NAME

helpviewer - OpenWindows viewer for on-line help handbooks

SYNOPSIS

helpviewer -f help-handbook-file

DESCRIPTION

helpviewer is an OpenWindows application for viewing and navigating on-line help handbooks.

helpviewer lets you page through a help handbook, magnify or reduce pages, and follow hypertext links and table-of-contents entries within a handbook and to other handbooks. Because help handbooks are in PostScript format, they may contain high quality fonts and graphics.

You should not start helpviewer directly. It is started automatically by OpenWindows when you click SELECT on the "More" button in a spot help window, or when you select the "Help..." item in the OpenWindows root menu.

OPTIONS

helpviewer accepts most of the generic tool arguments described in xview(7), as well as the following options:

-f help-handbook-file

Specify the name of the help handbook to be viewed. This file name should be specified relative to a directory in $HELPPATH (see ENVIRONMENT below).

USAGE

Once a help handbook is displayed in the helpviewer window, you can view it as follows:

Page Turning

Click SELECT on the left and right arrow buttons at the top of the helpviewer window to page back and forth through a handbook. The PgUp and PgDn keys on the keyboard perform the same functions. In addition, the Home and End keys let you page through a handbook one chapter at a time.

Page History

helpviewer keeps track of each page visited. Click SELECT on the Go Back button until the window returns to the page you want to revisit, or use the Undo keyboard function.

Hypertext Links

helpviewer has a simple hypertext mechanism. Hypertext links are displayed as rectangular outlines around words or graphics on a page. Double-clicking SELECT on a link causes helpviewer to display the handbook and page to which the link points. Handbooks may have links to other handbooks. Certain types of hypertext links can also initiate system processes. Double-clicking on these links will start up a program or shell script.

Page Magnification

Magnify or reduce the size of the handbook by pulling the resize corners on the helpviewer window, or select the "View->Custom Magnification" menu item. Select the "View->Standard Magnification" menu item to reset the handbook to the standard size. For very high magnifications, select the "View->Partial Page"

menu item so that the helpviewer window still fits on the screen.

ENVIRONMENT

HELPPATH

This environment variable must be set to the directories that contain help handbooks (e.g. $OPENWINHOME/lib/locale:$OPENWINHOME/lib/help). The helpviewer uses the $HELPPATH variable to locate handbook files. $HELPPATH is typically set automatically during the OpenWindows startup process, so it is not usually necessary to set it yourself.

SEE ALSO

helpopen(1)

DIAGNOSTICS

helpviewer(1) displays PostScript error messages in the console.

NOTES

PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.