider"

This chapter describes the ADF Rich client help providers and how OHW-RC could be used as a help provider.

Chapter 24, "Upgrading OHW-UIX"

This chapter describes information on upgrading to OHW-RC from OHW-UIX.

17 Deploying OHW-RC Demo File

This chapter describes how to deploy OHW-RC demo file on standalone Oracle WebLogic Server and JDevelolper integrated Oracle WebLogic Server.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 17.1, "Overview of Deploying OHW Demo Files"

Section 17.2, "Understanding the OHW-RC Demo Files"

Section 17.3, "Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server"

Section 17.4, "Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle JDeveloper"

Section 17.5, "Running the OHW-RC Demo EAR File"

17.1 Overview of Deploying OHW Demo Files

The OHW-RC demo EAR file contains all class libraries that you need to view the demo and try out the release. It includes sample helpsets, OHW-RC servlet file, and XML configuration files. You can deploy the demo file to experience the OHW-RC interface, or replace the existing helpsets and add your own.

17.2 Understanding the OHW-RC Demo Files

The OHW-RC demo file is available in two variants: ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear and ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear.

The ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear contains ADF, JSF and JSTL libraries preconfigured for deployment. The file is recommended if you are not using a supported application server or JDeveloper, or if you are using a supported application server but do not have the libraries installed. For more information about supported application servers, see the "Certification Information" page on OTN.

The ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear does not contain ADF, JSF and JSTL libraries, hence it is required that the libraries must be installed on the application server before deployment. JDeveloper is required for this demo file. For more information on how to deploy libraries, see Section 17.3, "Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server".

Note:

Do not deploy both ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear and ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear on Oracle WebLogic Server as they would conflict when you run the demo EAR files.

Both OHW-RC demo EAR files, ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear and ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear, contain two OHW-RC sample helpsets along with their help topics, helpset file, and control files. They also contain ohwconfig.xml which is needed to configure OHW-RC.

When extracted into a directory, the OHW-RC demo file extracts files into their respective name directories, ohw-rcf-demo-thin and ohw-rcf-demo-thick. The EAR file contains a WAR file and a META-INF directory, which contains the application.xml file. The WAR file contains all helpset directories along with their help topics, helpset file, and control files.

Table 17-1 describes the files and directories in OHW-RC demo EAR files.

Table 17-1 OHW-RC Demo Files and Directories

File
Description

application.xml

Java EE application file.

The file is available in META-INF directory.

helpsets directory

Web module containing two helpsets: ohguide and the sample shakespeare, in their respective directories.

The helpsets directory exists in the respective WAR files (ohw-rcf-demo-thick.war or ohw-rcf-demo-thin.war).

trinidad-config.xml

faces-config.xml

web.xml

weblogic.xml

Contains configuration and deployment information that affects OHW-RC thin and thick clients.

The files are available in WEB-INF directory of WAR files.

help-share.jar

ohw-rcf.jar

ohw-share.jar

The following library files are available for thick clients only:

adf-richclient-api-11.jar

adf-richclient-impl-11.jar

trinidad-api.jar

trinidad-impl.jar

OHW-RC library files required for deployment.

The files are available in WEB-INF\lib directory of WAR files.

ohwconfig.xml

OHW-RC configuration file.

The file is available in helpsets directory.

17.3 Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server

Before you start the demo file installation, verify that ADF, JSF, and JSTL libraries are installed in Oracle WebLogic Server. For more information, see Section 18.3, "Verifying OHW-RC Library Files".

After the library verification, installing the demo EAR file is a very simple process:

Download the OHW-RC demo EAR file from OTN. The name of the demo file is ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear. This file includes OHW-RC library files and sample helpsets.

Start the Oracle WebLogic Administration Console and navigate to Deployments page.

In the Deployments page, click Install to start the deployment wizard.

In the Path field, enter the location where you saved the ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear file, or in the Current Location, browse and select the EAR file.

Click Next to continue.

In the Choose targeting style page, select Install this deployment as an application, and click Next.

In the Optional Settings page, verify the settings. It is recommended that you leave the settings as default. Click Next to continue, or click Finish to complete the deployment.

In the Additional Configuration page, select Yes, take me to the deployment's configuration screen and click Finish to complete the deployment.

The deployment wizard, after successful deployment, returns you to the Settings page of ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear. If there are errors while deploying the file, you are navigated to Deployment home page where the errors are listed in red text.

17.4 Installing the OHW-RC Demo EAR File on Oracle JDeveloper

To install the demo file on Oracle JDeveloper, follow these steps:

Download the OHW-RC demo EAR file from OTN. The name of the demo file is ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear. This file includes OHW-RCF and sample helpsets.

Start JDeveloper.

Create a new application from the ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear file. From the File menu, select New. In the New Gallery dialog, select Applications under General category, and then select Application from EAR File from the Items list.

In the Location page of Create Application from EAR File wizard, browse and select the ohw-rcf-demo-thin.ear file. You may also change the application name and the location of application. Click Next to continue.

The EAR Modules page of the wizard shows the project name and the module name. Click Next to continue, or click Finish to create the application from EAR file.

The Finish page of the wizard shows a summary of your settings for the application. Click Finish to create the application from EAR file. JDeveloper extracts all files from the EAR file and creates an application which is ready to edit and deploy.

In the Application Navigator, open the project and edit the desired files.

To deploy the application, start the integrated Oracle WebLogic Server instance. From Run menu, choose Start Server Instance to start the integrated Oracle WebLogic Server.

In the Application Navigator, select the ohw-rcf-demo-thin project. From the Application menu, select Deploy. Then from the submenu, select ohw-rcf-demo-thin, to, and then select IntegratedWLSConnection. JDeveloper starts the deployment process and the status of the deployment is reflected in the Log window.

When the application is successfully deployed, JDeveloper prompts with Deployment finished message in the Log window.

17.5 Running the OHW-RC Demo EAR File

After successful deployment of demo file, open your browser and navigate to the following URL:

http://<yourHost>:<yourPort>/<jdevProjectName>/ohguide/

If you have installed the OHW-RC demo EAR file using Oracle WebLogic Administration Console, use the following URL:

http://localhost:7101/ohw-rcf-demo/ohguide

If you have installed the OHW-RC demo EAR file using Oracle JDeveloper, use the following URL:

http://localhost:7101/ohw-rcf-demo-thin/ohguide

For more information on user interface of OHW-RC, see Chapter 3, "OHW-RC User Interface".

18 Understanding OHW-RC Deployment

This chapter describes the OHW-RC delpoyment process and configuration files, how to install OHW-RC artifacts, how to configure OHW-RC to display custom helpsets, how to change the access URL, and how to deploy OHW-RC as a standalone web application and a part of another web application.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 18.1, "Overview of OHW-RC Deployment"

Section 18.2, "Verifying Requirements and Dependencies"

Section 18.3, "Verifying OHW-RC Library Files"

Section 18.4, "Installing OHW-RC Artifacts"

Section 18.5, "Understanding OHW-RC Configuration Files"

Section 18.6, "Configuring OHW-RC to Display Custom Helpsets"

Section 18.7, "Changing the OHW-RC Access URL"

Section 18.8, "Deploying OHW-RC as a Standalone Web Application"

Section 18.9, "Deploying OHW-RC as part of a Web Application"

Section 18.10, "Deploying Multiple Help Instances in a Web Application"

18.1 Overview of OHW-RC Deployment

After help authors have finished creating the help contents, then OHW-RC administrator needs to modify the Web configuration to deploy those help contents using OHW-RC.

You can deploy OHW-RC in more than one way. However, there are certain tasks that are common to all deployment modes. This chapter describes those common tasks that are a prerequisite for further steps.

If you are new to OHW-RC, you may start with deploying the demo file. For more information, see Chapter 17, "Deploying OHW-RC Demo File". The demo EAR file includes all files needed to deploy the sample helpsets immediately.

If you are creating a new OHW-RC helpset, the following sections will help you understand the OHW-RC deployment process and describe the steps required to create and deploy your own OHW-RC help system.

18.2 Verifying Requirements and Dependencies

The following requirements must be verified for OHW-RC:

Table 18-1 OHW-RC Deployment Minimum Requirements

Requirement
Description

Application Server

The OHW-RC requires a Java EE 1.5 compatible application server that could support Java Servlet, JSP and JSF. Oracle WebLogic Server, standalone or integrated with JDeveloper, is recommended as it requires minimal configuration effort. For more information abot supported application servers, see Application Servers section in "Certification Information" on OTN.

Client

The client receives only HTML, and all it requires is a web browser to display and view the OHW-RC help content. The web browser must have JavaScript support enabled.

OHW-RC is supported in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla FireFox 2, Mozilla FireFox 3, Apple Safari, and Google Chrome. For more information about supported browsers, see the ADF Faces and Data Visualizations section in "Release Notes - JDeveloper 11g" on OTN.

Rich ADF Faces

OHW-RC needs Rich ADF Faces libraries and their dependencies to be available. The application server should also be configured for ADF-based applications by installing the correct JAR files or by running the ADF Runtime Installer using Oracle JDeveloper. For more information, see the online help of Oracle WebLogic Application Console.

18.3 Verifying OHW-RC Library Files

The application server where you will deploy the OHW-RC help files, needs to be configured to support Rich ADF Faces, because OHW-RC depends on that technology.

If you are using Oracle WebLogic Server, review your Oracle WebLogic Application Console and confirm that following libraries are also deployed:

ADF (adf.oracle.domain(1.0,11.1.1.2.0))

Java Server Faces (jsf(1.2,1.2.9.0))

JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (jstl(1.2,1.2.0.1))

The libraries are listed on Deployment page of Oracle WebLogic Application Console. If the libraries are not installed, extend your WebLogic domain using Oracle WebLogic Configuration Wizard to include Oracle JRF libraries. After including Oracle JRF libraries, restart your Oracle WebLogic Server and you will notice the libraries listed in Deployments page of Oracle WebLogic Application Console. For more information about extending a domain, see Oracle Fusion Middleware Administrator's Guide.

If you are not using Oracle WebLogic Server, ensure that all ADF, JSF and JSTL library JAR files are copied in \WEB-INF\lib directory of WAR deployment file. You can download the library files from OTN, or copy them from the demo file. The libraries are available in ohw-rcf-demo-thick\ohw-rcf-demo-thick\WEB-INF\lib directory of ohw-rcf-demo-thick.ear file.

18.4 Installing OHW-RC Artifacts

There are some files needed to be installed on the server to make OHW-RC working. The details about this will be shown in different possible deployment of OHW-RC topics.

The OHW-RC distributable components consist of JAR files like ohw-rcf.jar, ohw-share.jar, help-share.jar, and ohw-rcf-webapp.zip. The ohw-rcf-webapp.zip contains the helppages directory, which contains installable files like jspx (XML style of a JSF page) that are needed to run OHW-RC properly.

All artifacts are available on OTN for download.

18.5 Understanding OHW-RC Configuration Files

Before you start deploying the OHW-RC helpset, there are some files that need to be created or modified to configure OHW-RC correctly. The following information will help you understand the XML configuration files:

application.xml : A manifest of all web modules that run under a given Java EE application. It points to each web module of each product that is deployed.

The name and location of application.xml is fixed by the Java EE standard. The file is available in <OHW-RC_HOME>\META-INF\ directory.

web.xml: Sets the initialization parameters for the OHW-RC components, including the location of the OHW-RC configuration file. There is one instance of web.xml for each web module. The file is available in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF\ directory.

