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diff --git a/doc/src/development/assistant-manual.qdoc b/doc/src/development/assistant-manual.qdoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b26efcc --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/src/development/assistant-manual.qdoc @@ -0,0 +1,810 @@ +/**************************************************************************** +** +** Copyright (C) 2009 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies). +** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com) +** +** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit. +** +** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:LGPL$ +** No Commercial Usage +** This file contains pre-release code and may not be distributed. +** You may use this file in accordance with the terms and conditions +** contained in the either Technology Preview License Agreement or the +** Beta Release License Agreement. +** +** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage +** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Lesser +** General Public License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software +** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the +** packaging of this file. Please review the following information to +** ensure the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 requirements +** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html. +** +** In addition, as a special exception, Nokia gives you certain +** additional rights. These rights are described in the Nokia Qt LGPL +** Exception version 1.0, included in the file LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt in this +** package. +** +** GNU General Public License Usage +** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU +** General Public License version 3.0 as published by the Free Software +** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.GPL included in the +** packaging of this file. Please review the following information to +** ensure the GNU General Public License version 3.0 requirements will be +** met: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html. +** +** If you are unsure which license is appropriate for your use, please +** contact the sales department at http://qt.nokia.com/contact. +** $QT_END_LICENSE$ +** +****************************************************************************/ + +/*! + \page assistant-manual.html + \title Qt Assistant Manual + \ingroup qttools + + \startpage {index.html}{Qt Reference Documentation} + \nextpage Qt Assistant in More Detail + + \keyword Qt Assistant + + This document introduces \QA, a tool for presenting on-line + documentation. The document is divided into the following sections: + + Table of contents: + + \list + \o \l{The One-Minute Guide to Using Qt Assistant} + \o \l{Qt Assistant in More Detail} + \o \l{Using Qt Assistant as a Custom Help Viewer} + \endlist + + \chapter The One-Minute Guide to Using Qt Assistant + + Once you have installed Qt, \QA should be ready to run: + + \list + \o On Windows, \QA is available as a menu option on the Qt menu. + \o On Mac OS X, \QA is installed in the /Developer/Applications/Qt directory. + \o On Unix/Linux, open a terminal, type \c{assistant} and press \key{Enter}. + \endlist + + When you start up \QA, you will be presented with a standard main window + application, with a menu bar and toolbar. Below these, on the left hand + side are navigation windows called \e{Contents}, \e{Index} and \e{Bookmarks}. + On the right, taking up most of the space, is the \e{Documentation} window. + By default, \QA loads the Qt reference documentation along with the manuals + of other Qt tools, like \QD or \QL. + + \QA works in a similar way to a Web browser. If you click hyperlinks + (cross-references), the \e{Documentation} window will present the relevant + page. You can bookmark pages of particular interest and you can click the + \gui{Previous} and \gui{Next} toolbar buttons to navigate within the pages + you have visited. + + Although \QA can be used just like a Web browser to navigate through + the documentation, \QA offers a powerful means of navigation that Web + browsers do not provide. \QA uses an advanced full text search engine + to index all the pages in each compressed help file so that you can + search for particular words and phrases. + + To perform an index search, click the \gui{Index} tab on the Sidebar + (or press \key{Alt+I}). In the \gui{'Look For'} line edit enter a word; + e.g., 'homedirpath'. As you type, words are found and highlighted in a list + beneath the line edit. If the highlighted text matches what you're + looking for, double click it, (or press \key{Enter}) and the + \e{Documentation} window will display the relevant page. You rarely have + to type in the whole word before \QA finds a match. Note that for some + words there may be more than one possible page that is relevant. + + \QA also provides full text searching for finding specific words in + the documentation. To activate the full text search, either press \key(Alt+S) + or click on the \gui{Search} tab in the \e{Documentation} window. Then + enter the term you're looking for and hit the \gui{Search} button. All + documents containing the specified term will then be listed in the list box + below. +*/ + +/*! + \page assistant-details.html + \title Qt Assistant in More Detail + + \contentspage {Qt Assistant Manual}{Contents} + \previouspage Qt Assistant Manual + \nextpage Using Qt Assistant as a Custom Help Viewer + + \tableofcontents + + \img assistant-assistant.png + + \section1 Command Line Options + + \QA handles the following command line options: + + \table + \header + \o Command Line Option + \o Brief Description + \row + \o -collectionFile <file.qhc> + \o Uses the specified collection file instead of the default one. + \row + \o -showUrl URL + \o Shows the document referenced by URL. + \row + \o -enableRemoteControl + \o Enables \QA to be remotly controlled. + \row + \o -show <widget> + \o Shows the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index", + "bookmarks" or "search". + \row + \o -hide <widget> + \o Hides the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index", + "bookmarks" or "search. + \row + \o -activate <widget> + \o Activates the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", + "index", "bookmarks" or "search. + \row + \o -register <doc.qch> + \o Registers the specified compressed help file in the given help + collection. + \row + \o -unregister <doc.qch> + \o Unregisters the specified compressed help file from the given + collection file. + \row + \o -setCurrentFilter filter + \o Sets the given filter as the active filter. + \row + \o -quiet + \o Doesn't show any error, warning or success messages. + \endtable + + \section1 Tool Windows + + \img assistant-dockwidgets.png + + The tool windows provide four ways to navigate the documentation: + + \list + \o The \gui{Contents} window presents a table of contents implemented as a + tree view for the documentation that is available. If you click an item, + its documentation will appear in the \e{Documentation} window. If you double + click an item or click on the control to the left of it, the item's sub-items + will appear. Click a sub-item to make its page appear in the \e{Documentation} + window. Click on the control next to an open item to hide its sub-items. + \o The \gui{Index} window is used to look up key words or phrases. + See \l{The One-Minute Guide to Using Qt Assistant} for how to use this + window. + \o The \gui{Bookmarks} window lists any bookmarks you have made. Double + click a bookmark to make its page appear in the \e{Documentation} window. + The \gui{Bookmarks} window provides a context menu with \gui{Show Item}, + \gui{Delete Item} as well as \gui{Rename Item}. Click in the main menu + \menu{Bookmark|Add Bookmark...} (or press \key{Ctrl+B}) to bookmark the + page that is currently showing in the \e{Documentation} window. Right click + a bookmark in the list to rename or delete the highlighted bookmark. + \endlist + + If you want the \gui{Documentation} window to use as much space as possible, + you can easily group, move or hide the tool windows. To group the windows, + drag one on top of the other and release the mouse. If one or all tool + windows are not shown, press \key{Alt+C}, \key{Alt+I} or \key{Alt+O} to show + the required window. + + The tool windows can be docked into the main window, so you can drag them + to the top, left, right or bottom of \e{Qt Assistant's} window, or you can + drag them outside \QA to float them as independent windows. + + \section1 Documentation Window + + \img assistant-docwindow.png + + The \gui{Documentation} window lets you create a tab for each + documentation page that you view. Click the \gui{Add Tab} button and a new + tab will appear with the page name as the tab's caption. This makes it + convenient to switch between pages when you are working with different + documentation. You can delete a tab by clicking the \gui{Close Tab} button + located on the right side of the \gui{Documentation} window. + + \section1 Toolbars + + \img assistant-toolbar.png + + The main toolbar provides fast access to the most common actions. + + \table + \header \o Action \o Description \o Menu Item \o Shortcut + \row \o \gui{Previous} \o Takes you to the previous page in the history. + \o \menu{Go|Previous} \o \key{Alt+Left Arrow} + \row \o \gui{Next} \o Takes you to the next page in the history. + \o \menu{Go|Next} \o \key{Alt+Right Arrow} + \row \o \gui{Home} + \o Takes you to the home page as specified in the Preferences Dialog. + \o \menu{Go|Home} \o \key{Ctrl+Home}. + \row \o \gui{Sync with Table of Contents} + \o Synchronizes the \gui{Contents} tool window with the page currently + shown in the \gui{Documentation} window. + \o \menu{Go|Sync with Table of Contents} \o + \row \o \gui{Copy} \o Copies any selected text to the clipboard. + \o \menu{Edit|Copy} \o \key{Ctrl+C} + \row \o \gui{Print} \o Opens the \gui{Print} dialog. + \o \menu{File|Print} \o \key{Ctrl+P} + \row \o \gui{Find in Text} \o Opens the \gui{Find