org.eclipse.ui.help

Class AbstractHelpUI

java.lang.Object

org.eclipse.ui.help.AbstractHelpUI

public abstract class AbstractHelpUI
extends Object

Abstract base class for the help system UI.

The Eclipse platform provides an extension point ("org.eclipse.ui.helpSupport") for plugging in a help system UI. The help system UI is an optional component; applications may provide a UI for presenting help to the user by implementing a subclass and including the name of their class in the <config> element in an extension to the "org.eclipse.ui.helpSupport" extension point.

Note that the standard implementation of the help system UI is provided by the "org.eclipse.help.ui" plug-in. Since the platform can only make use of a single help system UI implementation, make sure that the platform is not configured with more than one plug-in trying to extend this extension point.

Since:

3.0

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
AbstractHelpUI()

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
abstract void	displayContext(IContext context, int x, int y) Displays context-sensitive help for the given context.
void	displayDynamicHelp() Displays the dynamic help for the active context.
abstract void	displayHelp() Displays the entire help bookshelf.
abstract void	displayHelpResource(String href) Displays help content for the help resource with the given URL.
void	displaySearch() Displays the help search facility.
abstract boolean	isContextHelpDisplayed() Returns whether the context-sensitive help window is currently being displayed.
URL	resolve(String href, boolean documentOnly) Resolves the help resource href according to the help system implementation.
void	search(String expression) Starts the help search using the help search facility.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

AbstractHelpUI

public AbstractHelpUI()

Method Detail

displayHelp

public abstract void displayHelp()

Displays the entire help bookshelf.

displaySearch

public void displaySearch()

Displays the help search facility. For backward compatibility, the default implementation does nothing.

Since:

3.1

displayDynamicHelp

public void displayDynamicHelp()

Displays the dynamic help for the active context. For backward compatibility, the default implementation does nothing.

Since:

3.1

search

public void search(String expression)

Starts the help search using the help search facility. For backward compatibility, the default implementation does nothing.

Parameters:

expression - the search expression

Since:

3.1

resolve

public URL resolve(String href,
          boolean documentOnly)

Resolves the help resource href according to the help system implementation.

Parameters:

href - the help resource

documentOnly - if true, the resulting URL must point at the document referenced by href. Otherwise, it can be a URL that contains additional elements like navigation that the help system adds to the document.

Returns:

the fully resolved URL of the help resource or null if not supported. Help systems that use application servers typically return URLs with http: protocol. Simple help system implementations can return URLs with file: protocol.

Since:

3.1

displayContext

public abstract void displayContext(IContext context,
                  int x,
                  int y)

Displays context-sensitive help for the given context.

(x,y) coordinates specify the location where the context sensitive help UI will be presented. These coordinates are screen-relative (ie: (0,0) is the top left-most screen corner). The platform is responsible for calling this method and supplying the appropriate location.

Parameters:

context - the context to display

x - horizontal position

y - verifical position

displayHelpResource

public abstract void displayHelpResource(String href)

Displays help content for the help resource with the given URL.

This method is called by the platform to launch the help system UI, displaying the documentation identified by the href parameter.

The help system makes no guarantee that all the help resources can be displayed or how they are displayed.

Parameters:

href - the URL of the help resource.

Valid href are as described in IHelpResource.getHref()

isContextHelpDisplayed

public abstract boolean isContextHelpDisplayed()

Returns whether the context-sensitive help window is currently being displayed.

Returns:

true if the context-sensitive help window is currently being displayed, false if not