Package org.eclipse.ui.help

Class AbstractHelpUI

java.lang.Object
org.eclipse.ui.help.AbstractHelpUI
Direct Known Subclasses:
DefaultHelpUI
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 Details

    • AbstractHelpUI

      public AbstractHelpUI()

  • Method Details

    • 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