Text} dialog. + \o \menu{Edit|Find in Text} \o \key{Ctrl+F} + \row \o \gui{Zoom in} + \o Increases the font size used to display text in the current tab. + \o \menu{View|Zoom in} \o \key{Ctrl++} + \row \o \gui{Zoom out} + \o Decreases the font size used to display text in the current tab. + \o \menu{View|Zoom out} \o \key{Ctrl+-} + \row \o \gui{Normal Size} + \o Resets the font size to its normal size in the current tab. + \o \menu{View|Normal Size} \o \key{Ctrl+0} + \endtable + + \img assistant-address-toolbar.png + + The address toolbar provides a fast way to enter a specific URL for a + documentation file. By default, the address toolbar is not shown, so it + has to be activated via \menu{View|Toolbars|Address Toolbar}. + + \img assistant-filter-toolbar.png + + The filter toolbar allows you to apply a filter to the currently installed + documentation. As with the address toolbar, the filter toolbar is not visible + by default and has to be activated via \menu{View|Toolbars|Filter Toolbar}. + + \section1 Menus + + \section2 File Menu + + \list + \o \menu{File|Page Setup...} invokes a dialog allowing you to define + page layout properties, such as margin sizes, page orientation and paper size. + \o \menu{File|Print Preview...} provides a preview of the printed pages. + \o \menu{File|Print...} opens the \l{#Print Dialog}{\gui{Print} dialog}. + \o \menu{File|New Tab} opens a new empty tab in the \gui{Documentation} + window. + \o \menu{File|Close Tab} closes the current tab of the + \gui{Documentation} window. + \o \menu{File|Exit} closes the \QA application. + \endlist + + \section2 Edit Menu + + \list + \o \menu{Edit|Copy} copies any selected text to the clipboard. + \o \menu{Edit|Find in Text} invokes the \l{#Find Text Control}{\gui{Find Text} + control} at the lower end of the \gui{Documentation} window. + \o \menu{Edit|Find Next} looks for the next occurance of the specified + text in the \gui{Find Text} control. + \o \menu{Edit|Find Previous} looks for the previous occurance of + the specified text in the \l{#Find Text Control}{\gui{Find Text} control}. + \o \menu{Edit|Preferences} invokes the \l{#Preferences Dialog}{\gui{Preferences} dialog}. + \endlist + + \section2 View Menu + + \list + \o \menu{View|Zoom in} increases the font size in the current tab. + \o \menu{View|Zoom out} decreases the font size in the current tab. + \o \menu{View|Normal Size} resets the font size in the current tab. + \o \menu{View|Contents} toggles the display of the \gui{Contents} tool window. + \o \menu{View|Index} toggles the display of the \gui{Index} tool window. + \o \menu{View|Bookmarks} toggles the display of the \gui{Bookmarks} tool window. + \o \menu{View|Search} toggles the display of the Search in the \gui{Documentation} window. + \endlist + + \section2 Go Menu + + \list + \o \menu{Go|Home} goes to the home page. + \o \menu{Go|Back} displays the previous page in the history. + \o \menu{Go|Forward} displays the next page in the history. + \o \menu{Go|Sync with Table of Contents} syncs the \gui{Contents} tool window to the currently shown page. + \o \menu{Go|Next Page} selects the next tab in the \gui{Documentation} window. + \o \menu{Go|Previous Page} selects the previous tab in the \gui{Documentation} window. + \endlist + + \section2 Bookmarks Menu + + \list + \o \menu{Bookmarks|Add} adds the current page to the list of bookmarks. + \endlist + + \section1 Dialogs + + \section2 Print Dialog + + This dialog is platform-specific. It gives access to various printer + options and can be used to print the document shown in the current tab. + + \section2 Preferences Dialog + + \img assistant-preferences-fonts.png + + The \menu{Fonts} page allows you to change the font family and font sizes of the + browser window displaying the documentation or the application itself. + + \img assistant-preferences-filters.png + + The \menu{Filters} page lets you create and remove documentation + filters. To add a new filter, click the \gui{Add} button, specify a + filter name in the pop-up dialog and click \gui{OK}, then select + the filter attributes in the list box on the right hand side. + You can delete a filter by selecting it and clicking the \gui{Remove} + button. + + \img assistant-preferences-documentation.png + + The \menu{Documentation} page lets you install and remove compressed help + files. Click the \gui{Install} button and choose the path of the compressed + help file (*.qch) you would like to install. + To delete a help file, select a documentation set in the list and click + \gui{Remove}. + + \img assistant-preferences-options.png + + The \menu{Options} page lets you specify the homepage \QA will display when + you click the \gui{Home} button in \QA's main user interface. You can specify + the hompage by typing it here or clicking on one of the buttons below the + textbox. \gui{Current Page} sets the currently displayed page as your home + page while \gui{Restore to default} will reset your home page to the default + home page. + + \section1 Find Text Control + + This control is used to find text in the current