Help Explorer view

The help explorer lists all the contributions and contributors to the Eclipse help system. It can be displayed using the main menu path Window | Show View and following the tree path Eclipse Introspection | Help Explorer in the dialog Show View.

The tree view has four main sections Plug-ins, Table of Contents, Extensions - Table of Contents, and Extensions - Contexts. These main sections are described in the section View Items below.

The Help Explorer view looks as following:

View Items

The items of the view break down the help system into its components and elements. The latter are either grouped according to their category or by the plug-ins adding them to the help system. This way, you may approach the view from either knowing the defining plug-in and extension point or the help system title and texts. Simplifying the task of identifying help items to be used or referred to in your own plug-in.

Selected entries can reveal the contents of referenced files in the Source view. Attributes and properties of selected items are listed in the property

 Extensions - Contexts

Root entry of all extensions to the extension-point org.eclipse.help.contexts defining contexts to be used by context help popup windows, the so called Infopops. There is also one entry of this type for every plug-in entry described later. Such entries are only listing contexts defined by that plug-in.

 Extensions - Table of Contents

Root entry of all extensions to the extension-point org.eclipse.help.toc introducing entries for the table of contents of the Eclipse help system. There is also one entry of this type for every plug-in entry described later. Those entries list contributions to the table of contents defined by that plug-in.

 Plug-ins

Root entry of all plug-ins that contribute to the Eclipse help system in one or another way.

 Table of Contents

Is the root for all the entries of the table of contents. The items are shown exactly like the help window would present them. Subentries and their properties of this node can be used to identify their origin.

 Plug-in

Entry representing a plug-in that adds to the help system.

 Extension

An extension to one of the help extension-points org.eclipse.help.toc or org.eclipse.help.contexts. Extensions are entries of the manifest file plugin.xml of a plug-in. An example for a table of contents extension is:

	<extension
		id="toc"
		name="Help Table of Contents"
		point="org.eclipse.help.toc">
		<toc
			file="toc_Concepts.xml">
		</toc>
		<toc
			file="toc_Tasks.xml">
		</toc>
		<toc
			file="toc_Reference.xml">
		</toc>
	</extension>

A typical extension entry for a context looks like the following:

	<extension
		id="net.sourceforge.eclipse.introspection.help.contexts"
		name="Help Contexts"
		point="org.eclipse.help.contexts">
		<contexts
			file="context_ViewsAndEditors.xml">
		</contexts>
		<contexts
			file="contexts_Workbench.xml"
			plugin="org.eclipse.platform.doc.user">
		</contexts>
	</extension>

 Configuration Element

Extensions are using configuration elements to define in which way they extend the extension-point. Configuration elements for help system extensions mainly point to XML-based files that further specify the help contributions. There are files for contexts and file for table of contents that are referenced in configuration elements. The file attribute points at the file to contain the help elements. An optional plugin attribute permits accessing files of other plug-ins. Table of contents files can be linked to by such configuration elements:

		<toc
			file="toc_Concepts.xml">
		</toc>
		<toc
			file="toc_Tasks.xml">
		</toc>
		<toc
			file="toc_Reference.xml">
		</toc>

Context files are referred to like following:

		<contexts
			file="context_ViewsAndEditors.xml">
		</contexts>
		<contexts
			file="contexts_Workbench.xml"
			plugin="org.eclipse.platform.doc.user">
		</contexts>

 Table of Contents Element

Elements in files for table of contents may define which entries are to be listed and their hierarchical relationship. Topic entries may exist to reference HTML files, collect other subtopics without referencing HTML files themselves. Even links to other table of context files to include all their elements at the regarding level are available.

<toc label="Eclipse Introspection User Guide" topic="doc/book.html">
	<topic label="Overview" href="doc/overview.html"/>
	<topic label="Reference">
		<link toc="toc_Reference.xml"/>
	</topic>
</toc>

or  Topic Element

Topic elements structure the table of contents and may specify HTML or other files that can be displayed in the help browser. They can also have subtobics and be there for the mere purpose of grouping them.

 Context Element

Contexts are elements of context files, thereby made available for a later call in the plug-in. They define short texts to be displayed in popup windows when the user presses the key F1. Optional references to HTML files allow these popups to offer hyperlinks that provide more information in the help window. An example for a context file may look like:

<contexts>
	<context id="PlatformExplorer">
		<description>This view shows the internals of the Eclipse platform. </description>
		<topic label="Views" href="../org.eclipse.platform.doc.user/concepts/concepts-5.htm"/>
		<topic label="Platform Explorer" href="doc/reference/views_and_editors/platform_explorer.html"/>
	</context>
	<context id="HelpExplorer">
		<description>This view shows the contributions and contributors to the Eclipse help system. </description>
		<topic label="Views" href="../org.eclipse.platform.doc.user/concepts/concepts-5.htm"/>
		<topic label="Help Explorer" href="doc/reference/views_and_editors/help_explorer.html"/>
	</context>
</contexts>

 Hyperlink Reference

If a context intends to offer more information to a certain topic than would fit into the popup window, it may define hyperlink references to other browsable files.

View Commands

 Search

Searches for any kind of entry in the viewer. Mathing entries contain the search text and become the new selection in the tree. The started Search dialog accepts a search text. Selecting the Search button starts a search from the currently selected item downwards. The search wraps at the end of the items and starts from the beginning if no entry could be found from the selected entry on.

 Show in Help Window

If the selected entry references a help resource like an HTML file or a GIF image, this action becomes available. It brings up the help window and displays the referenced item. This command is also activated on a double click on such entries.

 Show Context

This command becomes enabled on selected context entries and shows the regarding infopop. A double click on context entries triggers this action as well.

 Go Home

Returns to the initial root level in case a previos call of the action Go Into made a child node the current root of the tree view.

 Go Back

Returns to the previous root level in case a previos call of the action Go Into made a child node the current root of the tree view.

 Go Into

Makes the selected child node the current root of the tree view.

Navigating the help system
Adding to the table of contents
Adding context sensitive help

Source view
Properties view
Extension-point org.eclipse.help.toc
Extension-point org.eclipse.help.contexts