There is a minimum set of parameters need to be set in order to assure all prerequisites for OHW-RC are loaded and initialized correctly:

JSF servlet and servlet mapping

Trinidad resource servlet, servlet mapping, filter and filter mapping

OHW-RC filter and filter mapping

help instance servlet and servlet mapping

The following example shows a sample web.xml file:

<context-param>
  <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.CHANGE_PERSISTENCE</param-name>
  <param-value>oracle.adf.view.rich.change.FilteredPersistenceChangeManager</param-value>
</context-param>
<filter>
  <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
  <filter-class>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.webapp.TrinidadFilter</filter-class>
</filter>
<filter-mapping>
  <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
</filter-mapping>
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
  <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>resources</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.webapp.ResourceServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>resources</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/adf/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>resources</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/afr/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<!-- configuration for product1 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
    <param-value>/helpsets/product1/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<!-- configuration for product2 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>product2</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
    <param-value>/helpsets/product2/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>3</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<!-- servlet mappings for the OHW-RC front servlets -->
<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/product1/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>product2</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/product2/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<!-- OHW-RC servlet filter definition and mappings -->
<filter>
  <filter-name>OHWRCFRequestFilter</filter-name>
  <filter-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
  <filter-name>OHWRCFRequestFilter</filter-name>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
</filter-mapping>

ohwconfig.xml (default file name): Specify which helpsets to display and how to present them. You can also specify locales, branding information, and various other settings. For information about this configuration file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File". The name and location of this file is set as a OHW-RC front servlet initialization parameter, which is handled differently for each servlet container. The ohwConfigFileURL initialization parameter could take a path that contains {%some_parameter} tokens. The tokens value will be resolved from Java System.getProperty calls. Always consult the servlet container documentation for current and complete information.

The file is available in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\helpsets directory. Note that you can also specify ohwConfigURL using the prop system property. For example, in web.xml, the ohwConfigURL would be configured as:

<param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
<param-value>file:///{%prop}/help/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>

In adf-settings.xml, the ohwConfigURL would be configured as:

<property>
    <property-name>ohwConfigFileURL</property-name>
    <value>file:///{%prop}/help/ohwconfig.xml</value>
</property>

The prop property is predefined, or specified, by starting Oracle WebLogic Server with -Dprop option. For example, -Dprop=/Oracle/help.

trinidad-config.xml: Specify the configuration for the Trinidad and ADF Rich components. It specifies the skinning option to be used in OHW-RC. The file is available in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF\ directory.

faces-config.xml: This is the JSF configuration file. The file is available in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF\ directory.

You need to add the ADF Faces render kit information in this file:

<application>
  <default-render-kit-id>oracle.adf.rich</default-render-kit-id>
  <locale-config>
    <default-locale>en</default-locale>
  </locale-config>
</application>

18.6 Configuring OHW-RC to Display Custom Helpsets

The instructions in this section will help you create the directory structure required for OHW-RC help system, add your custom helpset files in the correct location, create or modify the configuration files, and deploy the help system on application server.

The instructions in this section also assume that you have installed the OHW-RC demo EAR file and you have a knowledge of the demo EAR file's directory structure. If you have not installed the demo file, install it following instructions in Chapter 17, "Deploying OHW-RC Demo File".

Follow these steps to set up your OHW-RC help system:

Set up the directory structure as following:

<OHW-RC_HOME>
  |
  — <OHW-RC_deployment_name>
      |
      — helppages
      — helpsets
          |
          — <custom_helpset_directory>
      — META-INF
      — WEB-INF
          |
          — lib
  — META-INF

For example:

my_module
  |
  — my_module_help
      |
      — helppages
      — helpsets
          |
          — my_ModuleHelpset
      — META-INF
      — WEB-INF
          |
          — lib
  — META-INF

Create your own helpset directory. Place all your help files in or under <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\helpsets\<custom_helpset_directory> directory, including the helpset file, topic files, and the other control files (index, table of contents, etc.). Also, place any JAR files here, if you are using JAR files for your helpset. You can use JARred and unJARred helpsets together in the same deployment.

Create the configuration file. In an editor, create an XML file and save it as ohwconfig.xml, in the <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\helpsets directory. You may also copy the ohwconfig.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirement. The file is available in ohw-rc-thick-demo\ohw-rc-thick-demo\helpsets directory.

If you are creating a new ohwconfig.xml file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File" for more information about behaviors you can configure.

If you are editing the demo EAR file's ohwconfig.xml, follow these instructions:

Modify the <books></books> section to direct it to your helpset. For example:

<books>
  <helpSet id="myModule" location="my_ModuleHelpset/my_ModuleHelpset.hs" />
</books>

Remove the helpsets which you do not wish to provide from the <books></books> section. If removed, the helpsets would not appear in the helpset switcher dropdown list of the OHW-RC user interface. If you have only one <helpSet> element in the <books></books> section, the helpset switcher is not available.

Update the <brandings></brandings> section to display your own brand. For example:

<brandings>
  <branding text="My Module" />
</brandings>

Download the ohw-rc-5_0.zip from OTN. Extract the contents of the zip file in a temporary directory, and then extract the contents of ohw-rcf-webapp.zip to <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\helppages directory.

You may also copy the helppages directory from the demo EAR file. The files are available in ohw-rc-thick-demo\ohw-rc-thick-demo\helppages directory.

Copy the following library files to <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF\lib directory.

File Name | Location
JSF library file (jsf-1.2.war) | <JDEV_HOME>\wlserver_10.3\common\deployable-libraries
JSTL library file (jstl-1.2.war) | <JDEV_HOME>\wlserver_10.3\common\deployable-libraries
ADF library files (adf-richclient-api-11.jar, adf-richclient-impl-11.jar) | <JDEV_HOME>\oracle_common\modules\oracle.adf.view_11.1.1

Create the XML configuration files, faces-config.xml and trinidad-config.xml, to configure JSF and JSTL support in OHW-RC. The files must be located in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF directory.

You may also copy the XML files from the demo EAR file and edit them. The files are available in ohw-rc-thick-demo\ohw-rc-thick-demo\WEB-INF directory.

The faces-config.xml is the JSF configuration file where you register a JSF application's resources and define the page-to-page navigation rules. The trinidad-config.xml allows you to configure ADF Faces features. Like faces-config.xml, the trinidad-config.xml file has a simple XML structure that enables you to define element properties using the JSF Expression Language (EL) or static values.

If you are using Oracle WebLogic Server, create the weblogic.xml deployment descriptor file in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF directory.

You may also copy the weblogic.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirements. The file is available in ohw-rc-thick-demo\ohw-rc-thick-demo\WEB-INF directory.

Create web.xml to set the initialization parameters in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF directory.

You may also copy the web.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirements. The file is available in ohw-rc-thick-demo\ohw-rc-thick-demo\WEB-INF directory.

If you are editing the demo EAR file's web.xml, follow these instructions:

Modify the <display-name></<display-name> and <description></description> section to display your custom helpset name. For example:

<web-app>
  <display-name>My Module</display-name>
  <description>My module help</description>
</web-app>

Optionally, you may wish to edit the <servlet-name> element under <servlet> element to change your URL used to access OHW-RC. For more information about changing the access URL, see Section 18.7, "Changing the OHW-RC Access URL" .

Compress the <OHW-RC_deployment_name> directory into a WAR file.

Create application.xml in <OHW-RC_HOME>\META-INF directory. In this file, you will provide the web module name of each product that you will deploy.

You may also copy the application.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirements. The file is available in ohw-rc-thick-demo\META-INF directory. Specify the WAR file name, created in step 9, in <web-uri></web-uri> element. If you wish to change the access URL of the application, update the <context-root><context-root> element. For more information, see Section 18.7.2, "Changing the access URL to another name".

Compress the <OHW-RC_HOME> directory into a EAR file.

Start the Oracle WebLogic Server and deploy the EAR file. If Oracle WebLogic Server is already running, you must shut it down and then restart it before the changes made since you last started the servlet will be available. For more information about deploying an EAR file, see the "Install an Enterprise application" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Oracle WebLogic Server Administration Console Online Help.

Direct the browser to http://<hostname>:<port>/<OHW-RC_deployment_name>/ohguide/, where <hostname> is the name of the machine on which Oracle WebLogic Server is installed.

The first page of the demo help system displays in the browser. If there is more than one helpset, use the dropdown list in the toolbar to select a helpset, then click the helpset switcher to display the TOC and index from the selected helpset only. The text search will search only for items in the selected helpset.

18.7 Changing the OHW-RC Access URL

The URL to access OHW-RC is http://<hostname>:<port>/mymodule/ohguide/, where <hostname> is the name of the machine on which OHW-RC and Oracle WebLogic Server are installed.

You can change this URL in the following ways:

Changing the final URL element of the access URL

Changing the access URL to another name

18.7.1 Changing the final URL element of the access URL

To change the help at the end of the URL, edit web.xml in <OHW-RC_HOME>\<OHW-RC_deployment_name>\WEB-INF.

The <servlet-mapping> parameter <url-pattern> specifies the URL used to access OHW-RC. For example, if you change <url-pattern> from the default /help/* to /onlinereference/*, the URL used to access OHW-RC would become http://<hostname>:<port>/mymodule/onlinereference/.

For example:

<servlet-mapping>
   <servlet-name>mymodule</servlet-name>
   <url-pattern>/onlinereference/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

18.7.2 Changing the access URL to another name

To change the access URL for your application , edit the <context-root> element entry under <web> element in application.xml, located in <OHW-RC_HOME>\META-INF:

<web>
   <web-uri>my_module.war</web-uri>
   <context-root>my_module</context-root>
</web>

For example, if you want the OHW-RC access URL to be http://<hostname>:<port>/jdeveloper/help/, modify the root element:

<web>
   <web-uri>my_module.war</web-uri>
   <context-root>jdeveloper</context-root>
</web>

18.8 Deploying OHW-RC as a Standalone Web Application

One of the ways that OHW-RC can be deployed is to have it as a standalone Web application. To deploy OHW-RC as a standalone application, an OHW-RC WAR file, containing all files needed to run the OHW-RC, must be copied into a separate deployment directory in the application server that has a dedicated context path.

The OHW-RC administrator needs to perform some primary tasks, and then go on to deploy the OHW-RC help system as a standalone Web application, as follows. To know more about the tasks, see Chapter 18, "Understanding OHW-RC Deployment".

18.8.1 Installing the OHW-RC Artifacts

The Oracle WebLogic Server and other servlet containers allow OHW-RC modules to be compressed as WAR (Web ARchive) files, which are then deployed as an EAR (Enterprise ARchive) file, which wraps any WAR and JAR (Java ARchive) files and the OHW-RC installable files. One way to do this is to create WAR or EAR files using the standard Java JAR utility.

Then the OHW-RC WAR or EAR file needs to be extracted by the application server so that the Web client can access the OHW-RC pages. You may consult the relevant application server guidelines on how to deploy WAR or EAR files.

Another way is to manually create the Web application using a web developer studio like Oracle JDeveloper Studio, include the ohw-rcf.jar, ohw-share.jar, help-share.jar in the library path, and extract the ohw-rcf-webapp.zip to the public html directory.

18.8.2 Configuring OHW-RC as Standalone Web Application

After all files have been put in the right locations, the OHW administrator still needs to modify some configuration files to make OHW-RC work:

Modify web.xml file to include JSF and Trinidad parameters.

For example:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8'?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ... >
  <context-param>
    <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
    <param-value>client</param-value>
  </context-param>
  <context-param>
    <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.CHECK_FILE_MODIFICATION</param-name>
    <param-value>false</param-value>
  </context-param>
  ...
  ...
</web-app>

Modify web.xml to support OHW-RC front servlets and JSF filter.

