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+/****************************************************************************
+**
+** Copyright (C) 2011 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
+** All rights reserved.
+** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
+**
+** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
+**
+** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
+** No Commercial Usage
+** This file contains pre-release code and may not be distributed.
+** You may use this file in accordance with the terms and conditions
+** contained in the Technology Preview License Agreement accompanying
+** this package.
+**
+** GNU Free Documentation License
+** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
+** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
+** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this
+** file.
+**
+** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
+** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
+** $QT_END_LICENSE$
+**
+****************************************************************************/
+
+/*!
+ \page assistant.html
+ \title Qt Assistant
+
+ \chapter Introduction
+
+ This document introduces \e{Qt Assistant}, a tool for presenting on-line
+ documentation. It also introduces the Qt Reference Documentation which
+ is accessible using \e{Qt Assistant}, or with a web browser. The document is
+ divided into the following sections:
+
+ Table of contents:
+
+ \list
+ \o \l{Introduction}
+ \o \l{The One-Minute Guide to Using Qt Assistant}
+ \o \l{Introduction to the Qt Reference Documentation}
+ \o \l{Qt Assistant in More Detail}
+ \o \l{Full Text Searching}
+ \endlist
+
+ \chapter The One-Minute Guide to Using Qt Assistant
+
+ Once you have installed Qt, \QA should be ready to run:
+
+ \list
+ \o On Windows, \QA is available as a menu option on the Qt menu.
+ \o On Mac OS X, \QA is installed in the /Developer/Applications/Qt directory.
+ \o On Unix/Linux, open a terminal, type \c{assistant} and press \key{Enter}.
+ \endlist
+
+ When you start up \QA, you will be presented with a standard main window
+ application, with a menu bar and toolbar. Below these, on the left hand
+ side are navigation windows called \e{Contents}, \e{Index} and \e{Bookmarks}.
+ On the right, taking up most of the space, is the \e{Documentation} window.
+ By default, \QA loads the Qt reference documentation along with the manuals
+ of other Qt tools, like \QD or \QL.
+
+ \QA works in a similar way to a Web browser. If you click hyperlinks
+ (cross-references), the \e{Documentation} window will present the relevant
+ page. You can bookmark pages of particular interest and you can click the
+ \gui{Previous} and \gui{Next} toolbar buttons to navigate within the pages
+ you have visited.
+
+ Although \QA can be used just like a Web browser to navigate through
+ the documentation, \QA offers a powerful means of navigation that Web
+ browsers do not provide. \QA uses an advanced full text search engine
+ to index all the pages in each compressed help file so that you can
+ search for particular words and phrases.
+
+ To perform an index search, click the \gui{Index} tab on the Sidebar
+ (or press \key{Alt+I}). In the \gui{'Look For'} line edit enter a word;
+ e.g., 'homedirpath'. As you type, words are found and highlighted in a list
+ beneath the line edit. If the highlighted text matches what you're
+ looking for, double click it, (or press \key{Enter}) and the
+ \e{Documentation} window will display the relevant page. You rarely have
+ to type in the whole word before \QA finds a match. Note that for some
+ words there may be more than one possible page that is relevant.
+
+ \QA also provides full text searching for finding specific words in
+ the documentation. To activate the full text search, either press \key(Alt+S)
+ or click on the \gui{Search} tab in the \e{Documentation} window. Then
+ enter the term you're looking for and hit the \gui{Search} button. All
+ documents containing the specified term will then be listed in the list box
+ below.
+
+ \chapter Introduction to the Qt Reference Documentation
+
+ The documentation for the Qt library is written in-line in the \c
+ .cpp files by the developers themselves. The documentation team
+ revises the documentation to ensure that it is accurate and usable,
+ and to provide quality control. The documentation team also writes the
+ larger texts, such as the class descriptions that introduce a class
+ along with the concepts the class uses, as well as introducing the
+ functions and properties that the class provides.
