How to Get Help

In this chapter...

Overview of the documentation
Viewing the documentation
What should I read first?
Where key features are documented
Related reading
Getting quick help with the use command
Hover help in the IDE
Other sources of technical help
Support plans
Training
Custom engineering and consulting

Overview of the documentation

In QNX Momentics, the online documents are in HTML, which you can access either from within or outside of the IDE.

You can download PDF versions of the documentation from our website (http://www.qnx.com), once you've logged into your myQNX account. Printed books are also available.

To help you find your way around the QNX Momentics documentation set, we've provided a documentation roadmap.

The complete QNX Momentics documentation set contains the following books, arranged here under each main component:

Integrated Development Environment (Professional Edition only)

IDE User's Guide: Describes the QNX Momentics Integrated Development Environment, how to set up and start using the tools to build Neutrino-based target systems, etc.

QNX Neutrino Realtime Operating System

System Architecture: Describes the concepts and architecture of the QNX Neutrino microkernel, resource managers, processes, threads, message-passing services, and more.
QNX Neutrino User's Guide: Explains how to interact with a running Neutrino system. Covers both Photon and text-mode interfaces, as well as various system-administration topics.
QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide: Tells you how to get started writing programs, including interrupt handlers, resource managers, etc.
Building Embedded Systems: Tells you how to get the OS running on your target embedded system, write an IPL, customize a startup program, etc.
Utilities Reference: Describes the Neutrino configuration files, utilities, and manager processes you'll use during development and at runtime. See the Utilities Summary chapter in the reference for a listing of all the entries by category.
QNX Neutrino Library Reference: Describes the C library data types and functions, including POSIX threads, kernel calls, resource manager functions, etc. See the Summary of Functions chapter in the reference for a listing of all the functions by category.
Technical Notes: Deals with a series of topics (e.g. IP tunneling) that aren't covered in the basic documentation set.

Photon microGUI

Photon Programmer's Guide: Gives you a hands-on tour of the Photon Application Builder (PhAB). You'll learn how to quickly assemble a GUI from predefined widgets, link the GUI to an application, and generate C source to bring the GUI to life.
Multimedia Developer's Guide: Describes the multimedia architecture for developers who wish to write multimedia plugins.
Photon Library Reference: Provides concise descriptions of Photon's and PhAB's global data structures and functions.
Widget Reference: Contains guidelines for programming widgets, along with concise descriptions of all global data structures, resources, and convenience functions associated with widgets. It also gives you practical examples of how to use Photon widgets and widget functions.
Building Custom Widgets: Explains how to create a custom widget and how to bind it into PhAB. If you need a widget whose features extend the standard capabilities of the Photon widget library, this guide is for you.

BSPs, DDKs, and specialty tools

BSP guides: Describe how to get Neutrino running on your target board. You'll find a separate guide for each BSP that you've installed. We support boards in these processor families: ARM/XScale, MIPS, PowerPC, SH-4, and x86. You can download binaries for the BSPs from our website, http://www.qnx.com/; for information about BSP source, contact your sales representative.
DDK guides: Describe how to write drivers for QNX Neutrino. You'll find a separate DDK guide for audio, character, graphics, input, network, and Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices. You can download the DDKs from our website, but QNX Momentics includes the documentation.
System Analysis Toolkit User's Guide: Describes how to use the SAT with our instrumented microkernel. You can log every communication and state change within the microkernel, including interrupts, all parameters/return values from kernel calls, and scheduling decisions, resulting in a deeper and more detailed analysis of system elements. You can even perform kernel-level diagnostics remotely.
Photon Multilingual Input: Tells you how to input Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters in Photon.
Phindows Connectivity: Tells you how to access Photon from a Windows machine.
TDKs: The release notes (see ${QNX_TARGET}/etc/readme/tdk) for each TDK indicate the relevant documentation.