For example:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8'?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ... >
  ...
  ...
  <filter>
    <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
    <filter-class>
        org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.webapp.TrinidadFilter
    </filter-class>
  </filter>
  <filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <dispatcher>FORWARD</dispatcher>
    <dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
  </filter-mapping>
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>OHW Servlet 1</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
      <param-value>/helpsets/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <servlet-mapping>
    <servlet-name>OHW Servlet 1</servlet-name>
    <url-pattern>/ohguide/*</url-pattern>
  </servlet-mapping>
  ...
  ...
</web-app>

If you have not created ohwconfig.xml and helpsets directory, create the file and directory as described in steps 1, 2, and 3 of Section 18.6, "Configuring OHW-RC to Display Custom Helpsets".

If created, modify ohwconfig.xml, and edit the help content as required. It specifies which helpsets to display and how to present them. You can also specify locales, branding information, and various other settings. The name and location of this file is set as the ohwConfigFileURL servlet initialization parameter, which is handled differently for each servlet container. The ohwConfigFileURL parameter is defined in web.xml to specify param-value.

For information about this configuration file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

If you want to provide the help content outside of the applcation's EAR file, you must configure the web.xml file. In the <param-value> element, you can use a variable to define the path of ohwconfig.xml using the following syntax:

<init-param>
  <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
  <param-value>
    file:///{%yourVariableName}/help/ohwconfig.xml
  </param-value>
</init-param>

When OHW-RC finds a variable (for example, {%yourVariableName}) in the path, it looks for the Java system property of the same name (yourVariableName), and then replaces the value of the variable with the value defined in Java system property. You can define Java system property in your Oracle WebLogic Server startup scripts.

Support for Ctrl+N Shortcut to Open a New Help Window

You can configure web.xml to open a new browser window when a users Ctrl+N shortcut. Add the following code in web.xml to enable the shortcut support:

<context-param>
  <param-name>oracle.adf.view.rich.newWindowDetect.OPTIONS</param-name>
  <param-value>on</param-value>
</context-param>

Support for Partial Page Navigation

To improve performance, you can enable partial page navigation support in OHW-RC. By default, the support is disabled in ADF Faces application, but you can enable it in your helpset by adding the following code in web.xml:

<context-param>
  <param-name>oracle.adf.view.rich.pprNavigation.OPTIONS</param-name>
  <param-value>onWithForcePPR</param-value>
</context-param>

18.9 Deploying OHW-RC as part of a Web Application

One way to deploy the OHW-RC is to make it co-exist with your Web application. The Web application could be a JSF, ADF, or JSP application or any Java EE Web application. OHW-RC then could be deployed as one of the Web projects within the existing application.

When you deploy OHW-RC as part of an existing web application, the web application and OHW-RC help system, both, share the same web.xml. This could limit the fine tuning of OHW-RC help system and may cause conflict with your application. It is recommended that you deploy OHW-RC separately from your web application, and then link the help system with your application. For more information, see Section 18.8, "Deploying OHW-RC as a Standalone Web Application". If your application is using ADF Faces, you may use helpTopicId attribute on the ADF Faces components for an ADF application. For more information, see Section 20.2, "Integrating Online Help With ADF Faces Application".

18.9.1 Installing the OHW-RC Artifacts

Extract the ohw-rcf-webapp.zip to the public_html folder (or the web application root directory) of the existing Web application.

Copy the ohw-rcf.jar, ohw-share.jar, help-share.jar files to the application's WEB-INF/lib folder, or to the defined library folder. If you are developing in JDeveloper, remember to add these jars to your project (Project Properties > Libraries and Classpath).

18.9.2 Configuring OHW-RC as Part of Web Application

After all files have been put in the right locations, the OHW administrator still needs to modify some configuration files to make OHW-RC work:

Modify web.xml file to include JSF and Trinidad parameters if it does not exist.

For example:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8'?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ... >
  <context-param>
    <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
    <param-value>client</param-value>
  </context-param>
  <context-param>
    <param-name>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.CHECK_FILE_MODIFICATION</param-name>
    <param-value>true</param-value>
  </context-param>
  ...
  ...
</web-app>

Modify web.xml to support OHW-RC front servlets and JSF filter.

Since the OHW-RC is part of existing application, the OHW-RC administrator needs to make sure that the load-on-startup ordering is maintained in the right sequence.

For example:

<?xml version = '1.0' encoding = 'UTF-8'?>
<web-app xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ... >
  ...
  ...
  <filter>
    <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
    <filter-class>
        org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.webapp.TrinidadFilter
    </filter-class>
  </filter>
  <filter-mapping>
    <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <dispatcher>FORWARD</dispatcher>
    <dispatcher>REQUEST</dispatcher>
  </filter-mapping>
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
    <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  <servlet>
    <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
    <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
    <init-param>
      <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
      <param-value>/helpsets/product1/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
    </init-param>
    <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
  </servlet>
  ...
  ...
</web-app>

Modify ohwconfig.xml, and edit the help content as needed. If you have not created helpsets or ohwconfig.xml file, create them as described in steps 1, 2, and 3.

The ohwconfig.xml file specifies which helpsets to display and how to present them. You can also specify locales, branding information, and various other settings. The name and location of this file is set as the ohwConfigFileURL servlet initialization parameter (defined in web.xml), which is handled differently for each servlet container. For information about this configuration file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

18.10 Deploying Multiple Help Instances in a Web Application

OHW-RC supports the deployment of multiple help instances (a single help instance may contain multiple helpsets) in a single Web application or enterprise application. One of the main reasons for providing this support is to minimize the changes needed when upgrading from a OHW-RC configuration. The deployment of multiple help instances for OHW-RC is achieved by providing an OHW-RC front servlet that forwards the request to the JSF servlet.

18.10.1 Application and OHW-RC Configuration Files and Setup

You need to modify the web.xml file of your application to add servlet mapping to the OHW-RC front servlets.

Here is an example of the changes that need to be done to the web.xml file, to support the deployment of multiple help instances for OHW-RC:

<!-- configuration for product1 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
    <param-value>/helpsets/product1/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<!-- configuration for product2 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>product2</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
    <param-value>/helpsets/product2/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>3</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/product1/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>product2</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/product2/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

In the above sample code, there are two OHW-RC front servlets called product1 and product2. Each servlet can load a different OHW-RC configuration file that will determine the set of books and views shown in the user interface. The product1 servlet is mapped to URL pattern of /product1/*. So, if you specified a URL mapped to the rich OHW-RC context root that has product1 at the end portion of the URL, it will be re-routed to this servlet. Similarly, the product2 is mapped to the URL pattern of /product2/*.

18.10.2 Running the application

Once you have successfully deployed OHW-RC in the application server, you can connect to any OHW-RC front servlet you have configured, using a URL similar to the following:

http://www.myhelpserver.com:<port>/docs/product1

The above URL will call the servlet product1 that will load the OHW-RC configuration file from /helpsets/product1/ohwconfig.xml and will be redirected to a URL like this:

http://www.myhelpserver.com:<port>/docs/faces/helppages/main.jspx?config=product1

OHW-RC can also process locale and group information appended to the URL (similar to OHW-RC).

19 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Application

This chapter describes how to enable context-sensitive help in your web application and how to map topic IDs with the help topics.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 19.1, "Overview of Implementing Context-Sensitive Help In a Web Application"

Section 19.2, "Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics"

Section 19.3, "Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System"

19.1 Overview of Implementing Context-Sensitive Help In a Web Application

Oracle Help for the Web (OHW-RC) provides a context-sensitive help mechanism that launches help topics that are associated with some context in the Web application user interface. Typically, help topics are written to describe the function of a particular page, table, or input field in a Web application. When a user requests help for a user interface control—for example, by clicking a Help button—the appropriate topic for that context (or control) is displayed.

To provide context-sensitive help for a Web application, the help system must include one or more map files, and the appropriate help code must be added to the application code.

19.2 Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics

OHW-RC context-sensitive help systems rely on one or more map files that map topic IDs to help topic HTML files. In a helpset, the map file is saved in XML file format as map.xml.

The map file is usually created by the help author. As a Web application developer, when associating Web application controls with context-sensitive topics you must use the topic IDs specified in the author's map file. Thus, you will have to coordinate your efforts with the help author.

Here is a sample map file in XML format:

 <?xml version='1.0' ?>
 <map version="1.0">
   <mapID target="topic_1" url="file_1.html" />
   <mapID target="topic_2" url="file_2.html#a1" />
   <mapID target="topic_3" url="file_3.html" wintype="intro" />
 </map>

The target attribute specifies a unique ID for the associated HTML file within a helpset. The url attribute specifies the location of the file to associate with the ID. The wintype attribute is optional; it specifies the name of a window type that the topic will be displayed in. For more information about the elements used in the map file, see Section 6.3, "Map Files".

19.3 Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System

Applications that rely on OHW-RC for context-sensitive help request the context-sensitive topics via specially formulated URLs to the OHW-RC servlet. Any user interface control with a URL destination (links, images, etc.) can be associated with a context-sensitive topic.

When creating a link to OHW-RC for context-sensitive help, you can either use the URL destination for the front main page, which is a tripane-layout UI with the Contents, Index, and Search navigators on the left side, or you can create a URL destination for displaying a topic in tripane-layout UI using the topic ID. You can also specify a locale and a group in the URL destination.

Section 19.3.1, "Linking to the Front Main Page"

Section 19.3.2, "Linking to a Topic"

Section 19.3.3, "Specifying the Locale and Group"

19.3.1 Linking to the Front Main Page

The URL to the front main page is simply the URL to the OHW-RC servlet:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet mapping>

where, <server> is the name of your server running the servlet container, <port> is the port used by the servlet container, and <servlet mapping> is the servlet mapping set up in the web.xml file for the OHW-RC servlet (oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet).

For example, in the web.xml, it has the following servlet definition and servlet mapping:

<!-- configuration for product1 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
   <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
   <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
   <init-param>
      <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
      <param-value>/helpsets/product1/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
   </init-param>
<load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
   <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
   <url-pattern>/product1/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

In this example, the URL to the front main page is:

http://www.myhelpserver.com:8888/docs/product1/

When a user requests help for a user interface control that is linked to the front main page, the OHW-RC tripane-layout main page will be displayed in the user's browser, showing the Contents, Index, and Search navigators on the left side.

19.3.2 Linking to a Topic

To create the URL for linking to a topic, add a topic parameter to the URL of the OHW-RC servlet. The value of the topic parameter is the topic ID of the help topic:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet mapping>/?topic=<topic-id>

For example, the following URL requests the topic associated with the topic ID topic_1:

http://www.myhelpserver.com:8888/docs/product1/?topic=topic_1

When implementing context-sensitive links to OHW-RC, you may also wish to use JavaScript to open the link in a secondary window rather than replace the main application page.

When a user requests help for a user interface control that is linked to a topic ID, OHW-RC displays the tripane-layout UI with the topic file shown in the Topic Navigator (the right side), and Contents Navigator is shown in the left side with the topic highlighted in the TOC tree.

19.3.3 Specifying the Locale and Group

When you link to any OHW-RC page, including topic pages or front pages, you can include a locale and a group in the URL of the OHW-RC servlet with the locale and group query parameter.

The topic syntax is:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet-mapping>/?topic=<topic-id>&locale=<ISO-code>
http://<server>:<port>/<servlet-mapping>/?topic=<topic-id>&locale=<ISO-code>&group=<aGroup>

and the fornt page syntax is:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet-mapping>/?locale=<ISO-code>
http://<server>:<port>/<servlet-mapping>/?locale=<ISO-code>&group=<aGroup>

If you specify the locale, OHW-RC switches to the localized helpset if it is available, and will keep using the specified locale until it is overridden or removed. If the specified localized helpset is not available, the parameter is ignored.

