Configuration/setup
This section contains topics related to installing, configuring, and customizing
the help system to work in different environments and products.
Help modes
The help system can run in three modes: workbench (normal),
infocenter, and
standalone. Workbench mode is used
for serving help integrated with the product, usually via a Help menu. This mode
also offers context help and the help view, which are not available in the two other
modes. Standalone mode has the same goal as workbench mode, but is
for products that are not eclipse-based (the help will be less integrated).
Infocenter mode is used to serve help content to the masses
over the Web. Consult the links above for details.
Rich Client Platform (RCP) support
The Help system is an optional Rich Client Platform (RCP) component. That
is, it is not part of the minimal RCP, but
can beadded to it to provide help in your RCP application.
Product customization
Help provides
preferences that products
can use to customize the help system to their needs. These include
ways to customize branding, appearance, turn on/off functionality, etc.
Pre-indexing
For products that offer a large number of help documents, the initial indexing
phase that occurs when searching for the first time can be lengthy. To avoid this
delay, you can
pre-index your help contents
and ship the pre-built index along with your documentation. This is a trade-off
between performance (avoiding the indexing phase) and space (to store the index).