Dinkum C and C++

Dinkum C++ Library: A conforming implementation of the Standard C++ library.
Dinkum C99 Library: A conforming implementation of the Standard C library, as revised in 1999.
Dinkum EC++ Library: A conforming implementation of the Embedded C++ library as specified by the Embedded C++ Technical Committee.

Viewing the documentation

Click Help-->Help Contents. There you'll find several booksets listed, with QNX Momentics Professional Edition at the top of the list. The other documents listed, such as the Workbench User Guide and JDT Plug-in Developer Guide, pertain to the Eclipse platform and its various plugins.

IDE help menu

Getting help in the IDE.

Note that the IDE's internal help system has a builtin search facility. For details, see "Help system" in the IDE Concepts chapter of the IDE User's Guide.

Outside of the IDE

Point your browser at:

$QNX_TARGET/usr/help/product/momentics/bookset.html

You can also reach the HTML documentation from the Start or Launch menu, depending on the host:

Windows: Programs-->QNX Momentics 6.3.0-->Documentation
Linux: Programming-->QNX Momentics 6.3.0 Documentation
Neutrino: Help or QNX Momentics 6.3.0-->Documentation

The Photon Helpviewer

If you're using Neutrino self-hosted, you can access the documentation via our native Helpviewer.

helpviewer

Photon Helpviewer.

To open the Helpviewer, click the Help button in the Applications group on the shelf or select Help from the right-click menu on the desktop:

Desktop menu

For more information, see "Getting help with the Helpviewer" in the Using the Photon microGUI chapter of the Neutrino User's Guide, as well as the entry for helpviewer in the Utilities Reference.

Keyword indexes

Nearly every book in the QNX Momentics documentation set has its own keyword index. At the top and bottom of the online documents, you'll find an icon that's linked to the keyword index file (keywords-all.html):

[Index]

Here's a quick way to get to the keyword-index files of the QNX Momentics online documents:

Audio DDK -- index
Audio Developer's Guide -- index
Building Custom Widgets -- index
Building Embedded Systems -- index
Character DDK -- index
Graphics DDK -- index
High Availability Toolkit Developer's Guide -- index
IDE User's Guide -- index
Input DDK -- index
Network DDK -- index
Photon Library Reference -- index
Photon Programmer's Guide -- index
Photon Widget Reference -- index
QNX Neutrino Library Reference -- index
QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide -- index
QNX Neutrino User's Guide -- index
System Analysis Toolkit User's Guide -- index
System Architecture -- index
USB DDK -- index
Utilities Reference -- index
Welcome to QNX Momentics -- index
Widget Reference -- index

What should I read first?

Many people simply don't read manuals cover to cover. They often browse or search the documentation for a specific topic, usually for information on how to do a certain task. But if you want to approach your tasks with enough knowledge to work effectively, it's a good idea to start with the System Architecture guide; it will help you understand Neutrino's unique features, particularly its message-based interprocess communication (IPC) and microkernel architecture.

Once you know how Neutrino works, you'll then want to know how to work with it. Which document you'll need next depends on when you need it.

During development (on your host)

Most of the documents in the bookset are geared towards developing your Neutrino-based applications. Of these development books, some are how-to guides, some are reference works.

Some books are useful during development as well as at runtime. For instance, the Utilities Reference is a comprehensive document that includes descriptions of both "development" utilities (e.g. make), which you wouldn't normally use on your target, as well as "runtime" programs (e.g. devc-sersci), which you would run only on your target.

Here are the main how-to guides and their corresponding reference books:

How-to guide:	Companion reference:
IDE User's Guide	Utilities Reference (for underlying command-line utilities, such as `make`); QNX Neutrino Library Reference for API
QNX Neutrino User's Guide	Utilities Reference
QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide	QNX Neutrino Library Reference
Photon Programmer's Guide	Photon Library Reference; Photon Widget Reference
Building Embedded Systems	Utilities Reference; QNX Neutrino Library Reference

If you've already developed applications with QNX Momentics 6.2.1, see the 6.3.0 and 6.2.1 Compatibility notes. You can find the latest version of this document on our website: http://www.qnx.com/. Log into your myQNX account, then go to the Download Center.