+
+ The documentation focuses on the API rather than the internals, since
+ we make great efforts to keep our API consistent and compatible with
+ each new version, but we may change the internals considerably to improve
+ performance and enhance functionality.
+
+ The Qt Reference Documentation consists of almost 1,500 HTML pages
+ (over 2,500 printed pages). The overwhelming majority of pages
+ document Qt classes. Since developers differ in the way they
+ think and work we provide a variety of approaches to navigating the
+ documentation set:
+
+ \list
+ \i The \menu{Qt's Classes} page lists every class
+ in Qt's public API, and consists of several hundred classes.
+ \i The \menu{Qt's Main Classes} page lists the
+ classes you're most likely to use most often, and provides a much
+ shorter and more managable list than the All Classes list.
+ \i The \menu{Grouped Classes} page presents a list
+ of groups, each of which leads to a list of related classes, for
+ example, the \menu{Advanced Widgets} list.
+ \i The \menu{Class Inheritance Hierarchy} page
+ presents a list of classes in terms of the hierarchy of Qt classes.
+ \i The \menu{Member Function Index} page lists all the
+ functions provided by Qt classes, each one with links to the class(es)
+ in which it appears.
+ \endlist
+
+ No matter where you find yourself in the Qt documentation, you will
+ find extensive cross-referencing. Even snippets of example code
+ contain clickable links, so that for example, if you come across a
+ class declaration in a code example, the class name will be a
+ clickable link to the class's documentation.
+
+ In addition to the class documentation some of Qt's modules have
+ extensive descriptions, and there are many overview documents which
+ describe various aspects of the Qt library; all these are linked from
+ the reference documentation home page. There are also two tutorials
+ and numerous example programs in the examples subdirectory of the Qt
+ distribution.
+
+ \chapter Qt Assistant in More Detail
+
+ \img assistant-assistant.png
+
+ \section1 Command Line Options
+
+ \QA handles the following command line options:
+
+ \table
+ \header
+ \o Command Line Option
+ \o Brief Description
+ \row
+ \o -collectionFile <file.qhc>
+ \o Uses the specified collection file instead of the default one.
+ \row
+ \o -showUrl URL
+ \o Shows the document referenced by URL.
+ \row
+ \o -enableRemoteControl
+ \o Enables \QA to be remotly controlled.
+ \row
+ \o -show <widget>
+ \o Shows the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index",
+ "bookmarks" or "search".
+ \row
+ \o -hide <widget>
+ \o Hides the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index",
+ "bookmarks" or "search.
+ \row
+ \o -activate <widget>
+ \o Activates the specified dockwidget which can be "contents",
+ "index", "bookmarks" or "search.
+ \row
+ \o -register <doc.qch>
+ \o Registers the specified compressed help file in the given help
+ collection.
+ \row
+ \o -unregister <doc.qch>
+ \o Unregisters the specified compressed help file from the given
+ collection file.
+ \row
+ \o -quiet
+ \o Doesn't show any error, warning or success messages.
+ \endtable
+
+ \section1 Tool Windows
+
+ \img assistant-dockwidgets.png
+
+ The tool windows provide four ways to navigate the documentation:
+
+ \list
+ \o The \gui{Contents} window presents a table of contents implemented as a
+ tree view for the documentation that is available. If you click an item,
+ its documentation will appear in the \e{Documentation} window. If you double
+ click an item or click on the control to the left of it, the item's sub-items
+ will appear. Click a sub-item to make its page appear in the \e{Documentation}
+ window. Click on the control next to an open item to hide its sub-items.
+ \o The \gui{Index} window is used to look up key words or phrases.
+ See \l{The One-Minute Guide to Using Qt Assistant} for how to use this
+ window.
+ \o The \gui{Bookmarks} window lists any bookmarks you have made. Double
+ click a bookmark to make its page appear in the \e{Documentation} window.
