Adding Help Files

Isight provides the functionality to add Help to your custom components. The Help button on the component dialog box attempts to open help that is specified by the component metamodel. That help can be in the form of a single HTML file, multiple HTML files in a zip file, or Java help.

  1. Create the Help files as one of the following:

    • Single HTML Help File. Most word processors allow you to save a document in this format.

    • Multiple HTML Files in a Single Zip Help File. Create a zip file containing all the required HTML and supporting image files.

    • Java Help.

  2. Use the SDK Generator to specify the Help file (and its index file where appropriate) and add it to your component. You can also add the Help files to your component jar file manually using WinZip (or another zip file tool) and edit the component descriptor (XML file) by adding the following: 

    <UserHelp type="html">… path to HTML help file …</UserHelp>

<UserHelp type="htmlzip" helpIndex="index.html">…path
to zip help file…</UserHelp>

    (helpIndex is the name of the main HTML file to load.)

    <UserHelp type="javahelp" helpIndex="HelpSet.hs">…path to help jar 
file</UserHelp>

    (helpIndex is the name of the help set file, which usually has the *.hs extension.)

    For all types the “path” is the full path within the component jar file to the file that represents the Help. This path must be specified correctly for the Help to be found and displayed.