At runtime (on your target)

The most runtime-oriented document in your bookset is the QNX Neutrino User's Guide, which describes how to use and interact with a running Neutrino system. The book covers both Photon and text-mode interfaces, as well as various system-administration topics.

Other runtime-oriented documents include the Utilities Reference and the IDE User's Guide (for information on diagnostic tools you'd use on a running system).

Where key features are documented

The following list may help you learn which document to look in when you want information on certain key features or components of the OS and tools.

See the System Architecture guide for information on almost every topic in this list.

Adaptive partitioning: Adaptive Partitioning TDK User's Guide
Asymmetric multiprocessing (AMP): Multicore Processing in the System Architecture guide
Audio support: Audio Developer's Guide (for writing audio applications); Audio DDK (for writing audio device drivers); io-audio manager and the deva-* drivers in the Utilities Reference.
Bound multiprocessing (BMP): Multicore Processing in the System Architecture guide; the Multicore TDK User's Guide; procnto* in the Utilities Reference.
BSPs: Each BSP that you install includes documentation; see the BSP installation notes.
Buildfiles: Making an OS Image in Building Embedded Systems; mkifs in the Utilities Reference.
CD-ROM: Working with Filesystems in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; cam-cdrom.so in the Utilities Reference.
Channels: Channel*, Msg*, and Connect* functions in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Writing a Resource Manager in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
Compiling: Developing C/C++ Programs in the IDE User's Guide; Compiling and Debugging in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; make and qcc in the Utilities Reference.
Compression: Making an OS Image in Building Embedded Systems; deflate in the Utilities Reference.
CPU time, sharing among competing processes: Adaptive Partitioning TDK User's Guide
Data server: Setting Up an Embedded Web Server in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; ds in the Utilities Reference.
DDKs: Driver Development Kits (DDKs). QNX Momentics includes the documentation, but if you want the DDKs, you must download them from our website.
Debugger: Debugging Programs in the IDE User's Guide; Compiling and Debugging in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; gdb and other debugging utilities in the Utilities Reference.
Device management: devctl() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Writing a Resource Manager in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; dev* drivers in the Utilities Reference.
Editors: IDE Concepts in the IDE User's Guide; Using Editors in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; elvis, ped, qed, sed, and vi in the Utilities Reference.
Embedded systems: Building Embedded Systems.
Endian issues: Freedom from Hardware and Platform Dependencies in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
Environment, configuring: Controlling How Neutrino Starts and Configuring Your Environment chapters in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.
Environment variables: Commonly Used Environment Variables appendix in the Utilities Reference; environ() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Using the Photon microGUI and Configuring Your Environment chapters in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.
Event handling (OS): MsgDeliverEvent() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Writing an Interrupt Handler in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
Event handling (Photon): Events in the Photon Programmer's Guide; phrelay in the Utilities Reference.
File handling: creat() and related functions via its "See also" section in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; basename, cat, etc. in the Utilities Reference (see "File and directory manipulation" in the Utilities Summary).
Filesystems: Working with Filesystems in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.
Fonts: Fonts chapter and Photon in Embedded Systems appendix in the Photon Programmer's Guide.
Graphics: Graphics DDK; devg-* drivers in the Utilities Reference.
Hardware: Connecting Hardware in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.
HID (human input devices): hidview and devh-* drivers in the Utilities Reference.
Helpviewer (Photon): Using the Photon microGUI in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; helpviewer in the Utilities Reference.
I/O management: iofunc*, Interrupt*, and open() and related functions via open()'s "See also" section in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Writing a Resource Manager in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
IPC (interprocess communication): pthread_mutex*, SyncMutex*, sem_*, SyncSem*, pthread_cond*, and SyncCondvar* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference. See also "Message Passing," below.
IPL (Initial Program Loader): Writing an IPL Program in Building Embedded Systems.
Images (OS): Making an OS Image in Building Embedded Systems; mkifs in the Utilities Reference.
Images (Photon): Raw Drawing and Animation in the Photon Programmer's Guide.
Input: Input DDK; devh-* and devi-* drivers in the Utilities Reference.
Instrumented kernel: System Analysis Toolkit User's Guide.
Interrupt handling: InterruptAttach() and related functions in its "See also" section in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Kernel calls: Channel*, Clock*, Connect*, Debug*, Interrupt*, Msg*, Sched*, Signal*, Sync*, Thread*, Timer*, and TraceEvent() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Keyboard support: Using the Command Line in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; mkkbd and related utilities in its "See also" section in the Utilities Reference.