page. Enter the text you want + to find in the line edit. The search is incremental, meaning that the most + relevant result is shown as you enter characters into the line edit. + + If you check the \gui{Whole words only} checkbox, the search will only consider + whole words; for example, if you search for "spin" with this checkbox checked it will + not match "spinbox", but will match "spin". If you check the \gui{Case sensitive} + checkbox then, for example, "spin" will match "spin" but not "Spin". You can + search forwards or backwards from your current position in the page by clicking + the \gui{Previous} or \gui{Next} buttons. To hide the find control, either click the + \gui{Close} button or hit the \key{Esc} key. + + \section1 Filtering Help Contents + + \QA allows you to install any kind of documentation as long as it is organized + in Qt compressed help files (*.qch). For example, it is possible to install the + Qt reference documentation for Qt 4.4.0 and Qt 4.4.1 at the same time. In many + respects, this is very convenient since only one version of \QA is needed. + However, at the same time it becomes more complicated when performing tasks like + searching the index because nearly every keyword is defined in Qt 4.4.0 as well + as in Qt 4.4.1. This means that \QA will always ask the user to choose which one + should be displayed. + + We use documentation filters to solve this issue. A filter is identified by its + name, and contains a list of filter attributes. An attribute is just a string and + can be freely chosen. Attributes are defined by the documentation itself, this + means that every documentation set usually has one or more attributes. + + For example, the Qt 4.4.0 \QA documentation defines the attributes \c {assistant}, + \c{tools} and \c{4.4.0}, \QD defines \c{designer}, \c{tools} and \c{4.4.0}. + The filter to display all tools would then define only the attribute + \c{tools} since this attribute is part of both documentation sets. + Adding the attribute \c{assistant} to the filter would then only show \QA + documentation since the \QD documentation does not contain this + attribute. Having an empty list of attributes in a filter will match all + documentation; i.e., it is equivalent to requesting unfiltered documentation. + + \section1 Full Text Searching + + \img assistant-search.png + + \QA provides a powerful full text search engine. To search + for certain words or text, click the \gui{Search} tab in the \gui{Documentation} + window. Then enter the text you want to look for and press \key{Enter} + or click the \gui{Search} button. The search is not case sensitive, so, + for example, Foo, fOo and FOO are all treated as the same. The following are + examples of common search patterns: + + \list + \o \c deep -- lists all the documents that contain the word 'deep' + \o \c{deep*} -- lists all the documents that contain a word beginning + with 'deep' + \o \c{deep copy} -- lists all documents that contain both 'deep' \e + and 'copy' + \o \c{"deep copy"} -- list all documents that contain the phrase 'deep copy' + \endlist + + It is also possible to use the \gui{Advanced search} to get more flexibility. + You can specify some words so that hits containing these are excluded from the + result, or you can search for an exact phrase. Searching for similar words will + give results like these: + + \list + \o \c{QStin} -- lists all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString} + \o \c{QSting} -- lists all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString} + \o \c{QStrin} -- lists all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString} + \endlist + + Options can be combined to improve the search results. + + The list of documents found is ordered according to the number of + occurrences of the search text which they contain, with those containing + the highest number of occurrences appearing first. Simply click any + document in the list to display it in the \gui{Documentation} window. + + If the documentation has changed \mdash for example, if documents have been added + or removed \mdash \QA will index them again. + +*/ + +/*! + \page assistant-custom-help-viewer.html + \title Using Qt Assistant as a Custom Help Viewer + + \contentspage {Qt Assistant Manual}{Contents} + \previouspage Qt Assistant in More Detail + + Using \QA as custom help viewer requires more than just being able to + display custom documentation. It is equally important that the + appearance of \QA can be customized so that it is seen as a + application-specific help viewer rather than \QA. This is achieved by + changing the window title or icon, as well as some application-specific + menu texts and actions. The complete list of possible customizations + can be found in the \l{Creating a Custom Help Collection File} section. + + Another requirement of a custom help viewer is the ability to receive + actions or commands from the application it provides help for. This is + especially important when the application offers context sensitive help. + When used in this way, the help viewer