+ The \gui{Bookmarks} window provides a context menu with \gui{Show Item},
+ \gui{Delete Item} as well as \gui{Rename Item}. Click in the main menu
+ \menu{Bookmark|Add Bookmark...} (or press \key{Ctrl+B}) to bookmark the
+ page that is currently showing in the \e{Documentation} window. Right click
+ a bookmark in the list to rename or delete the highlighted bookmark.
+ \endlist
+
+ If you want the \gui{Documentation} window to use as much space as possible,
+ you can easily group, move or hide the tool windows. To group the windows,
+ drag one on top of the other and release the mouse. If one or all tool
+ windows are not shown, press \key{Alt+C}, \key{Alt+I} or \key{Alt+O} to show
+ the required window.
+
+ The tool windows can be docked into the main window, so you can drag them
+ to the top, left, right or bottom of \e{Qt Assistant's} window, or you can
+ drag them outside \QA to float them as independent windows.
+
+ \section1 Documentation Window
+
+ \img assistant-docwindow.png
+
+ The \gui{Documentation} window lets you create a tab for each
+ documentation page that you view. Click the \gui{Add Tab} button and a new
+ tab will appear with the page name as the tab's caption. This makes it
+ convenient to switch between pages when you are working with different
+ documentation. You can delete a tab by clicking the \gui{Close Tab} button
+ located on the right side of the \gui{Documentation} window.
+
+ \section1 Toolbars
+
+ \img assistant-toolbar.png
+
+ The main toolbar provides fast access to the most common actions.
+
+ \table
+ \header \o Action \o Description \o Menu Item \o Shortcut
+ \row \o \gui{Previous} \o Takes you to the previous page in the history.
+ \o \menu{Go|Previous} \o \key{Alt+Left Arrow}
+ \row \o \gui{Next} \o Takes you to the next page in the history.
+ \o \menu{Go|Next} \o \key{Alt+Right Arrow}
+ \row \o \gui{Home}
+ \o Takes you to the home page as specified in the Preferences Dialog.
+ \o \menu{Go|Home} \o \key{Ctrl+Home}.
+ \row \o \gui{Sync with Table of Contents}
+ \o Synchronizes the \gui{Contents} tool window with the page currently
+ shown in the \gui{Documentation} window.
+ \o \menu{Go|Sync with Table of Contents} \o
+ \row \o \gui{Copy} \o Copies any selected text to the clipboard.
+ \o \menu{Edit|Copy} \o \key{Ctrl+C}
+ \row \o \gui{Print} \o Opens the \gui{Print} dialog.
+ \o \menu{File|Print} \o \key{Ctrl+P}
+ \row \o \gui{Find in Text} \o Opens the \gui{Find Text} dialog.
+ \o \menu{Edit|Find in Text} \o \key{Ctrl+F}
+ \row \o \gui{Zoom in}
+ \o Increases the font size used to display text in the current tab.
+ \o \menu{View|Zoom in} \o \key{Ctrl++}
+ \row \o \gui{Zoom out}
+ \o Decreases the font size used to display text in the current tab.
+ \o \menu{View|Zoom out} \o \key{Ctrl+-}
+ \row \o \gui{Normal Size}
+ \o Resets the font size to its normal size in the current tab.
+ \o \menu{View|Normal Size} \o \key{Ctrl+0}
+ \endtable
+
+ \img assistant-address-toolbar.png
+
+ The address toolbar provides a fast way to enter a specific URL for a
+ documentation file. By default, the address toolbar is not shown, so it
+ has to be activated via \menu{View|Toolbars|Address Toolbar}.
+
+ \img assistant-filter-toolbar.png
+
+ The filter toolbar allows you to apply a filter to the currently installed
+ documentation. As with the address toolbar, the filter toolbar is not visible
+ by default and has to be activated via \menu{View|Toolbars|Filter Toolbar}.
+
+ \section1 Menus
+
+ \section2 File Menu
+
+ \list
+ \o \menu{File|Page Setup...} invokes a dialog allowing you to define
+ page layout properties, such as margin sizes, page orientation and paper size.