Libraries: Compiling and Debugging in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; Building OS and Flash Images in the IDE User's Guide.
Linker: Compiling and Debugging in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; qcc and related utilities in its "See also" section in the Utilities Reference.
Makefile structure: Developing C/C++ Programs in the IDE User's Guide; Conventions for Makefiles and Directories in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
Memory management: mem*, mmap*, posix_mem*, and malloc() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Heap Analysis: Making Memory Errors a Thing of the Past in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; Finding Memory Errors in the IDE User's Guide.
Message passing: Msg*, Connect*, and Channel* in QNX Neutrino Library Reference. See also "IPC," above.
Message queues: mq_* functions in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; mqueue and mq in the Utilities Reference.
Multicore systems: Multicore Processing in the System Architecture guide; the Multicore TDK User's Guide; procnto* in the Utilities Reference.
Native networking (Qnet): See "Transparent distributed processing," below.
Network drivers: Network DDK; devn-* drivers in the Utilities Reference.
Package filesystem: Working with Filesystems in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; fs-pkg in the Utilities Reference.
Permissions (on files, directories): Managing User Accounts and Working with Files chapters in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; chmod(), stat(), and umask() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; chmod in the Utilities Reference.
Power management: Power Management User's Guide; InterruptHookIdle() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Process manager: procnto* in Utilities Reference; procmgr_* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Processes: Processes in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; exec*, fork*, and spawn* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Profiler (application): Profiling an Application in the IDE User's Guide.
Profiler (system): Analyzing Your System with Kernel Tracing in the IDE User's Guide.
Pulses: MsgSendPulse(), MsgReceivePulse(), and pulse_* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; "Handling private messages and pulses" in the chapter on writing resource managers in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
QoS (Quality of Service): "Quality of Service and multiple paths" in the Native Networking (Qnet) chapter in System Architecture; netmgr_ndtostr() in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
RAM disk: io-blk.so (using ramdisk=size option), devb-ram, and devf-ram in the Utilities Reference.
Realtime scheduling: Sched* functions and sched_param structure in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Resource management: Writing a Resource Manager in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; resmgr_* and iofunc_* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Resources, sharing among competing processes: Adaptive Partitioning TDK User's Guide
Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP): Multicore Processing in the System Architecture guide; the Multicore TDK User's Guide; procnto* in the Utilities Reference.
Self-hosted development: Compiling and Debugging in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
Signal handling: sigaction() and related functions via its "See also" section in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Startup programs: Customizing Image Startup Programs in Building Embedded Systems; startup-* in the Utilities Reference.
Synchronization: Sync* functions in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
System information: pidin and sin in the Utilities Reference; Analyzing Your System with Kernel Tracing in the IDE User's Guide; Fine-Tuning Your System in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide.
Target agent (qconn): qconn in the Utilities Reference; IDE Concepts in the IDE User's Guide.
Threads: pthread_* and Thread* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Programming Overview in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide.
Time: Configuring Your Environment in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; Clock*, time(), and related functions via their "See also" sections in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Timestamps (for files): touch in the Utilities Reference; utime() and related functions via its "See also" section in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Timers: alarm(), Timer*, and timer_* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
Transparent distributed processing: Using Qnet for Transparent Distributed Processing in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; Transparent Distributed Processing via Qnet in the QNX Neutrino Programmer's Guide; npm-qnet.so in the Utilities Reference; netmgr_* in the QNX Neutrino Library Reference.
USB: Connecting Hardware in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; devu-*, devh-usb.so, devi-hid, and io-usb in the Utilities Reference; USB DDK.
Unicode: "Wide-character functions" in the Summary of Functions chapter of the QNX Neutrino Library Reference; Unicode Multilingual Support in the Photon Programmer's Guide.
Version control: Managing Source Code in the IDE User's Guide; Using CVS in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; cvs in the Utilities Reference.
Web server (slinger): Setting Up an Embedded Web Server in the QNX Neutrino User's Guide; slinger in the Utilities Reference.
XIP (execute in place): Building OS and Flash Images in the IDE User's Guide; Writing an IPL Program in Building Embedded Systems.