For example:

http://www.myhelpserver.com:7101/docs/product1/?topic=topic_1&locale=sp

For more information about locale and group, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

20 ADF Rich Client Help Provider

This chapter describes how to integrate online hlep with the ADF Faces application and how to register OHW-RC as a help provider.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 20.1, "Overview of ADF Rich Client Help Provider"

Section 20.2, "Integrating Online Help With ADF Faces Application"

Section 20.3, "Registering OHW-RC as an ADF Rich Client Help Provider"

Section 20.4, "Using HelpTopicId Attribute"

Section 20.5, "Using Other Help Providers"

20.1 Overview of ADF Rich Client Help Provider

If you have an ADF Faces application and wish to incorporate online help into your application, ADF Faces, also known as ADF Rich Client, provides an easy way to do that. You can create an online help system with help topics which are integrated with components of the application.

This chapter describes how to configure OHW-RC as a help provider, lists other ADF Rich Client help providers, and also describes how to use HelpTopicId attribute to associate help topics with your application.

20.2 Integrating Online Help With ADF Faces Application

When you integrate a help topic with an ADF Faces component, a help icon (a blue circle with a question mark) appears with the component. When you click the help icon, the related help topic appears in a new window, as shown in Figure 20-1.

Figure 20-1 Help Icon in an ADF Faces Application

Integrating an online help with an application is an easy process, descibed in the following steps:

Register a help provider with your application

Create a properties file that contains the topic ID and help text for each help topic

Associate the UI components with help topics by using the HelpTopicId attribute

For more information about integrating online help with an application, see "Displaying Help for Components" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

20.3 Registering OHW-RC as an ADF Rich Client Help Provider

ADF Rich Client Faces includes a variety of help providers. You can use a combination of the different help providers or create your own help provider class. You can also use OHW-RC as a help provider.

You need to perform the following tasks in order to set up OHW-RC as a Help Provider in an ADF Rich Client application:

Deploy OHW-RC as a web application:

Deploy an RC application to web application server.

Note down the context-root of this deployment.

Open the web.xml file in this deployment.

Find the OHW-RC servlet instance.

Develop the jspx Web pages.

Create an ADF Faces-based Web application.

Create a jspx Web page; for some components (input*, select*, etc), where you can find an attribute named helpTopicId, specify the ID you want to display with your OHW-RC instance.

Copy the helpsets into a direcotry under your <application_root>/public_html folder. For example, let's name this directory helpsets.

Set up the adf-settings.xml file.

Navigate to your application's directory, and look for the .adf/META-INF/ directory. Under that directory you can find the adf-settings.xml file. If the .adf/META-INF directory is not present, create the META-INF directory under the ViewController/src directory.

Enter code into adf-settings.xml; for example:

<adf-settings xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/adf/settings">

  <help-provider>

    <help-provider-class>oracle.help.web.rich.helpProvider.OHWHelpProvider</help-provider-class>

    <property>
      <property-name>ohwConfigFileURL</property-name>
      <value>/helpsets/ohwconfig.xml</value>
    </property>

    <!--property>
      <property-name>group</property-name>
      <value>null</value>
    </property-->

    <property>
      <property-name>baseURI</property-name>
      <value>http://localhost:8989/help-ohw-rcf-context-root/ohguide/</value>
    </property>

  </help-provider>

</adf-settings>

In this adf-settings.xml file:

If you want to use OHW-RC as your help provider, then, in this adf-settings.xml file, the class has to be OHWHelpProvider.

Set the ohwConfigFileURL property to point to your /helpsets/ohwconfig.xml. Noe that you created the helpsets directory in Step 3.

Note:

You can also specify ohwConfigURL using the prop system property. For example, in web.xml, the ohwConfigURL would be configured as:

<param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
<param-value>file:///{%prop}/help/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>

In adf-settings.xml, the ohwConfigURL would be configured as:

<property>
    <property-name>ohwConfigFileURL</property-name>
    <value>file:///{%prop}/help/ohwconfig.xml</value>
</property>

The prop property is predefined, or specified, by starting Oracle WebLogic Server with -Dprop option. For example, -Dprop=/Oracle/help.

The group property specifies the group name (which you want to use in the help provider) in your ohwconfig.xml file.

The baseURI property specifies the server host, the context root, and the OHW-RC servlet instance of the RCF application that you deployed in Step 1.

20.4 Using HelpTopicId Attribute

To associate a help topic with an ADF component, you must assign the help topic's unique id as the HelpTopicId attribute's value. The HelpTopicId attribute is available in the Appearance section of Property Inspector.

Figure 20-2 HelpTopicId Attribute

Before associating a help topic with a component, ensure that you have registered a help provider with your application. To register OHW-RC as a help provider, see Section 20.3, "Registering OHW-RC as an ADF Rich Client Help Provider".

For more information about HelpTopicId attribute, see "Displaying Help for Components" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

20.5 Using Other Help Providers

Two common ADF Rich Client help providers are ResourceBundleHelpProvider and ELHelpProvider. The ResourceBundleHelpProvider help provider allows you to create resource bundles. These resource bundles are containers of your help files, control files, graphics, and other related files. The ELHelpProvider help provider allows you to create XLIFF files. The XLIFF files get converted into maps, or create a managed bean that contains a map of help text strings.

For more information about these and other help providers, see "Displaying Help for Components" section in Oracle Fusion Middleware Web User Interface Developer's Guide for Oracle Application Development Framework.

Part VI

Oracle Help for the Web – UIX

This part contains information on using Oracle Help for the Web – UIX. It contains the following chapters:

Chapter 21, "Deploying OHW-UIX Demo File"

This chapter describes how to deploy the demo OHW-UIX EAR file. If you are new to OHW-UIX, it is recommended to deploy the demo file before you start deploying your own help system.

Chapter 22, "Understanding OHW-UIX Deployment"

This chapter describes the OHW-UIX deployment process.

Chapter 23, "Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Application"

This chapter describes how to implement a context-sensitive OHW-UIX help in a web application.

21 Deploying OHW-UIX Demo File

This chapter describes how to deploy OHW-UIX demo file on Oracle WebLogic Server.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 21.1, "Overview of Deploying OHW-UIX Demo Files"

Section 21.2, "Understanding the OHW-UIX Demo File"

Section 21.3, "Installing the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server"

Section 21.4, "Installing the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File using Oracle JDeveloper"

Section 21.5, "Running the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File"

21.1 Overview of Deploying OHW-UIX Demo Files

The OHW-UIX demo EAR file contains the class libraries that you need to view the demo and try out the release. It includes sample helpsets, OHW-UIX servlet file, and XML configuration files. You can deploy the demo file to experience the OHW-UIX interface, or replace the existing helpsets and add your own.

21.2 Understanding the OHW-UIX Demo File

The OHW-UIX demo file, ohw-uix-demo.ear, contains three OHW-UIX sample helpsets along with their help topics, helpset file, and control files. It also contains ohwconfig.xml which is needed to configure OHW-UIX.

The OHW demo EAR file extracts files into the ohw-uix-demo directory. The EAR file, when extracted, contains an ohw-uix-demo.war file and creates the META-INF directory, which contains the application.xml file. The ohw-uix-demo.war when extracted into ohw-uix-demo directory contains the helpsets directories along with their help topics, helpset file, and control files.

Table 21-1 describes the files and directories in OHW-UIX demo file.

Table 21-1 OHW-UIX Demo Files

Directory Location
Description

application.xml

Java EE application: a simple OHW-UIX application.

The file is available in META-INF directory.

helpsets

A web module containing three helpsets: blafdoc, ohguide, and the sample shakespeare, in their respective directories.

The helpsets directory exists in the ohw-uix-demo.war file.

cabo

The UIX installable resource files.

The cabo directory exists in the ohw-uix-demo.war file.

web.xml

Contains configuration and deployment information that affects OHW-UIX.

The file ise available in WEB-INF directory of ohw-uix-demo.war file.

ohwconfig.xml

OHW-UIX configuration file.

The file is available in helpsets directory.

21.3 Installing the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File on Oracle WebLogic Server

Installing the demo EAR file is a very simple process:

Download the OHW-UIX demo EAR file from OTN. The name of the demo file is ohw-uix-demo.ear. This file includes OHW-UIX and sample helpsets.

Start the Oracle WebLogic Administration Console and navigate to Deployments page.

In the Deployments page, click Install to start the deployment wizard.

In the Path field, enter the location where you saved the ohw-uix-demo.ear file, and click Next.

In the Choose targeting style page, select Install this deployment as an application, and click Next.

In the Optional Settings page, verify the settings. It is recommended that you leave the settings as default. Click Next to continue, or click Finish to complete the deployment.

In the Additional Configuration page, select Yes, take me to the deployment's configuration screen and click Finish to complete the deployment.

The deployment wizard, after successful deployment, returns you to the Settings page of ohw-uix-demo.ear. If there are errors while deploying the file, you are navigated to Deployment home page where the errors are listed in red text.

21.4 Installing the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File using Oracle JDeveloper

To install the demo file on Oracle JDeveloper, follow these steps:

Download the OHW-UIX demo EAR file from OTN. The name of the demo file is ohw-uix-demo.ear. This file includes OHW-UIX and sample helpsets.

Start JDeveloper.

Create a new application from the ohw-uix-demo.ear file. From the File menu, select New. In the New Gallery dialog, select Applications under General category, and then select Application from EAR File from the Items list.

In the Location page of Create Application from EAR File wizard, browse and select the ohw-uix-demo.ear file. You may also change the application name and the location of application. Click Next to continue.

The EAR Modules page of the wizard shows the project name and the module name. Click Next to continue, or click Finish to create the application from EAR file.

The Finish page of the wizard shows a summary of your settings for the application. Click Finish to create the application from EAR file. JDeveloper extracts all files from the EAR file and creates an application which is ready to edit and deploy.

In the Application Navigator, open the project and edit desired files.

To deploy the application, start the integrated Oracle WebLogic Server instance. From Run menu, choose Start Server Instance to start the integrated Oracle WebLogic Server.

In the Application Navigator, select the ohw-uix-demo project. From the Application menu, select Deploy. Then from the submenu, select ohw-uix-demo, to, and then select IntegratedWLSConnection. JDeveloper starts the deployment process and the status of the deployment is reflected in the Log window.

When the application is successfully deployed, JDeveloper prompts with Deployment finished message in the Log window.

21.5 Running the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File

After successful deployment of ohw-uix-demo.ear, open your browser and navigate to the following URL:

http://<yourHost>:<yourPort>/ohw-uix-demo/help/

For example:

If you have installed Oracle WebLogic Server on your local machine , you can open the demo help file with the following URL:

http://localhost:7101/ohw-uix-demo/help/

The URL automatically changes to http://localhost:7101/ohw-uix-demo/help/state?navSetId=ohguide&navId=0&destination= and the help opens with Table of Contents view. For more information on user interface of OHW-UIX, see Chapter 4, "OHW-UIX User Interface".

22 Understanding OHW-UIX Deployment

This chapter describes the OHW-UIX delpoyment process and configuration files.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 22.1, "Overview of OHW-UIX Deployment"

Section 22.2, "Verifying Requirements and Dependencies"

Section 22.3, "Understanding OHW-UIX Configuration Files"

Section 22.4, "Configuring OHW-UIX to Display Custom Helpsets"

Section 22.5, "Changing the OHW-UIX Access URL"

Section 22.6, "Upgrading OHW-UIX and UIX"

22.1 Overview of OHW-UIX Deployment

Help authors create help content using the authoring tools of their choice. Help authors usually also create the Oracle Help control files that are needed for deploying the help content as OHW-UIX help systems. OHW-UIX administrators typically perform all tasks necessary to deploy a helpset.

Because both help authors and OHW-UIX administrators may need to perform deployments for testing or production, demo deployment files are provided. You can download the latest demo files from OTN.

If you are new to OHW-UIX, you may start with deploying the demo ohw-uix-demo.ear file. For more information, see Section 21.2, "Understanding the OHW-UIX Demo File". The demo EAR file includes the files needed to deploy the sample helpsets immediately.

