| Re: Calling Help Files [message #10739] |
Wed, 21 January 1998 00:00 |
David Foster
Messages: 341
Registered: January 1996
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Senior Member |
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David Fanning wrote:
>
> Kerstin Voigt (voigt@dlr.de) writes:
>
>> does anybody know, how I can call a self created help file from within IDL
>> 5.0?
>> They have the standard Microsoft *.hlp-format (PC environment).
>
> To create an "authentic" IDL help file requires that you have
> a particular help file compiler, I believe. But since I always
> have a WWW browser open anyway, I've found it convenient
> to use HTML help for my IDL procedures. I simply use the
> template.pro file to create a template for my programs.
> (It uses the ";+" and ";-" convention to delineate a section
> of code used for comments.)
>
> Then I just use the MK_HTML_HELP routine from the IDL library
> to construct an HTML file from my IDL procedures and functions.
> It is all done in one step. This, for example, is what I use
> to build the help files for the program files on my web page.
>
I guess I am just plain primitive, but my help files are plain
ascii files, with a .doc extension. They are placed in the directories
where the .pro files live, and I use my program LHELP.PRO to display
them (easy interface, search capability, and can view .pro files as
well). No snazzy hypertext links or fancy fonts, but works quite well.
If you're interested you can download LHELP.PRO and supporting routines
via anonymous ftp:
bial8.ucsd.edu pub/software/idl/share/Lhelp/lhelp.tar.gz
Dave
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
David S. Foster Univ. of California, San Diego
Programmer/Analyst Brain Image Analysis Laboratory
foster@bial1.ucsd.edu Department of Psychiatry
(619) 622-5892 8950 Via La Jolla Drive, Suite 2240
La Jolla, CA 92037
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
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| Re: Calling Help Files [message #10769 is a reply to message #10739] |
Sat, 17 January 1998 00:00  |
rivers
Messages: 228
Registered: March 1991
|
Senior Member |
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In article <01bd2281$29a2c2a0$256af781@kat37t.ia.kp.dlr.de>, "Kerstin Voigt" <voigt@dlr.de> writes:
> Hi,
>
> does anybody know, how I can call a self created help file from within IDL
> 5.0?
> They have the standard Microsoft *.hlp-format (PC environment).
If you have a standard Microsoft .hlp file then it is very easy to call it
from within IDL. Do it as follows:
IDL> spawn, "start my_help_file.hlp"
This may look strange, so let me explain how it works. The "start" command
means that your help will run as a separate process, so the IDL "spawn" command
will return immediately. The fact that you are "starting" a file, rather than
a program, takes advantage of the Windows file type/application association
feature. When you "start" a .hlp file it automatically runs whatever
application is associated with .hlp files. If your Windows system is
configured correctly this will work fine.
Of course, this also works for other file types, for example "http".
The following IDL command will start your default browser (e.g. Netscape or
Internet Explorer, depending upon how you have set things up on your system)
and display RSI's home page:
IDL> spawn, "start http://www.rsinc.com"
The nice thing about this is that it will start your browser if it is not
already running, but if it is already running it will simply display this new
URL. I find this a very convenient way to display help information, e.g.
IDL> spawn, "start http://www.mysite.edu/IDL/my_help_file#my_topic"
Note that some Windows systems I have seen do not have a default browser
correctly configured. Internet Explorer offers an option to let you make it
your default browser. If you select this it will configure things correctly.
If you want to use Netscape, and it is not configured correctly, go into the
NT Explorer View/Folder Options/File Types menu and select "URL Hypertext
Transfer Protocol". Select Edit/Open/Edit, set "Application to use ... "
to be the full path to Netscape, select "Use DDE" and "DDE Message"="%1"
Application=Netscape, Topic=WWW_OpenURL.
Cheers,
Mark
____________________________________________________________
Mark Rivers (773) 702-2279 (office)
CARS (773) 702-9951 (secretary)
Univ. of Chicago (773) 702-5454 (FAX)
5640 S. Ellis Ave. (708) 922-0499 (home)
Chicago, IL 60637 rivers@cars.uchicago.edu (e-mail)
or:
Argonne National Laboratory (630) 252-0422 (office)
Building 434A (630) 252-0405 (lab)
9700 South Cass Avenue (630) 252-1713 (beamline)
Argonne, IL 60439 (630) 252-0443 (FAX)
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| Re: Calling Help Files [message #10774 is a reply to message #10769] |
Fri, 16 January 1998 00:00 |
davidf
Messages: 2866
Registered: September 1996
|
Senior Member |
|
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Kerstin Voigt (voigt@dlr.de) writes:
> does anybody know, how I can call a self created help file from within IDL
> 5.0?
> They have the standard Microsoft *.hlp-format (PC environment).
To create an "authentic" IDL help file requires that you have
a particular help file compiler, I believe. But since I always
have a WWW browser open anyway, I've found it convenient
to use HTML help for my IDL procedures. I simply use the
template.pro file to create a template for my programs.
(It uses the ";+" and ";-" convention to delineate a section
of code used for comments.)
Then I just use the MK_HTML_HELP routine from the IDL library
to construct an HTML file from my IDL procedures and functions.
It is all done in one step. This, for example, is what I use
to build the help files for the program files on my web page.
Cheers,
David
-----------------------------------------------------------
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting
E-Mail: davidf@dfanning.com
Phone: 970-221-0438
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
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