+ \o \menu{File|Print Preview...} provides a preview of the printed pages.
+ \o \menu{File|Print...} opens the \l{#Print Dialog}{\gui{Print} dialog}.
+ \o \menu{File|New Tab} opens a new empty tab in the \gui{Documentation}
+ window.
+ \o \menu{File|Close Tab} closes the current tab of the
+ \gui{Documentation} window.
+ \o \menu{File|Exit} closes the \QA application.
+ \endlist
+
+ \section2 Edit Menu
+
+ \list
+ \o \menu{Edit|Copy} copies any selected text to the clipboard.
+ \o \menu{Edit|Find in Text} invokes the \l{#Find Text Control}{\gui{Find Text}
+ control} at the lower end of the \gui{Documentation} window.
+ \o \menu{Edit|Find Next} looks for the next occurance of the specified
+ text in the \gui{Find Text} control.
+ \o \menu{Edit|Find Previous} looks for the previous occurance of
+ the specified text in the \l{#Find Text Control}{\gui{Find Text} control}.
+ \o \menu{Edit|Preferences} invokes the \l{#Preferences Dialog}{\gui{Preferences} dialog}.
+ \endlist
+
+ \section2 View Menu
+
+ \list
+ \o \menu{View|Zoom in} increases the font size in the current tab.
+ \o \menu{View|Zoom out} decreases the font size in the current tab.
+ \o \menu{View|Normal Size} resets the font size in the current tab.
+ \o \menu{View|Contents} toggles the display of the \gui{Contents} tool window.
+ \o \menu{View|Index} toggles the display of the \gui{Index} tool window.
+ \o \menu{View|Bookmarks} toggles the display of the \gui{Bookmarks} tool window.
+ \o \menu{View|Search} toggles the display of the Search in the \gui{Documentation} window.
+ \endlist
+
+ \section2 Go Menu
+
+ \list
+ \o \menu{Go|Home} goes to the home page.
+ \o \menu{Go|Back} displays the previous page in the history.
+ \o \menu{Go|Forward} displays the next page in the history.
+ \o \menu{Go|Sync with Table of Contents} syncs the \gui{Contents} tool window to the currently shown page.
+ \o \menu{Go|Next Page} selects the next tab in the \gui{Documentation} window.
+ \o \menu{Go|Previous Page} selects the previous tab in the \gui{Documentation} window.
+ \endlist
+
+ \section2 Bookmarks Menu
+
+ \list
+ \o \menu{Bookmarks|Add} adds the current page to the list of bookmarks.
+ \endlist
+
+ \section1 Dialogs
+
+ \section2 Print Dialog
+
+ This dialog is platform-specific. It gives access to various printer
+ options and can be used to print the document shown in the current tab.
+
+ \section2 Preferences Dialog
+
+ \img assistant-preferences-fonts.png
+
+ The \menu{Fonts} page allows you to change the font family and font sizes of the
+ browser window displaying the documentation or the application itself.
+
+ \img assistant-preferences-filters.png
+
+ The \menu{Filters} page lets you create and remove documentation
+ filters. To add a new filter, click the \gui{Add} button, specify a
+ filter name in the pop-up dialog and click \gui{OK}, then select
+ the filter attributes in the list box on the right hand side.
+ You can delete a filter by selecting it and clicking the \gui{Remove}
+ button.
+
+ \img assistant-preferences-documentation.png
+
+ The \menu{Documentation} page lets you install and remove compressed help
+ files. Click the \gui{Install} button and choose the path of the compressed
+ help file (*.qch) you would like to install.
+ To delete a help file, select a documentation set in the list and click
+ \gui{Remove}.
+
+ \img assistant-preferences-options.png
+
+ The \menu{Options} page lets you specify the homepage \QA will display when
+ you click the \gui{Home} button in \QA's main user interface. You can specify
+ the hompage by typing it here or clicking on one of the buttons below the
+ textbox. \gui{Current Page} sets the currently displayed page as your home
+ page while \gui{Restore to default} will reset your home page to the default
+ home page.