Getting quick help with the `use` command

Similar to the UNIX man command, Neutrino presents a simple usage message for each command-line utility. At the OS system prompt, type:

use utility_name

and you'll see a brief description as well as the command-line options for that utility.

Hover help in the IDE

When working on your projects in the IDE's editor, whenever you hover your mouse pointer over a function name in a line of code, you'll see a popup text box containing that function's purpose and synopsis (provided that it's a documented Neutrino function).

For details, see the chapter on C/C++ development in the IDE User's Guide.

Other sources of technical help

The first place to look for help is in the QNX Momentics documentation, but if you still have problems, there are several other avenues of help:

http://www.qnx.com
Eclipse consortium
related sites
newsgroups

Visit `http://www.qnx.com`

The QNX Software Systems website (http://www.qnx.com) offers help on using QNX Momentics through such facilities as:

detailed lists of supported hardware
Developer Support Center, which has many technical articles and other resources
Legal area, which gives details on product licensing
Partners area, which includes lists of distributors and resellers around the world
and more

If you log into your myQNX account, you can register your products and support plans and gain access to protected areas of the website. The Developer Support Center and Download Center areas have additional links and content. You might also be given access to public and private newsgroups; see "Try the newsgroups," below.

Eclipse consortium

For general help with Eclipse, the open platform for our IDE, visit the Eclipse consortium website (http://www.eclipse.org). There you'll find valuable support in the form of newsgroups, mailing lists, articles, and more.

Related sites

Neutrino users form an active community worldwide. Listed below (in alphabetical order) are just a few of the community websites devoted to the OS:

For the current list of community resources, see the Developer Support Center area of our website, http://www.qnx.com.

Try the newsgroups

The public support forums (qdn.public.* and comp.os.qnx) are a very useful way to get help. Several newsgroups are available from our news server:

news://inn.qnx.com.

Members of the Neutrino user community at large as well as our own developers and staff frequent these newsgroups daily.

Your support plan might also give you access to private newsgroups via news://nntp.qnx.com.

Support plans

You can access a wide range of support resources, depending on the particular support plan that you purchase. We offer two main levels of support:

Standard: Includes Help Center access (phone, fax, or email), online account access, product updates, and bug reporting/tracking.
Priority: Comes in three varieties: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. In addition to the Standard services, Priority services range from private email addresses and newsgroups to training and even design review.

For more information about our technical support offerings, including email addresses and telephone numbers, please see the Services section of our website (http://www.qnx.com).

Training

QNX training services offers many hands-on courses at your choice of location (QNX headquarters, various training centers around the world, or your site). For details, including the current training schedule, see the Training area in the Services section of our website (http://www.qnx.com).

Custom engineering and consulting

Depending on the nature of your particular project, you may choose to engage us to help in areas such as:

custom BSPs
device driver development
hardware troubleshooting and integration
application development
migration/porting services

For more information, contact your local sales representative.

QNX Developer Support