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SYMBIAN OS V9.4

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Context sensitive help and the CS Help compiler

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Overview

Context Sensitive Help (CS Help) provides users with the specific help topic for the context in which they have a problem. CS Help files are generated using the CS Help compiler, which replaces the Aleppo help authoring tool used in releases prior to and including v5.

The CS Help compiler builds help files from the command line, using information defined in a project file, rtf source file or files, and an optional customisation file. The compiler also generates a C++ header file containing literal descriptors for each context—which can be used to provide a link to the appropriate help topic from an application.

Note that the application that displays the help is specific to each Symbian OS phone.

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Differences between CS Help and the superseded Help system

CS Help provides significant improvements on the Help system which was present in v5. The main differences are that:

Despite these changes, the process of creating context sensitive help files is very similar to the process used by Aleppo. The main differences between the CS Help compiler and Aleppo are that:

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CS Help compiler source files

This section provides a brief introduction to the purpose of each of the CS Help compiler source files. For a canonical reference to the structure of each of these files go to the appropriate topic in the “See also” section.


Project file

The CS Help compiler is invoked using a project file, which defines the locations of all other files used by the project. These files include source rtf files, customisation files, graphics files etc.


Customisation file

The CS Help compiler supports various customisation options that can be used to change the appearance of the final help topics. These options are defined in a customisation file, which is specified in the project file. If no file is defined a default set of customisation options is used.


Help topic information source rtf files

Source rtf files contain all the help information for a single application. Style marked paragraphs are used to identify the following information:

In addition to the title and information, topics also have a number of fields to provide context sensitivity and searching. These include:


See also

Project file—.cshlp

Customisation file—.xml

Rich-text source file—.rtf

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The help authoring process

The process of CS Help authoring is illustrated in the following diagram:

Operation of CS-Help


Operation of CS-Help

The CS Help compiler is invoked with a single command, that specifies the name of a project file and whether the output is to be a CS Help file or proofing XML. The project file defines the location of all other resources needed, including customisation and source rtf files.

The process of help authoring is thus:

  1. Edit rich-text source files using a word processor that can generate the styles used by CS Help e.g. Microsoft Word for Windows documents based on the cshelp.dot template.

  2. Create project and customisation files.

  3. Invoke the CS Help compiler to produce proofing XML.

  4. Check the XML proofing copy on a web browser. The style-sheet /epoc32/tools/cshlpcmp/xsl/csptml.xsl allows the output to be viewed as though produced using the default customisation options.

  5. If changes are required, make them in the word processor and re-run the compiler.

  6. Invoke the CS Help compiler to produce a compiled Help file.

  7. Check the generated help file on the emulator.

  8. If changes are required, make them in the word processor and re-run the compiler.