If you are creating a new OHW-UIX helpset, the following sections will help you understand the OHW-UIX deployment process and describe the steps required to create and deploy your own OHW-UIX help system.

22.2 Verifying Requirements and Dependencies

Verify all requirements and dependencies before beginning any deployment:

Table 22-1 OHW-UIX Deployment Minimum Requirements

Requirement
Description

Servlet Container

OHW-UIX requires a JavaEE 1.5 compatible application server. Oracle WebLogic Server, standalone or integrated with JDeveloper, is recommended as it requires minimal configuration effort.

Client

The client receives only HTML, and all it requires is a web browser to display and view the OHW-UIX help content. The web browser must have JavaScript support enabled.

OHW-UIX is supported on Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla FireFox 2, Mozilla FireFox 3, Apple Safari, and Google Chrome.

UIX

OHW-UIX is a UIX application.

UNIX Only:X Server

On Unix, the servlet container must be configured to connect to an X server in order for dynamic image generation to succeed.

22.3 Understanding OHW-UIX Configuration Files

Before you start deploying the OHW-UIX helpset, there are some files that need to be modified to configure OHW-UIX correctly. The following information will help you understand the XML configuration files:

application.xml: A manifest of all web modules that run under a given Java EE application. It points to each web module of each product that is deployed. Oracle recommends using two instances of application.xml:

A relatively stable version for the UIX application (optional).

A version for the OHW-UIX application that changes frequently as web modules are added or reconfigured.

The name and location of application.xml is fixed by the Java EE standard. In OHW-UIX, the file must be located <OHW-UIX_HOME>\META-INF directory.

web.xml: Sets the initialization parameters for the servlet, including the location of the OHW-UIX configuration file. There is one instance of web.xml for each web module. If OHW-UIX configuration files are located and named in a uniform manner, then this file should be the same for all OHW-UIX web modules. The file must be located in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\WEB-INF\directory.

ohwconfig.xml (default file name): Specify which helpsets to display and how to present them. You can also specify locales, branding information, and various other settings. For information about the configuration file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File". The name and location of this file is set as a servlet initialization parameter, which is handled differently for each servlet container. The file must be located in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name> directory.

22.4 Configuring OHW-UIX to Display Custom Helpsets

The instructions in this section will help you create the directory structure required for OHW-UIX help system, add your custom helpset files in the correct location, create or modify the configuration files, and deploy the help system on application server.

The instructions in this section also assume that you have installed the OHW-UIX demo EAR file and you have a knowledge of the demo EAR file's directory structure. If you have not installed the demo file, install it following instructions in Chapter 21, "Deploying OHW-UIX Demo File".

Follow these steps to set up OHW-UIX help system:

Set up the directory structure as following:

<OHW-UIX_HOME>
  |
  — <OHW-UIX_deployment_name>
      |
      — cabo
      — helpsets
          |
          — <custom_helpset_directory>
      — META-INF
      — WEB-INF
          |
          — lib
  — META-INF

For example:

my_module
  |
  — my_module_help
      |
      — cabo
      — helpsets
          |
          — my_ModuleHelpset
      — META-INF
      — WEB-INF
          |
          — lib
  — META-INF

Create your own helpset directory. Place all your help files in or under <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\helpsets\<custom_helpset_directory> directory, including the helpset file, topic files, and the other control files (index, table of contents, etc.). Also, place any JAR files here, if you are using JAR files for your helpset. You can use JARred and unJARred helpsets together in the same deployment.

Create the configuration file. In an editor, create an XML file and save it as ohwconfig.xml, in the <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\helpsets directory. You may also copy the ohwconfig.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirement. The file is available in ohw-uix-demo\ohw-uix-demo\helpsets directory.

If you are creating a new ohwconfig.xml file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File" for more information about behaviors you can configure.

If you are editing the demo EAR file's ohwconfig.xml, follow these instructions:

Modify the <books></books> section to direct it to your helpset. For example:

<books>
  <helpSet id="myModule" location="my_ModuleHelpset/my_ModuleHelpset.hs" />
</books>

Remove the helpsets which you do not wish to provide from the <books></books> section. If removed, the helpsets would not appear in the helpset switcher dropdown list of the OHW-UIX user interface. If you have only one <helpSet> element in the <books></books> section, the helpset switcher is not available.

Update the <brandings></brandings> section to display your own brand. For example:

<brandings>  <branding text="My Module" /></brandings>

Download the cabo and OHW-UIX library files from OTN. Copy the cabo files in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\cabo and library files in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\WEB-INF\lib directory.

You may also copy the library files from demo EAR file. The files are available in ohw-uix-demo\ohw-uix-demo\cabo and ohw-uix-demo\ohw-uix-demo\WEB-INF\lib directory.

Create the UIX configuration file uix-config.xml in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\WEB-INF directory.

You may also copy the uix-config.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirements. The file is available in ohw-uix-demo\ohw-uix-demo\WEB-INF directory.

Create web.xml to set the initialization parameters in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\WEB-INF directory.

You may also copy the web.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirements. The file is available in ohw-uix-demo\ohw-uix-demo\WEB-INF directory.

If you are editing the demo EAR file's web.xml, follow these instructions:

Modify the <display-name></<display-name> and <description></description> section to display your custom helpset name. For example:

<web-app>
  <display-name>My Module</display-name>
  <description>My module help</description>
</web-app>

Optionally, you may wish to edit the <servlet-name> element under <servlet> element to change your URL used to access OHW-UIX. For more information about changing the access URL, see Changing the OHW-UIX Access URL .

Compress the <OHW-UIX_deployment_name> directory into a WAR file.

Create application.xml in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\META-INF directory. In this file, you will provide the web module name of each product that you will deploy.

You may also copy the application.xml from demo EAR file and edit it to your requirements. The file is available in ohw-uix-demo\META-INF directory. Specify the WAR file name, created in step 7, in <web-uri></web-uri> element. If you wish to change the access URL of the application, update the <context-root><context-root> element. For more information, see Section 22.5.2, "Changing the access URL to another name".

Compress the <OHW-UIX_HOME> directory into a EAR file.

Start the Oracle WebLogic Server and deploy the EAR file. If Oracle WebLogic Server is already running, you must shut it down and then restart it before the changes made since you last started the servlet will be available.

Direct the browser to http://<hostname>:<port>/<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>/help/, where <hostname> is the name of the machine on which OHW-UIX and Oracle WebLogic Server are installed.

The first page of the demo help system displays in the browser. If there is more than one helpset, use the dropdown list in the toolbar to select a helpset, then click the helpset switcher to display the TOC and index from the selected helpset only. The text search will search only for items in the selected helpset.

22.5 Changing the OHW-UIX Access URL

The URL to access OHW-UIX is http://<hostname>:<port>/mymodule/help/, where <hostname> is the name of the machine on which OHW-UIX and Oracle WebLogic Server are installed.

You can change this URL in the following ways:

Changing the final URL element of the access URL

Changing the access URL to another name

22.5.1 Changing the final URL element of the access URL

To change the help at the end of the URL, edit web.xml in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\<OHW-UIX_deployment_name>\WEB-INF.

The <servlet-mapping> parameter <url-pattern> specifies the URL used to access OHW-UIX. For example, if you change <url-pattern> from the default /help/* to /onlinereference/*, the URL used to access OHW-UIX would become http://<hostname>:<port>/mymodule/onlinereference/.

For example:

<servlet-mapping>
   <servlet-name>mymodule</servlet-name>
   <url-pattern>/onlinereference/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

22.5.2 Changing the access URL to another name

To change the access URL for your application , edit the <context-root> element entry under <web> element in application.xml, located in <OHW-UIX_HOME>\META-INF:

<web>
   <web-uri>my_module.war</web-uri>
   <context-root>my_module</context-root>
</web>

For example, if you want the OHW-UIX access URL to be http://<hostname>:<port>/jdeveloper/help/, modify the root element:

<web>
   <web-uri>my_module.war</web-uri>
   <context-root>jdeveloper</context-root>
</web>

22.6 Upgrading OHW-UIX and UIX

When new versions of OHW-UIX and UIX are released, be sure to check the OHW-UIX and UIX download pages for the latest download and install instructions before upgrading your OHW-UIX installation.

To upgrade OHW-UIX to a newer version, you need to replace the OHW-UIX JAR file located in the WEB-INF/lib directory.

To upgrade UIX to a newer version, you need to replace the UIX JAR file located in the WEB-INF/lib directory, and also replace the UIX installable resource files (distributed in uix2-install.zip) by unpacking them into the cabo directory.

To test your upgrade, restart the servlet container and point your browser to http://<hostname>:<port>/ohw-uix-demo/help/, or wherever you have mapped the OHW-UIX application.

23 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Application

This chapter describes how to enable context-sensitive help in your web application and how to map topic IDs with the help topics.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 23.1, "Overview of Implementing Context-Sensitive Help In a Web Application"

Section 23.2, "Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics"

Section 23.3, "Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System"

Section 23.4, "Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in Oracle UIX-based Applications"

23.1 Overview of Implementing Context-Sensitive Help In a Web Application

Oracle Help for the Web – UIX (OHW-UIX) provides a context-sensitive help mechanism that launches help topics that are associated with some context in the web application user interface. Typically, help topics are written to describe the function of a particular page, table, or input field in a web application. When a user requests help for a user interface control—for example, by selecting a Help button—the appropriate topic for that context, or control, is displayed.

To provide context-sensitive help for a web application, the help system must include one or more map files and the appropriate help code must be added to the application code.

23.2 Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics

OHW-UIX context-sensitive help systems rely on one or more map files that map topic IDs to help topic HTML files. In a helpset, the map file is in XML file format.

The map file is usually created by the help author. As a web application developer, when associating web application controls with context-sensitive topics you must use the topic IDs specified in the author's map file. Thus, you will have to coordinate your efforts with the help author.

Here's a sample map XML file:

<?xml version='1.0' ?>
   <map version="1.0">
   <mapID target="topic_1" url="file_1.html" />
   <mapID target="topic_2" url="file_2.html#a1" />
   <mapID target="topic_3" url="file_3.html" wintype="intro" />
</map>

The attribute target specifies a unique ID for the associated HTML file within a helpset. The attribute url specifies the location of the file to associate with the ID. The wintype attribute is optional; it specifies the name of a window type that the topic will be displayed in. For more information about the elements used in the map file, see Section 13.3.2, "Contents of an OHJDK Release".

23.3 Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System

Applications that rely on OHW-UIX for context-sensitive help request the context-sensitive topics via specially formulated URLs to the OHW-UIX servlet. Any user interface control with a URL destination (links, images, etc.) can be associated with a context-sensitive topic.

When creating a link to OHW-UIX for context-sensitive help, you can either use the URL destination for the front page (with the Contents, Index, and Search navigators), or you can create a URL destination for a topic using the topic ID. You can also specify a locale in the URL destination.

Section 23.3.1, "Linking to the Front Page"

Section 23.3.2, "Linking to a Topic"

Section 23.3.3, "Specifying the Locale"

23.3.1 Linking to the Front Page

The URL to the front page is simply the URL to the OHW-UIX servlet:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet mapping>

where <server> is the name of your server running the servlet container, <port> is the port used by the servlet container, and <servlet mapping> is the servlet mapping set up in the web.xml file for the OHW-UIX servlet (by default this is ohw-uix/help/). For example:

http://www.yourcompany.com:7101/ohw-uix/help/

When a user requests help for a user interface control that is linked to the front page, OHW-UIX will be displayed in the user's browser, showing the first page of the help system (usually a table of contents).

23.3.2 Linking to a Topic

To create the URL for linking to a topic, add a topic parameter to the URL of the OHW-UIX servlet. The value of the topic parameter is the topic ID of the help topic:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet mapping>/?topic=<topic-id>

For example, the following URL requests the topic associated with the topic ID topic_1:

http://www.yourcompany.com:7101/ohw-uix/help/?topic=topic_1

When implementing context-sensitive links to OHW-UIX, you may also wish to use JavaScript to open the link in a secondary window rather than replace the main application page.

