dthelpgen
user cmd
dthelpgen
generates a top-level help browser volume
dthelpgen
−dirdirectory
options
DESCRIPTION
The
dthelpgen utility searches for all CDE help family files
installed and registered, and generates a help
volume named browser,
which contains hypertext links to all help
families and volumes found.
By default, the scope of this search
includes only the local system; however, it can be extended to remote
systems using the environment variables described below.
The
dthelpgen utility only updates the
browser
help volume if new family files or volumes are detected within
the search path directories.
In the case where no new family files are present,
dthelpgen exits.
If new files are present,
dthelpgen posts an information dialog telling the user that it's updating the
browser
volume.
By viewing the
browser
help volume and traversing its
hypertext links, the user can navigate through all of the registered
online help information.
To view the
browser
volume, select the Help Viewer control from
the desktop's Front Panel.
The top level of the
browser
volume lists product
families.
The second level, under each family,
lists the volumes that are members of the product family.
CDE users or system administrators typically do not need
to interact directly with the
dthelpgen utility.
A
browser
volume is generated (when one does not already exist, or is
out of date) when the user selects the Help Viewer control
from the CDE front panel.
A
browser
volume is also generated when the user executes the
ReloadApps Action, or runs
dthelpgen directly from a terminal window.
In the first two cases, the resulting
browser
volume is placed in the user's
$HOME/.dt/help/$DTUSERSESSION directory.
When running
dthelpgen from a terminal window, the −dir option must be used to specify
the location to create the resulting
browser
file.
OPTIONS
The following options are available:
−generate
Specifies that
dthelpgen unconditionally regenerate the
browser
volume
without first checking if new families or help volumes are present.
−dir directory
Specifies the directory to deposit the generated files.
The specification can use substitution values.
The ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
heading describes the substitution values allowed and their effect.
If the environment variable
LANG is not set or is
NULL, it is forced to
C.
−file basename
Specifies the base name for the files generated by
dthelpgen. The default
name is
browser.
Extensions are appended to
basename to create
the file names for the
help
volume.
−lang language
Specifies which language directories to search for
help
Family files and
help volumes.
If this option is not set, the default
LANG value is used.
If the
−lang value is set, it takes precedence over the current environment's
LANG setting.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
The CDE help system uses two environment variables for locating
help
volumes and Family files within the desktop environment:
DTHELPSEARCHPATH
System search path environment variable for locating
help
volumes on local and/or remote nfs mounted systems.
DTHELPUSERSEARCHPATH
Users
search path environment variable for locating user
specific
help
volumes on local and/or remote nfs mounted systems.
The environment variables contain colon-separated lists of directory paths.
Each directory path can contain both environment variable names as well as
special field descriptors that are expanded at runtime.
Field descriptors consist of a percentage (%) symbol
followed by a single character.
Field descriptors and their substitution values are:
%H
This value is replaced with the current volume or family name being searched
for.
%L
Replaced with the current value of the
LANG environment variable.
%%
Replaced with a single %.
For example, given:
DTHELPSEARCHPATH="/etc/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H.sdl"
The
dthelpgen utility looks for files ending with .hf
in the directory
/etc/dt/appconfig/$LANG. To find the volumes listed in each .hf
file,
dthelpgen looks in
/etc/dt/help/appconfig/$LANG/%H.sdl with %H
replaced with the name of the volume listed in the Family file.
The
dthelpgen utility uses both
DTHELPUSERSEARCHPATH and
DTHELPSEARCHPATH. The default value for
DTHELPUSERSEARCHPATH is:
$HOME/.dt/help/$DTUSERSESSION/%H:
$HOME/.dt/help/$DTUSERSESSION/%H.sdl:
$HOME/.dt/help/$DTUSERSESSION/%H.hv:
$HOME/.dt/help/%H:
$HOME/.dt/help/%H.sdl:
$HOME/.dt/help/%H.hv
The
DTHELPUSERSEARCH is first searched for the requested volume.
If the volume is not found, the
DTHELPSEARCHPATH value is searched.
The default value for
DTHELPSEARCHPATH path is:
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H:
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H.sdl:
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H.hv:
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/C/%H:
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/C/%H.sdl:
/etc/dt/appconfig/help/C/%H.hv:
/usr/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H:
/usr/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H.sdl:
/usr/dt/appconfig/help/%L/%H.hv:
/usr/dt/appconfig/help/C/%H:
/usr/dt/appconfig/help/C/%H.sdl:
/usr/dt/appconfig/help/C/%H.hv
INPUT FILES
The following are input files used by
dthelpgen.
<file>.hf
runtime Help Family file, accessed directly by
dthelpgen.
<file>.sdl
runtime Help volume file(s), accessed indirectly through explicit
references within the Help Family file.
OUTPUT FILES
The following are descriptions of the output files generated by
dthelpgen.
browser.hv
The master runtime browser Help volume file generated by
dthelpgen.
browser00.ht & browser01.ht
Runtime browser Help topic files generated by
dthelpgen.
Warning Messages
Zero Volume files found
Indicates that none of the volumes specified in the Family files are
registered in the system.
Zero Family files found
Indicates that no Family files are registered in the system.
Error Messages
Element of path is not a directory
Indicates that some part of the path is not a directory.
Access denied for directory path.
Try running as super user?"
Indicates that some part of path does not allow the caller read,
access or write permission.
Element of path does not exist
Indicates that some element of path does not exist or is misspelled.
File system containing path is full
Indicates that the disc containing the path does not contain any space
or inodes.
Unable to access path - error status number value
Indicates that there is an access problem of type
value occurred with path.
File system containing path is read only
Indicates that the disc containing the path is mounted read-only.
Requires root permission to write to path
Indicates that some part of the path does not allow the user write
permission.
Write to volume invalid
Indicates that volume does not have the correct write permissions
for the caller.
Search Path empty
Indicates that the environment variables.
DTHELPUSERSEARCHPATH and/or
DTHELPSEARCHPATH were declared but no paths were specified in the variables.
`title' resource missing
Indicates that the title resource in a Family file is missing.
`abstract' resource missing
Indicates that the abstract resource in a Family file is missing.
`volumes' resource missing
Indicates that the volumes resource in a Family file is missing.
`character' set resource missing
Indicates that the CharSet resource in a Family file is missing.
Unable to access current working directory - error status number value
Indicates that the −dir option was specified with a relative path and that
dthelpgen is unable to get the current working directory.
Unable to allocate memory
System resources are used up, no available memory,
dthelpgen aborts execution.
Destination directory missing
Missing
directory value for
−dir option.
Invalid system language specified
Non-supported value used with the
−lang option.
EXAMPLES
dthelpgen −dir $HOME/.dt/help
Creates, if required, a new
browser
help volume in the users home directory under .dt/help/.
dthelpview −dir $HOME/.dt/help -generate
Forces the creation of a new
browser
help volume and places it in the users home directory under .dt/help/.
SEE ALSO
&cdeman.dthelpview;, &cdeman.dtsearchpath;, &cdeman.dthffile;, CDE Help System Author's and Programmer's Guide.