may need to change its contents + depending on the state the application is currently in. This means that + the application has to communicate the current state to the help viewer. + The section about \l{Using Qt Assistant Remotely} explains how this can + be done. + + \tableofcontents + + The \l{Simple Text Viewer Example}{Simple Text Viewer} example uses the + techniques described in this document to show how to use \QA as a custom + help viewer for an application. + + \warning In order to ship Qt Assistant in your application, it is crucial + that you include the sqlite plugin. For more information on how to include + plugins in your application, refer to the \l{Deploying Qt Applications} + {deployment documentation}. + + \section1 Qt Help Collection Files + + The first important point to know about \QA is that it stores all + settings related to its appearance \e and a list of installed + documentation in a help collection file. This means, when starting \QA + with different collection files, \QA may look totally different. This + complete separation of settings makes it possible to deploy \QA as a + custom help viewer for more than one application on one machine + without risk of interference between different instances of \QA. + + To apply a certain help collection to \QA, specify the respective + collection file on the command line when starting it. For example: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 8 + + However, storing all settings in one collection file raises some problems. + The collection file is usually installed in the same directory as the + application itself, or one of its subdirectories. Depending on the + directory and the operating system, the user may not have any permissions + to modify this file which would happen when the user settings are stored. + Also, it may not even be possible to give the user write permissions; + e.g., when the file is located on a read-only medium like a CD-ROM. + + Even if it is possible to give everybody the right to store their settings + in a globally available collection file, the settings from one user would + be overwritten by another user when exiting \QA. + + To solve this dilemma, \QA creates user specific collection files which + are more or less copied from the original collection file. The user-specific + collection file will be saved in a subdirectory of the path returned by + QDesktopServices::DataLocation. The subdirectory, or \e{cache directory} + within this user-specific location, can be defined in the help collection + project file. For example: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 7 + + So, when calling + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 8 + + \QA actually uses the collection file: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 9 + + There is no need ever to start \QA with the user specific collection + file. Instead, the collection file shipped with the application should + always be used. Also, when adding or removing documentation from the + collection file (see next section) always use the normal collection file. + \QA will take care of synchronizing the user collection files when the + list of installed documentation has changed. + + \section1 Displaying Custom Documentation + + Before \QA is able to show documentation, it has to know where it can + find the actual documentation files, meaning that it has to know the + location of the Qt compressed help file (*.qch). As already mentioned, + \QA stores references to the compressed help files in the currently used + collection file. So, when creating a new collection file you can list + all compressed help files \QA should display. + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 5 + + Sometimes, depending on the application for which \QA acts as a + help viewer, more documentation needs to be added over time; for + example, when installing more application components or plugins. + This can be done manually by starting \QA, opening the \gui{Edit|Preferences} + dialog and navigating to the \gui{Documentation} tab page. Then click + the \gui{Add...} button, select a Qt compressed help file (*.qch) + and press \gui{Open}. However, this approach has the disadvantage + that every user has to do it manually to get access to the new + documentation. + + The prefered way of adding documentation to an already existing collection + file is to use the \c{-register} command line flag of \QA. When starting + \QA with this flag, the documentation will be added and \QA will + exit right away displaying a message if the registration was successful + or not. + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 6 + + The \c{-quiet} flag can be passed on to \QA to prevent it from writing + out the status message. + + \bold{Note:} \QA will show the documentation in the contents view in the same + order as it was registered. + + + \section1 Changing the Appearance of Qt Assistant + + The appearance of \QA can be changed by passing different command line options + on startup. However, these command line options only allow to show