When a user requests help for a user interface control that is linked to a topic ID, OHW-UIX displays the file associated with the topic ID in a window page that does not include the OHW-UIX navigators (tabs). However, the topic page has a link to the front page of the help system should the user wish to access the main help.

23.3.3 Specifying the Locale

When you link to any OHW-UIX page, including topic pages or front pages, you can include a locale in the URL of the OHW-UIX servlet with the locale query parameter.

The topic syntax is:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet-mapping>/?topic=<topic-id>&locale=<ISO-code>

and the front page syntax is:

http://<server>:<port>/<servlet-mapping>/help?locale=<ISO-code>

If you specify the locale, OHW-UIX switches to the localized helpset if it is available, and will keep using the specified locale until it is overidden or removed. If the specified localized helpset is not available, the parameter is ignored.

For example:

http://www.yourcompany.com:7101/ohw-uix/help/?topic=topic_1&locale=sp

For more information about locale, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

23.4 Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in Oracle UIX-based Applications

UIX is an Oracle technology for creating web applications. UIX provides mechanisms that make it easy to provide context-sensitive help via OHW-UIX. With UIX, you can implement context-sensitive help programmatically using the UIX Java API, or declaratively using the UIX language (an XML language).

Note:

UIX is not shipped with current release of JDeveloper, but if you wish to use UIX, download JDeveloper 10.1.2 or any earlier release from OTN archives. More information about the uix-config.xml file is available in the JDeveloper online help.

The HelpProvider architecture in UIX provides a generic context-sensitive help mechanism. OHW-UIX provides context-sensitive help for UIX applications through a specific implementation of HelpProvider called the OracleHelpProvider.

To use the OracleHelpProvider, you have to register OHW-UIX with the application, then specify the context-sensitive help links via databinding.

23.4.1 Registering OHW-UIX in the OracleHelpProvider

The first step in using the OracleHelpProvider is to register your OracleHelpProvider instance (i.e., OHW-UIX) with the UIX Configuration object. In UIX, the HelpProvider appears as a special UIX DataProvider that can be used for databinding. It is special in that you don't need to declare it in your UIX page, it is available in all pages once you register your HelpProvider with the Configuration object.

In UIX, you can use the uix-config.xml file and ApplicationConfiguration API to create a set of configuration objects without writing a line of code, and update configuration properties in the field without recompiling code.

To register OHW-UIX with your application, modify the uix-config.xml file to point UIX to an instance of the OHW-UIX servlet.

Here is a sample uix-config.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

 <configurations xmlns="http://xmlns.oracle.com/uix/config">
   ...

   <default-configuration>

     <help-provider>
       <ohw-servlet-url>http://www.yourcompany.com:7101/ohw-uix</ohw-servlet-url>
     </help-provider>

   </default-configuration>

   ...
 </configurations>

The <help-provider> element allows configuration of a help provider. The only supported syntax at this time is a contained <ohw-servlet-url> element. The ohw-servlet-url must contain an URL that points to an installation of OHW-UIX. Once you've set this property, all uiXML and UIX Java pages have access to two data providers: ui:helpTopics and ui:helpSystem.

In UIX, if you still need to use Java code to create your Configuration object but want to use the default properties defined in the uix-config.xml file, you would use the following code:

 ApplicationConfiguration appConfig =
   ApplicationConfiguration.getInstance(servletContext);
 configurationImpl impl =
   new ConfigurationImpl ("someName", appConfig.getDefault());
 impl.register(servletContext);

To register OHW with your application programmatically in UIX, see the following sample code.

protected ConfigurationImpl createDefaultConfiguration()
{
   ConfigurationImpl cfg = super.createDefaultConfiguration();
   //For your application you'd likely pull the location of the
   //OHW servlet out of a servlet init parameter

   OracleHelpProvider provider = new OracleHelpProvider("http://www.yourcompany.com:7101/ohw-uix/help/")
   cfg.setProperty(Configuration.HELP_PROVIDER, provider);
   return cfg;
}

The HelpProvider sets up two special data objects (helpTopics and helpSystem in the UIX UI Components namespace).

23.4.2 Databinding a Destination

The HelpProvider sets up two data providers—ui:helpTopics and ui:helpSystem. Here, ui is used as the prefix for the UIX UI namespace. They are used for databinding the destination attribute of links or buttons (or any control that has a destination) from which you want to connect to the help system.

After registering OHW-UIX with your UIX-based application, you can then specify context-sensitive help declaratively using the data objects ui:helpTopics and ui:helpSystem.

Databinding a Destination to the Front Page

Using declarative UIX, a destination can be created for the front page by using the special frontPage key for the ui:helpSystem data object. For example:

<globalButton icon="globalhelp.gif" text="Help" data:destination="frontPage@ui:helpSystem"/>

When a user requests help for a user interface control that is linked to the front page, OHW-UIX will be displayed in the user's browser, showing the first page of the help system.

Note:

The first page of the help system is defined as the first navigator declared in the .hs file and the first book defined in the OHW-UIX configuration file (ohwconfig.xml or another name specified by the configFileName initialization parameter for the servlet). Typically the first navigator of the first book is a table of contents.

Databinding a Destination to a Topic

To show a topic, use the unique topic ID as the key for the ui:helpTopics data object. For example:

<button text="Button To Help" data:destination="myTopicID@ui:helpTopics" />
<link text="Link To Help" data:destination="someOtherTopicID@ui:helpTopics" />

At runtime, UIX uses the OracleHelpProvider instance to resolve the value of these destinations. The OracleHelpProvider automatically returns a destination that includes JavaScript to launch help in a separate, smaller browser window. This window has a link to the front page of the help system should the user wish to access the main help.

24 Upgrading OHW-UIX

This chapter describes the process of upgrading OHW-UIX to OHW-RC.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Section 24.1, "Upgrading OHW-UIX to OHW-RC"

24.1 Upgrading OHW-UIX to OHW-RC

When upgrading from OHW-UIX to OHW-RC, the helpsets contents may remain unchanged, however, there are two things you need to do to use OHW-RC:

Copy the OHW-RC jar files into the WEB-INF/lib directory.

Modify the web.xml file under the WEB-INF/ directory. The best way to do this is to get the web.xml from the OHW-RC demo bundle and copy the servlet and resource definitions and mappings.

There are three major parts required in a web.xml for OHW-RC:

Basic configuration for JSF Trinidad and ADF RC (Faces Servlet, Trinidad Servlet and Filter, etc.):

<context-param>
  <param-name>javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD</param-name>
  <param-value>client</param-value>
</context-param>

<filter>
  <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
  <filter-class>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.webapp.TrinidadFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
  <filter-name>trinidad</filter-name>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
</filter-mapping>

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet</servlet-class>
  <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/faces/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet>
  <servlet-name>resources</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>org.apache.myfaces.trinidad.webapp.ResourceServlet</servlet-class>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>resources</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/adf/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>resources</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/afr/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

Basic configuration for OHW-RC:

You need to define an OHW-RC Filter and map it to the Faces servlet.

<filter>
  <filter-name>OHWRCFRequestFilter</filter-name>
  <filter-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWFilter</filter-class>
</filter>

<filter-mapping>
  <filter-name>OHWRCFRequestFilter</filter-name>
  <servlet-name>Faces Servlet</servlet-name>
</filter-mapping>

OHW-UIX Servlet definition and servlet mapping:

The existing OHW-UIX servlet definitions need to be changed to use the OHW-RC class oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet. The following steps describe how to change existing OHW servlet definitions:

To specify the location of the ohw-config.xml for a OHW-UIX servlet instance, define OHW_UIX servlets with <init-param> named ohwConfigFileURL.

Define the URL mapping for OHW-UIX servlets. You do not have to change the existing servlet mappings.

Specify the <load-on-startup> parameter.

OHW-RC supports multiple OHW-RC instances in one Web application. Here is an example which deploys two OHW-RC instances in a web.xml:

<!-- configuration for product1 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
    <param-value>/helpsets/product1/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>2</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<!-- configuration for product1 help front servlet -->
<servlet>
  <servlet-name>product2</servlet-name>
  <servlet-class>oracle.help.web.rich.OHWServlet</servlet-class>
  <init-param>
    <param-name>ohwConfigFileURL</param-name>
    <param-value>/helpsets/product2/ohwconfig.xml</param-value>
  </init-param>
  <load-on-startup>3</load-on-startup>
</servlet>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>product1</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/product1/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

<servlet-mapping>
  <servlet-name>product2</servlet-name>
  <url-pattern>/product2/*</url-pattern>
</servlet-mapping>

A Oracle Help and JavaHelp File Formats

The Oracle Help file formats are based on the JavaHelp Specification. Oracle Corporation has extended the JavaHelp file definitions to support additional features.

This appendix includes the following sections:

Section A.1, "Helpset File"

Section A.2, "Map File"

Section A.3, "Table of Contents File"

Section A.4, "Index File"

Section A.6, "Link File"

Section A.5, "Search Index File"

Section A.7, "OHW Configuration File"

These conventions apply to the following tables:

In the Element column, child elements are indented under parent elements.

The items in the Attribute column are attributes of the element listed directly above the attribute(s).

In the Origin column, "JH" refers to the JavaHelp 1.0 file format specification. "OH" refers to Oracle Help. Oracle's extensions to JavaHelp were originally developed for Oracle Help for Java (OHJ). However, most of the formats now apply to both OHJ and Oracle Help for the Web (OHW). Therefore, "OH" alone is used.

In the Supported By column, "OH" refers both to OHJ and OHW.

A.1 Helpset File

For more information about this file, see Section 6.2, "Helpset File".

Table A-1 Helpset Elements

Element
Attribute
Origin
Supported By

<helpset>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

xml:lang

JH

JH only

-

version

JH

JH only

<title>

-

JH

OH & JH

<maps>

-

JH

OH & JH

<homeID>

-

JH

JH & OH (in some circumstances)

<mapref>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

location

JH

OH & JH

-

class

OH

OH only

<wintype>

-

OH

OH only

-

default

OH

OH only

<name>

-

OH

OH only

<height>

-

OH

OH only

<width>

-

OH

OH only

<x>

-

OH

OH only

<y>

-

OH

OH only

<textfg>

-

OH

OH only

<linkfg>

-

OH

OH only

<bg>

-

OH

OH only

<title>

-

OH

OH only

<toolbar>

-

OH

OH only

<links>

-

OH

OH only

<linkref>

-

OH

OH only

-

location

OH

OH only

<view>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

<name>

-

JH

JH only

<label>

-

JH

OH & JH

-

image

OH

OH only

<title>

-

OH

OH only

-

image

OH

OH only (TOC view only)

<type>

-

JH

OH & JH

<data>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

class

OH

OH only

-

engine

JH

OH & JH

<subhelpset>

-

OH

OH only

-

location

OH

OH only

-

class

OH

OH only

A.2 Map File

For more information about this file, see Section 6.3, "Map Files".

Table A-2 Map File Elements

Element
Attribute
Origin
Supported By

<toc>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

xml:lang

JH

JH only

-

version

JH

JH only

<tocitem>

-

JH

Differences as listed below

-

target

JH

OH & JH

-

text

JH

OH & JH

-

image

JH

OH & JH

-

xml:lang

JH

JH only

A.3 Table of Contents File

For more information about this file, see Section 7.2, "Table of Contents File".

Table A-3 Table of Contents Elements

Element
Attribute
Origin
Supported By

<toc>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

xml:lang

JH

JH only

-

version

JH

JH only

<tocitem>

-

JH

Differences as listed below

-

target

JH

OH & JH

-

text

JH

OH & JH

-

image

JH

OH & JH

-

xml:lang

JH

JH only

A.4 Index File

For more information about this file, see Section 7.3, "Index File".

