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PxHelpTopic()

Display help information identified by a topic path

Synopsis:

#include <photon/PxHelp.h>

int PxHelpTopic( char *topic );

Description:

PxHelpTopic() tells the Helpviewer to display the help text located by the given topic path.

PxHelpTopic() spawns the Helpviewer if it isn't running, or sends a message to the Helpviewer if it is. Using this function, a Photon application can respond to a help request from the user by telling the Helpviewer to display the relevant help information.

If the topic path is relative (i.e. it doesn't start with a /), it's appended to the root topic path specified in an earlier call to PxHelpTopicRoot().

Returns:

0 on success, or -1 if the Helpviewer couldn't be found or spawned.


Note: PxHelpTopic() returns immediately, before the help topic has been displayed.

Examples:

The following example shows a fragment from a hypothetical application built using PhAB. This application first sets up a topic root for all help requests; it then displays help for a particular part of the application in response to a callback (which could be attached to a hotkey, for example).

#include <Pt.h>
#include <photon/PxHelp.h>

void main( void )
{
    ...
    PxHelpTopicRoot(
       "/Photon microGUI/Installation & Configuration/pdm" );
    ...
}

int HelpCallback( PtWidget_t * widget, ApInfo_t * apinfo, 
                  PtCallbackInfo_t * cbinfo )
{
    ...
    if( widget == ABW_PDMConsole )
        PxHelpTopic( "Console Switching" );
    ...
    return( Pt_CONTINUE );
}

Classification:

Photon

Safety:
Interrupt handler No
Signal handler No
Thread No

See also:

PxHelpQuit(), PxHelpSearch(), PxHelpTopicRoot(), PxHelpTopicTree(), PxHelpUrl(), PxHelpUrlRoot()

Context-Sensitive Help chapter of the Photon Programmer's Guide


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