or hide + specific widgets, like the contents or index view. Other customizations, such + as changing the application title or icon, or disabling the filter functionality, + can be done by creating a custom help collection file. + + \section2 Creating a Custom Help Collection File + + The help collection file (*.qhc) used by \QA is created when running the + \c qcollectiongenerator tool on a help collection project file (*.qhcp). + The project file format is XML and supports the following tags: + + \table + \header + \o Tag + \o Brief Description + \row + \o \c{<title>} + \o This property is used to specify a window title for \QA. + \row + \o \c{<homePage>} + \o This tag specifies which page should be display when + pressing the home button in \QA's main user interface. + \row + \o \c{<startPage>} + \o This tag specifies which page \QA should initially + display when the help collection is used. + \row + \o \c{<currentFilter>} + \o This tag specifies the \l{Qt Assistant in More Detail#Preferences Dialog}{filter} + that is initially used. + If this filter is not specified, the documentation will not be filtered. This has + no impact if only one documentation set is installed. + \row + \o \c{<applicationIcon>} + \o This tag describes an icon that will be used instead of the normal \QA + application icon. This is specified as a relative path from the directory + containing the collection file. + \row + \o \c{<enableFilterFunctionality>} + \o This tag is used to enable or disable user accessible filter functionality, + making it possible to prevent the user from changing any filter when running \QA. + It does not mean that the internal filter functionality is completely disabled. + Set the value to \c{false} if you want to disable the filtering. If the filter + toolbar should be shown by default, set the attribute \c{visible} to \c{true}. + \row + \o \c{<enableDocumentationManager>} + \o This tag is used to specify whether the documentation manager should be shown + in the preferences dialog. Disabling the Documentation Manager allows you to limit + \QA to display a specific documentation set or make it impossible for the end user + to accidentally remove or install documentation. To hide the documentation manager, + set the tag value to \c{false}. + \row + \o \c{<enableAddressBar>} + \o This tag describes if the address bar can be shown. By default it is + enabled; if you want to disable it set the tag value to \c{false}. If the + address bar functionality is enabled, the address bar can be shown by setting the + tag attribute \c{visible} to \c{true}. + \row + \o \c{<aboutMenuText>, <text>} + \o The \c{aboutMenuText} tag lists texts for different languages which will + later appear in the \menu{Help} menu; e.g., "About Application". A text is + specified within the \c{text} tags; the \c{language} attribute takes the two + letter language name. The text is used as the default text if no language + attribute is specified. + \row + \o \c{<aboutDialog>, <file>, <icon>} + \o The \c{aboutDialog} tag can be used to specify the text for the \gui{About} + dialog that can be opened from the \menu{Help} menu. The text is taken from the + file in the \c{file} tags. It is possible to specify a different file or any + language. The icon defined by the \c{icon} tags is applied to any language. + \row + \o \c{<cacheDirectory>} + \o Specified as a path relative to the directory given by + QDesktopServices::DataLocation, the cache path is used to store index files + needed for the full text search and a copy of the collection file. + The copy is needed because \QA stores all its settings in the collection file; + i.e., it must be writable for the user. + \endtable + + In addition to those \QA specific tags, the tags for generating and registering + documentation can be used. See \l{The Qt Help Framework#Creating a Qt Help Collection} + {Qt Help Collection} documentation for more information. + + An example of a help collection file that uses all the available tags is shown below: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 1 + + To create the binary collection file, run the \c qcollectiongenerator tool: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 10 + + To test the generated collection file, start \QA in the following way: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 8 + + \section1 Using Qt Assistant Remotely + + Even though the help viewer is a standalone application, it will mostly + be launched by the application it provides help for. This approach + gives the application the possibility to ask for specific help contents + to be displayed as soon as the help viewer is started. Another advantage + with this approach is that the application can communicate with the + help viewer process and can therefore request other help contents to be + shown depending on the current state of the application. + + So, to use \QA as the custom help viewer of your application, simply + create a QProcess and specify the path to the Assistant executable. In order + to make Assistant listen to your application, turn