Table A-4 Index File Elements

Element
Attribute
Origin
Supported By

<index>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

xml:lang

JH

JH only

-

version

JH

JH only

<indexitem>

-

JH

OH & JH - Differences as shown below

-

target

JH

OH & JH

-

text

JH

OH & JH

<indexentry>

-

OH

OH only

-

target

OH

OH only

-

text

OH

OH only

A.5 Search Index File

This file is unique to Oracle Help. For more information, see Section 7.4, "Search Index File".

A.6 Link File

This file is unique to Oracle Help. For more information, see Section 7.5, "Link File".

A.7 OHW Configuration File

This file is unique to Oracle Help. For more information, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

B Working Around the Java Modal Window Problem

This appendix describes how Java handles modal windows that causes a problem when trying to display a context-sensitive help topic for a modal window. A modal window is one that does not allow focus to be shifted away from it. A nonmodal window is one that allows focus to be switched to another window.

This appendix includes the following sections:

Section B.1, "About the Java Modal Window Problem"

Section B.2, "Registering a Window"

Section B.3, "Unregistering a Window"

B.1 About the Java Modal Window Problem

If a user requests help from a nonmodal window, it is possible to switch back and forth between the help window and the window requesting help. However, this is not possible when requesting help from a modal window. In Java, a modal window blocks access to all other windows created by the Java Virtual Machine, except yet another modal window. Thus, if help is requested from a modal window, OHJ must display help in a modal help window. Then, because OHJ is itself shown in a modal window, the user must close the help window to return to the application.

When help is requested, OHJ determines whether the active window is modal. If it is, then it re-parents the normal OHJ topic windows and the OHJ navigator window into a new modal window. That new window appears in the foreground of the user's display, and the user can interact with it; in fact, they must interact with it if only to close the modal help window. Given the coarse implementation of modality in Java, this is the only solution that will work for all of the Java Virtual Machines currently supported by OHJ.

B.2 Registering a Window

In order for the OHJ workaround to work, OHJ must be able to track the currently active window. Use the registerClientWindow() method to register each window (Frame or Dialog) you create with the Help object.

Table B-1 registerClientWindow() Method

Constructor
Description

registerClientWindow(Window aWindow)

Window instances registered with the Help object are tracked. If the active window is a modal dialog and help is requested, the Help object will take special action so that the help windows are not blocked by the active modal dialog.

Parameters:

aWindow - The Window instance to register.

B.3 Unregistering a Window

If you registered your Window objects using Help.registerClientWindow(), you must also unregister them. When you know that a Window will no longer be active, you should unregister the window with the Help object using the unregisterClientWindow() method. It is important to note that failure to unregister Window instances may result in the window not being garbage collected.

Table B-2 unregisterClientWindow() Method

Method
Description

unregisterClientWindow(Window aWindow)

Clients should unregister each Window instance they registered with the registerClientWindow() method once the window will no longer be active. Failure to unregister Window instances may result in the window not being garbage collected.

Parameters:

aWindow - The Window instance to register.

C Working With HelpBooks

This appendix describes the helpbook file and the HelpBook object used by older versions of OHJ. Helpbooks are still supported in current versions of OHJ; however, it is preferable in current versions to use helpsets (helpset file and HelpSet object).

If you are still using helpbook file and object, and do not wish to use helpsets, the following sections provide helpbook specific information.

C.1 HelpBook File Name Extensions

If you are using helpbooks, you must ensure that file name and extensions are correct. OHJ and OHW look in a specified directory for files with file name extensions that correspond to the supported file formats, including TOC, TOK, HHC, HHK, OHT, and IDX. For more information about correct file name and extansions, see Section 5.2, "File Name Extensions"

When you use helpsets, you don't have to use specific extensions for the names of the associated control files.

C.2 Adding the Help Data in OHJ

If you want to add a helpbook in OHJ, you must first create a Help object. For more information, see Section 14.2, "Constructing the Help Object".

Note:

When an OHJ system is implemented using a HelpBook, the map file must use the OHT file format. HelpBooks and OHT files are legacies from early versions of OHJ and are no longer recommended, but they are still supported by OHJ. For more information about the map file, see Section 6.3, "Map Files".

After creating a Help object, you must add one or more Book objects to it. A Book object encapsulates a collection, or a book of help content.

This HelpBook book implementation handles legacy OHJ file formats. The HelpBook class examines a directory, identifies files with known extensions, and adds them to the help system.

The following sections describe how to add the helpbooks, and other optional features:

Section C.2.1, "Constructing a HelpBook"

Section C.2.2, "Adding Books to Help"

For more information, see the API documentation for oracle.help.library.helpset.HelpSet.

C.2.1 Constructing a HelpBook

The HelpBook format is directory based. Use its constructors to specify the location of the directory containing the help content (HTML topic files).

Table C-1 HelpBook() Constructors

Constructor
Description

HelpBook(String baseURL, String baseName, String bookTitle)

Create a HelpBook with the specified title, loading the data from the directory location specified by baseURL. The HelpBook object examines the directory to identify known control files (TOC, TOK, HHC, HHK, OHT, and IDX) named with the given baseName. Use this constructor when you know the exact location of the help content directory.

Parameters:

baseURL - A String specifying the exact location of the helpset file in URL format.

baseName - The base name of the control files found in the specified directory (for example, if your control files are named userguide.hhc, userguide.hhk, etc., the baseName is userguide).

bookTitle - The book name that will appear in the book selection pull down menu in multiple book help systems. The title is often supplied by the help author.

HelpBook(Class baseClass, String dirPathExt, String baseName, String bookTitle)

Create a HelpBook with the specified title, loading the data from the directory location specified by baseClass and dirPathExt. The HelpBook object examines the directory to identify known control files (TOC, TOK, HHC, HHK, OHT, and IDX) named with the given baseName. Use this constructor when you know only the path to the help content directory relative to your application implementation.

Parameters:

baseClass - One of your application classes. The HelpBook object uses the location of this class to determine the location of your help content directory.

dirPathExt - The path to the help content directory relative to the location of baseClass. The value of this parameter is appended to the absolute path to the directory containing the baseClass. The resulting path should be the path to your help content directory.

baseName - The base name of the control files found in the specified directory (i.e. if your control files are named discoverer.hhc, discoverer.hhk, etc., the baseName would be discoverer).

bookTitle - The book name that will appear in the book selection pull down menu in multiple book help systems. The title is often supplied by the help author.

C.2.2 Adding Books to Help

Once you have constructed a Book instance using the HelpBook or HelpSet constructors, you must add the Book to your Help instance. This is accomplished by calling the following method on the Help instance:

Table C-2 addBook() Constructors

Constructor
Description

addBook(Book book)

This method adds a Book instance to the help system. Author-defined views contained in the Book are displayed in the navigator window, and topics from the Book are available to display.

Parameters:

book - The Book instance to add to the help system.

C.3 Locales in Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File

While configuring Oracle Help for the Web configuration file (ohwconfig.xml) for locale, you can specify a single locale or multiple locales in the <locales> section.

For more information on configuration file, see Chapter 9, "Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File".

C.3.1 The <locale> Child Element <books>

The <books> element specifies the content to be displayed in Oracle Help for the Web. The <books> element can contain any number of helpbooks, or a combination of helpsets and helpbooks. Helpsets and helpbooks are also called as books.

Table C-3 describes the <helpbook> child element:

Table C-3 <books> Child Elements

Element
Description

<helpBook>

The helpbook to include in this instance of OHW. This element has the following attributes:

id – Unique id to this book. This attribute is required.

basename – The name, without the file name extension, of the control files in the directory. For example, if the control files are named myproject.hhc, myproject.hhk, myproject.idx, and so on, the basename is myproject.

location – The location of the helpbook file. The path can be either absolute or relative to the location of the OHW configuration file.

title – The title to use when if helpbooks or helpsets are merged. The helpbook is displayed in the merged book list in the OHW user interface. By contrast, this title is set in the <title> element in the helpset file for a helpset.

controlFileencoding – A Java-supported encoding name. The set of supported encodings varies with JDK version. For a list of supported encodings for Java SE, see http://download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/intl/encoding.doc.html.

For example:

<books>
 <helpBook id="disco" baseName="discoverer" location="discoverer/" title="Discoverer Help" />
</books>

The <helpbook> elements can contain zero or more <contentLocation> elements for situation when help topic files are located in locations other than those expected by Oracle Help.

For more information about other child elements of <books>, see Section 9.4.1, "<books> Child Elements".

C.3.2 The <contentLocation> Element

By default OHW automatically processes help topic files that are located in the same locations as helpbook base directories.

In helpbooks, OHW processes help topic HTML files:

in the helpbook base directory and subdirectories under that location

or if the helpbook is in a JAR file, all help topic files in the same JAR

If you have help topic files in some other location, you must use the <contentLocation> element to point to that location.

The <contentLocation> element has the attribute baseURI. It represents a URI to the root location of a set of help content, using a path that is either absolute or relative.

The <contentLocation> element can be a child of <helpbook>. A <helpbook> can contain zero or more <contentLocation> elements.

This element is needed because, unlike plain HTML files, Oracle Help help topic files must be processed by the servlet in order to be displayed. Therefore, it is necessary to explicitly list the locations where help topic files referenced in the helpbook reside, if they are not in the default locations. This can happen if your helpset includes a subhelpset in another location or even on another web server or if your context sensitive map file contains references to help topic files located elsewhere on the same server or on a different server.

For more information, see Section 9.4.2, "The <contentLocation> Element".

Index

A  C  D  E  F  H  I  J  L  M  O  P  R  S  T  U  W 

A

addBook() constructors, 14.3.2

addComponent() constructors, 15.4.3

Adding Books to Help, 14.3.2

Adding Custom tab to OHJ, 14.4

Adding Favorites tab to OHJ, 14.4

Adding Help Data in a HelpBook, C.2

Adding Help data to OHJ, 14.3

Adding OHJ to Application, 14

ADF Faces Help Provider

ELHelpProvider, 20.5

ResourceBundleHelpProvider, 20.5

ADF Rich Client Help Provider, 20.1

Authoring

overview, 10.1

step-by-step process, 10.1

Authoring embedded help, 10.3

Authoring Tools, 10.1

Authoring utilities, 10.2

C

Changing the Oracle Help for the Web - UIX URL, 22.5

Comparing Oracle Help and JavaHelp File Formats, A

Configuration File, A.7

Helpset File, A.1

Index File, A.4

Link File, A.6

Map File, A.2

Search Index File, A.5

Table of Contents File, A.3

Constructing Help object, 14.2

CSHManager() constructors, 15.4.1

Custom Helpsets for Oracle Help for the Web - UIX, 22.4

Custom Protocol, 9.8

custom Protocol Links, 8.4

Custom Tab

Oracle Help for Java, 2.3.5

D

Debugging helpset, 9.2.1

Deploying Multiple Help Instances in a Web Application, 18.10

Deploying OHW-RC as a Standalone Web Application, 18.8

Deploying Oracle Help for Java

Book constructors, 16.3.2

creating JAR files, 16.3.1

introduction, 16

shipped JAR files, 16.2

Deploying Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client Demo File, 17

dispose() constructors, 14.8

Disposing Help object, 14.8

Dynamic mapping, 8.8

optimizing, 8.8.3

oracle.help.engine.XMLMapConventionEngine engine, 8.8.2

oracle.help.engine.XMLMapFixedConventionEngine engine, 8.8.1

example, 8.8.1

E

Enabling context-sensitive OHJ help, 15.1

Enabling context-sensitive Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client help, 19.1