+
+ \section1 Find Text Control
+
+ This control is used to find text in the current page. Enter the text you want
+ to find in the line edit. The search is incremental, meaning that the most
+ relevant result is shown as you enter characters into the line edit.
+
+ If you check the \gui{Whole words only} checkbox, the search will only consider
+ whole words; for example, if you search for "spin" with this checkbox checked it will
+ not match "spinbox", but will match "spin". If you check the \gui{Case sensitive}
+ checkbox then, for example, "spin" will match "spin" but not "Spin". You can
+ search forwards or backwards from your current position in the page by clicking
+ the \gui{Previous} or \gui{Next} buttons. To hide the find control, either click the
+ \gui{Close} button or hit the \key{Esc} key.
+
+ \section1 Filtering Help Contents
+
+ \QA allows you to install any kind of documentation as long as it is organized
+ in Qt compressed help files (*.qch). For example, it is possible to install the
+ Qt reference documentation for Qt 4.4.0 and Qt 4.4.1 at the same time. In many
+ respects, this is very convenient since only one version of \QA is needed.
+ However, at the same time it becomes more complicated when performing tasks like
+ searching the index because nearly every keyword is defined in Qt 4.4.0 as well
+ as in Qt 4.4.1. This means that \QA will always ask the user to choose which one
+ should be displayed.
+
+ We use documentation filters to solve this issue. A filter is identified by its
+ name, and contains a list of filter attributes. An attribute is just a string and
+ can be freely chosen. Attributes are defined by the documentation itself, this
+ means that every documentation set usually has one or more attributes.
+
+ For example, the Qt 4.4.0 \QA documentation defines the attributes \c {assistant},
+ \c{tools} and \c{4.4.0}, \QD defines \c{designer}, \c{tools} and \c{4.4.0}.
+ The filter to display all tools would then define only the attribute
+ \c{tools} since this attribute is part of both documentation sets.
+ Adding the attribute \c{assistant} to the filter would then only show \QA
+ documentation since the \QD documentation does not contain this
+ attribute. Having an empty list of attributes in a filter will match all
+ documentation; i.e., it is equivalent to requesting unfiltered documentation.
+
+ \section1 Full Text Searching
+
+ \img assistant-search.png
+
+ \QA provides a powerful full text search engine. To search
+ for certain words or text, click the \gui{Search} tab in the \gui{Documentation}
+ window. Then enter the text you want to look for and press \key{Enter}
+ or click the \gui{Search} button. The search is not case sensitive, so,
+ for example, Foo, fOo and FOO are all treated as the same. The following are
+ examples of common search patterns:
+
+ \list
+ \o \c deep -- lists all the documents that contain the word 'deep'
+ \o \c{deep*} -- lists all the documents that contain a word beginning
+ with 'deep'
+ \o \c{deep copy} -- lists all documents that contain both 'deep' \e
+ and 'copy'
+ \o \c{"deep copy"} -- list all documents that contain the phrase 'deep copy'
+ \endlist
+
+ It is also possible to use the \gui{Advanced search} to get more flexibility.
+ You can specify some words so that hits containing these are excluded from the
+ result, or you can search for an exact phrase. Searching for similar words will
+ give results like these:
+
+ \list
+ \o \c{QStin} -- lists all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString}
+ \o \c{QSting} -- lists all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString}
+ \o \c{QStrin} -- lists all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString}
+ \endlist
+
+ Options can be combined to improve the search results.
+
+ The list of documents found is ordered according to the number of
+ occurrences of the search text which they contain, with those containing
+ the highest number of occurrences appearing first. Simply click any
+ document in the list to display it in the \gui{Documentation} window.
+
+ If the documentation has changed \mdash for example, if documents have been added
+ or removed \mdash \QA will index them again.
+*/