on its remote control + functionality by passing the \c{-enableRemoteControl} command line option. + + \warning The trailing '\0' must be appended separately to the QByteArray, + e.g., \c{QByteArray("command" + '\0')}. + + The following example shows how this can be done: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 2 + + Once \QA is running, you can send commands by using the stdin channel of + the process. The code snippet below shows how to tell \QA to show a certain + page in the documentation. + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 3 + + The following commands can be used to control \QA: + + \table + \header + \o Command + \o Brief Description + \row + \o \c{show <Widget>} + \o Shows the dock widget specified by <Widget>. If the widget + is already shown and this command is sent again, the widget will be + activated, meaning that it will be raised and given the input focus. + Possible values for <Widget> are "contents", "index", "bookmarks" or "search". + \row + \o \c{hide <Widget>} + \o Hides the dock widget specified by <Widget>. Possible values for + <Widget> are "contents", "index", "bookmarks" and "search". + \row + \o \c{setSource <Url>} + \o Displays the given <Url>. The URL can be absolute or relative + to the currently displayed page. If the URL is absolute, it has to + be a valid Qt help system URL; i.e., starting with "qthelp://". + \row + \o \c{activateKeyword <Keyword>} + \o Inserts the specified <Keyword> into the line edit of the + index dock widget and activates the corresponding item in the + index list. If such an item has more than one link associated + with it, a topic chooser will be shown. + \row + \o \c{activateIdentifier <Id>} + \o Displays the help contents for the given <Id>. An ID is unique + in each namespace and has only one link associated to it, so the + topic chooser will never pop up. + \row + \o \c{syncContents} + \o Selects the item in the contents widget which corresponds to + the currently displayed page. + \row + \o \c{setCurrentFilter} + \o Selects the specified filter and updates the visual representation + accordingly. + \row + \o \c{expandToc <Depth>} + \o Expands the table of contents tree to the given depth. If depth + is less than 1, the tree will be collapsed completely. + \endtable + + If you want to send several commands within a short period of time, it is + recommended that you write only a single line to the stdin of the process + instead of one line for every command. The commands have to be separated by + a semicolon, as shown in the following example: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 4 + + \section1 Compatibility with Old Formats + + In older versions of Qt, the help system was based on Document Content File + (DCF) and Qt Assistant Documentation Profile (ADP) formats. In contrast, + Qt Assistant and the help system used in Qt 4.4 use the formats described + earlier in this manual. + + Unfortunately, the old file formats are not compatible with the new ones. + In general, the differences are not that big \mdash in most cases is the old + format is just a subset of the new one. One example is the \c namespace tag in + the Qt Help Project format, which was not part of the old format, but plays a vital + role in the new one. To help you to move to the new file format, we have created + a conversion wizard. + + The wizard is started by executing \c qhelpconverter. It guides you through the + conversion of different parts of the file and generates a new \c qch or \c qhcp + file. + + Once the wizard is finished and the files created, run the \c qhelpgenerator + or the \c qcollectiongenerator tool to generate the binary help files used by \QA. +*/ + +/* +\section2 Modifying \QA with Command Line Options + + Different help collections can be shown by simply passing the help collection + path to \QA. For example: + + \snippet doc/src/snippets/code/doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 0 + + Other available options the can be passed on the command line. + + \table + \header + \o Command Line Option + \o Brief Description + \row + \o -collectionFile <file.qhc> + \o Uses the specified collection file instead of the default one. + \row + \o -showUrl URL + \o Shows the document referenced by URL. + \row + \o -enableRemoteControl + \o Enables \QA to be remotly controlled. + \row + \o -show <widget> + \o Shows the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index", + "bookmarks" or "search". + \row + \o -hide <widget> + \o Hides the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index", + "bookmarks" or "search. + \row + \o -activate <widget> + \o Activates the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", + "index", "bookmarks" or "search. + \row + \o -register <doc.qch> + \o Registers the specified compressed help file in the given help + collection. + \row + \o -unregister <doc.qch> + \o Unregisters the specified compressed help file from the given + collection file. + \row + \o -quiet + \o Doesn't show any error, warning or success messages. + \endtable + */ |