Enabling context-sensitive Oracle Help for the Web - UIX help, 23.1

F

Favorites

Oracle Help for Java, 2.3.4

File Extensions, 5.2

Free OHJ resources, 14.8

H

Help() constructors, 14.2

HelpBook File Name Extensions, C.1

HelpBooks, C

helpConfiguration Element

debugMode attribute, 9.2.1

Helpset Authoring Wizard, 11.1

helpset element, 6.2.1

Helpset File

elements, 6.2

helpset element, 6.2.1

introduction, 6.2

links element, 6.2.5

maps element, 6.2.3

child elements, 6.2.3

sample file, 6.2.8

subhelpset element, 6.2.7

title element, 6.2.2

view element, 6.2.6

child elements, 6.2.6

view types, 6.2.6.1

wintype element, 6.2.4

child elements, 6.2.4

HelpSet() constructors, 14.3.1

Helpsets

merging, 2.4

Merging table of contents, 2.4.1

sharing resources, 9.5

HelpTopicId attribute, 20.4

I

ICEbrowser, 2.2

support, 2.2

technologies, 2.2

Implementing Context-Sensitive Help in Oracle UIX-based Applications, 23.4

Index

Oracle Help for Java, 2.3.2

Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client, 3.4

Oracle Help for the Web - UIX, 4.3

Index File

elements, 7.3.1

example, 7.3.1

introduction, 7.3

Installing OHJDK, 13.3.1

Installing Oracle Help for the Web - UIX Demo File on Oracle JDeveloper, 21.4

Installing Oracle Help for the Web - UIX Demo File on Oracle WebLogic Server, 21.3

Integrating Online Help With ADF Faces Application, 20.2

J

Java Modal Window Problem

Registering a Window, B.2

Unregistering a Window, B.3

JDeveloper

Oracle Help, 1.5

L

Licensing and Support, 1.6

Link File

elements, 7.5.1

example, 7.5.1

introduction, 7.5

Locales in Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File, C.3

The contentLocation Element, C.3.2

The locale Child Element books, C.3.1

M

Map File

elements, 6.3.1

introduction, 6.3

Mapping Oracle Help for the Web - UIX Topic IDs to Help Topics, 23.2

Mapping Topic IDs to OHJ Help Topics, 15.2

Merging Helpsets, 2.4

Metadata Files, 6.1

Helpset File, 6.2

O

OHJ Authoring Wizard

converting popup window links, 11.10

creating helpset file, 11.3

defining Full-Text search, 11.7

defining map file, 11.8

defining Views, 11.6

defining a new view, 11.6.1

defining custom data engine, 11.6.3

defining custom view, 11.6.2

Finalizing helpset, 11.12

introduction, 11.1

select source and target, 11.4

specifying source directory, 11.5

starting the wizard, 11.2

Window Types, 11.11

Identity, 11.11.1

Placements, 11.11.2

Style, 11.11.3

Toolbar buttons, 11.11.4

OHJ components, 1.2

OHJ Demo Files, 13.3.2.3

OHJ Documentation, 13.3.2.4

OHJ Engine, 13.3.2.1

OHW configuration file, 9.1

OHW Custom Protocol, 9.8

ohwconfig.xml, 9.1

OHW-UIX Components, 1.4

Optimizing Dynamic Maps, 8.8.3

Oracle Help

authoring tools, 10.1

JDeveloper, 1.5

licensing, 1.6

topic ids, 8.6

Oracle Help for Java

accessibility, 2.5.1

addBook constructors, 14.3.2

adding books, 14.3.2

adding Custom tab, 14.4

adding Favorites tab, 14.4

adding help data, 14.3

adding to an application, 14

steps, 14.1

architecture, 2.5.4

components, 1.2

constructing Help object, 14.2

constructing HelpSet, 14.3.1

CSHManager, 15.4

associating topic ids with user interface components, 15.4.3

constructors, 15.4.1

explicitly showing help for components, 15.4.4

setting default book, 15.4.2

deploying, 16

dispose constructors, 14.8

Disposing Help object, 14.8

enabling context sensitive help, 15.1

Favorites Window

Custom Navigator Tab, 2.3.5

Search Tab, 2.3.4

File Extensions, 5.2

Help() constructors, 14.2

internationalization, 2.5.2

introduction, 1.2

mapping topic ids to help topics, 15.2

Merged helpsets, 2.4

Navigator Window, 2.3

Contents Tab, 2.3.1

Index Tab, 2.3.2

Search Tab, 2.3.3

programming your application to support context-sensitive help, 15.3

showing Navigator window, 14.6

showing Topic window, 14.7

showTopic constructors, 14.7

Topic Window, 2.2

TopicDisplay Exceptions, 14.7.1

User Interface, 2.1

window types, 8.7

Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit

Contents, 13.3.2

Demonstration files, 13.3.2.3

OHJ Authoring Tools, 13.3.2.2

OHJ Engine, 13.3.2.1

Documentation, 13.3.2.4

Getting Started, 13.3

Installing, 13.3.1

introduction, 13.1

Java Runtime, 13.2

Setting CLASSPATH, 13.3.3

Oracle Help for the Web

best practice for internationalization, 9.3.1

brandings element, 9.3

child elements, 9.3

example, 9.3

contentLocation element, 9.4.2, C.3.2

absolute path content location, 9.4.2

relative path content location, 9.4.2

custom protocol, 9.8

helpConfiguration element, 9.2

locales element, 9.4

books, 9.4.1, C.3.1

child elements, 9.4

example, 9.4

sample, 9.4.3

navigatorAliases element, 9.7

example, 9.7

parameters element, 9.6

child elements, 9.6

keyword child element, 9.6

performance child element, 9.6

preloading helpsets, 9.9

sharing resources, 9.5

Oracle Help for the Web - RC

Bookmarking, 3.7.2

File Extensions, 5.2

introduction, 1.3

Search, 3.5

Single pane layout, 3.7.3

Toolbar, 3.2

Topic View, 3.6

Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client

changing access URL, 18.7

configuration files, 18.5

Contents, 3.3

Creating Context-Sensitive Links to the Help System, 19.3

deploying as a part of web application, 18.9

deploying as a standalone web application, 18.8

deploying demo file, 17

deploying multiple help instances, 18.10

deployment requirements, 18.2

display custom helpsets, 18.6

HelpTopicId attribute, 20.4

implementing context-sensitive help in a web application, 19.1

Index, 3.4

installing artifacts, 18.4

installing demo file on Oracle JDeveloper, 17.4

installing demo file on Oracle WebLogic Server, 17.3

library files, 18.3

Mapping Topic IDs to Help Topics, 19.2

registering as an ADF-RC help provider, 20.3

running demo file, 17.5

understanding demo filles, 17.2

understanding deployment process, 18.1

upgrading from Oracle Help for the Web - UIX, 24.1

User Interface, 3.1

Oracle Help for the Web - UIX

access url, 22.5

comparison with Oracle Help for Java, 4.1

components, 1.4

configuration files, 22.3

configuring custom helpsets, 22.4

creating context sensitive links, 23.3

File Extensions, 5.2

implementing context sensitive help, 23.1

implementing context-censitive help in Oracle UIX-based applications, 23.4

Index, 4.3

introduction, 1.4

mapping topic ids to help topics, 23.2

registering OHW-UIX in the OracleHelpProvider, 23.4.1

requirements and dependencies, 22.2

Search, 4.4

Table of Contents, 4.2

Topics, 4.5

understanding deployment, 22.1

upgrading, 22.6

User Interface, 4

Oracle Help for the Web - UIX Demo File

Installing on Oracle JDeveloper, 21.4

Installing on Oracle WebLogic Server, 21.3

introduction, 21.2

running, 21.5

Oracle Help for the Web Configuration File, 9.1

Oracle JDeveloper

installing Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client demo file, 17.4

installing Oracle Help for the Web - UIX Demo File, 21.4

Oracle WebLogic Server

installing Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client demo file, 17.3

installing Oracle Help for the Web - UIX Demo File, 21.3

P

Preloading Helpsets, 9.9

Programming Your Application to Support Context-Sensitive OHJ Help, 15.3

R

Registering OHW-Rich Client as an ADF Rich Client Help Provider, 20.3

Registering OHW-UIX in the OracleHelpProvider, 23.4.1

Databinding a Destination, 23.4.2

Running the OHW-UIX Demo EAR File, 21.5

S

Sample Helpset File, 6.2.8

Sample locales element, 9.4.3

Search

Oracle Help for Java, 2.3.3

Oracle Help for the Web - RC, 3.5

Oracle Help for the Web - UIX, 4.4

Search Index File, 7.4

setDefaultBook() constructors, 15.4.2

Sharing Resources across Helpsets, 9.5

showHelpForCompponent() method, 15.4.4

Showing Navigator window in OHJ, 14.6

Showing Topic window in OHJ, 14.7

showTopic() constructors, 14.7

T

Table of Contents

merging, 2.4.1

Oracle Help for Java, 2.3.1

Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client, 3.3

Oracle Help for the Web - UIX, 4.2

Table of Contents File

elements, 7.2.1

example, 7.2.1

introduction, 7.2

Text Search Indexer

introduction, 12.1

Java Requirements, 12.2

Running Indexer, 12.3, 12.4

Topic Files

associative links, 8.3

custom protocol links, 8.4

introduction, 8.1

pop-ups, 8.5

topic id, 8.2

TopicDisplay Exceptions, 14.7.1

U

Understanding Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client Demo Files, 17.2

Understanding Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client Deployment, 18.1

User Interface

Oracle Help for Java, 2.1

Oracle Help for the Web - Rich Client, 3.1

Oracle Help for the Web - UIX, 4

W

Window Types, 8.7

This illustration shows the Associative Links page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the Index tab in the Navigator window.

This illustration shows the Full-Text Search View page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard. Here, you can configure the full-text search index.

This illustration shows the Define Window Types – Style page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This illustration shows the Welcome page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the Favorites tab in the Navigator window.

This image displays the OHW-RC user interface.

This illustration shows the Define Window Types – Identity page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the Index view in OHW-UIX help system.

This image displays the undocked navigator window and topic window of OHJ user interface.

This image displays the OHW-RC search navigator.

This illustration shows the Define the Custom Type dialog of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This illustration shows the Define Window Types page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the Search Navigator in OHW-UIX help system.

This image displays the About OHW-RC topic in Topic pane.

This image displays the OHW-RC contents navigator.

This image displays the Search tab in the Navigator window.

This illustration shows the Define Window Types – Placement page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This illustration shows the Define the Custom Data Engine dialog of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This illustration shows the Define Views file page with fields available for a new view configuration) of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This illustration shows the Popup Windows page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the docked navigator window and topic window of OHJ user interface.

This image displays the OHW-RC index navigator.

This illustration shows the Specify Directory file page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard. Here, you can choose the source directory of the files.

This image displays the TOC view in OHW-UIX help system.

This image displays the OHW-UIX user interface.

This image displays the Topic view in OHW-UIX help system.

This illustration shows the Map page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard. Here, you can configure the map file for the helpset.

This image displays the Advanced Search Navigator in OHW-UIX help system.

This image displays the OHW-RC topic pane.

This illustration shows the Define Window Types – Toolbar Buttons page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the merged helpsets.

This image displays the OHW-RC global toolbar.

This illustration shows the HelpSet file page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard. Here, you can choose the authoring tool and the browser.

This image displays the Contents tab in the Navigator window.

This illustration shows the HelpSet File page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard. The page allows you to create a new helpset file, or open an existing helpset file for editing.

This illustration shows the Define Views file page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard. Here, you can create different views available in the OHJ Navigator window.

This illustration shows the Finish HelpSet page of the OHJ Authoring Wizard.

This image displays the topic windows.

This image displays the navigation links in OHW-UIX help system.

This image displays the help icon and the associated help page in an ADF Faces application.

This image displays the Custom Navigator tab in the Navigator window.

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