path: root/src/assistant/assistant/doc/src/assistant-manual.qdoc

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/*!
    \page qtassistant-index.html
    \title Qt Assistant Manual
    \ingroup qttools

    \startpage {Qt Reference Pages}
    \nextpage Qt Assistant Quick Guide

    \keyword Qt Assistant

    \QA is a tool for viewing on-line documentation in Qt help file format.
    For more information about basic \QA functions, see
    \l{Qt Assistant Quick Guide}.

    Qt installations include a set of reference and tools documentation that
    you can view in the Qt Creator IDE and in \QA. You can add custom
    documentation to the set of documents displayed in the \QA main view. For
    detailed information about all \QA functions, see \l{Using Qt Assistant}.

    You can use \QA as the help viewer in your applications. You can display
    your own documentation and customize \QA to look and feel like part of your
    application. You can change the window title or icon, as well as menu texts
    and actions. For more information, see \l{Customizing Qt Assistant}.

    \section1 Table of Contents

    \list
        \li \l{Qt Assistant Quick Guide}
        \li \l{Using Qt Assistant}
        \li \l{Customizing Qt Assistant}
    \endlist
*/

/*!
    \page assistant-custom-help-viewer.html
    \title Customizing Qt Assistant

    \previouspage Using Qt Assistant

    Using \QA as custom help viewer requires more than just being able to
    display custom documentation. It is equally important that the
    appearance of \QA can be customized so that it is seen as a
    application-specific help viewer rather than \QA. This is achieved by
    changing the window title or icon, as well as some application-specific
    menu texts and actions. For a complete list of possible customizations,
    see \l{Creating a Custom Help Collection File}.

    Another requirement of a custom help viewer is the ability to receive
    actions or commands from the application it provides help for. This is
    especially important when the application offers context sensitive help.
    When used in this way, the help viewer may need to change its contents
    depending on the state the application is currently in. This means that
    the application has to communicate the current state to the help viewer.
    For more information, see \l{Using Qt Assistant Remotely}.

    The \l{Simple Text Viewer Example}{Simple Text Viewer} example uses the
    techniques described in this document to show how to use \QA as a custom
    help viewer for an application.

    \warning In order to ship Qt Assistant in your application, it is crucial
    that you include the sqlite plugin. For more information on how to include
    plugins in your application, refer to the \l{Deploying Qt Applications}
    {deployment documentation}.

    \section1 Qt Help Collection Files

    The first important point to know about \QA is that it stores all
    settings related to its appearance \e and a list of installed
    documentation in a help collection file. This means, when starting \QA
    with different collection files, \QA may look totally different. This
    complete separation of settings makes it possible to deploy \QA as a
    custom help viewer for more than one application on one machine
    without risk of interference between different instances of \QA.

    To apply a certain help collection to \QA, specify the respective
    collection file on the command line when starting it. For example:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 8

    However, storing all settings in one collection file raises some problems.
    The collection file is usually installed in the same directory as the
    application itself, or one of its subdirectories. Depending on the
    directory and the operating system, the user may not have any permissions
    to modify this file which would happen when the user settings are stored.
    Also, it may not even be possible to give the user write permissions, for
    example when the file is located on a read-only medium like a CD-ROM.

    Even if it is possible to give everybody the right to store their settings
    in a globally available collection file, the settings from one user would
    be overwritten by another user when exiting \QA.

    To solve this dilemma, \QA creates user specific collection files which
    are more or less copied from the original collection file. The user-specific
    collection file will be saved in a subdirectory of the path returned by
    QDesktopServices::DataLocation. The subdirectory, or \e{cache directory}
    within this user-specific location, can be defined in the help collection
    project file. For example:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 7

    So, when calling

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 8

    \QA actually uses the collection file:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 9

    There is no need ever to start \QA with the user specific collection
    file. Instead, the collection file shipped with the application should
    always be used. Also, when adding or removing documentation from the
    collection file (see next section) always use the normal collection file.
    \QA will take care of synchronizing the user collection files when the
    list of installed documentation has changed.

    \section1 Displaying Custom Documentation

    Before \QA is able to show documentation, it has to know where it can
    find the actual documentation files, meaning that it has to know the
    location of the Qt compressed help file (*.qch). As already mentioned,
    \QA stores references to the compressed help files in the currently used
    collection file. So, when creating a new collection file you can list
    all compressed help files \QA should display.

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 5

    Sometimes, depending on the application for which \QA acts as a
    help viewer, more documentation needs to be added over time; for
    example, when installing more application components or plugins.
    This can be done manually in \QA by selecting \gui Edit > \gui Preferences
    > \gui Documentation. However, this approach has the disadvantage
    that every user has to do it manually to get access to the new
    documentation.

    The preferred way of adding documentation to an already existing collection
    file is to use the \c{-register} command line flag of \QA. When starting
    \QA with this flag, the documentation will be added and \QA will
    exit right away displaying a message if the registration was successful
    or not.

    The search indexing will only index your custom *.html, *.htm,
    and *.txt files.

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 6

    The \c{-quiet} flag can be passed on to \QA to prevent it from writing
    out the status message.

    \note \QA shows the documentation in the \gui Contents view in the same
    order as it was registered.


    \section1 Changing the Appearance of Qt Assistant

    The appearance of \QA can be changed by passing different command line options
    on startup. However, these command line options only allow to show or hide
    specific widgets, like the contents or index view. Other customizations, such
    as changing the application title or icon, or disabling the filter functionality,
    can be done by creating a custom help collection file.

    \section2 Creating a Custom Help Collection File

    The help collection file (*.qhc) used by \QA is created when running the
    \c qhelpgenerator tool on a help collection project file (*.qhcp).
    The project file format is XML and it supports the following tags:

    \table
        \header
            \li Tag
            \li Brief Description
        \row
            \li \c{<title>}
            \li Specifies a window title for \QA.
        \row
            \li \c{<homePage>}
            \li Specifies the page to display when selecting \gui Home in the
                \QA main window.
        \row
            \li \c{<startPage>}
            \li Specifies the page to display initially when the help collection
                is used.
        \row
            \li \c{<currentFilter>}
            \li Specifies the filter that is initially used.
            If this filter is not specified, the documentation will not be filtered. This has
            no impact if only one documentation set is installed.
        \row
            \li \c{<applicationIcon>}
            \li Describes an icon that will be used instead of the normal \QA
            application icon. This is specified as a relative path from the directory
            containing the collection file.
        \row
            \li \c{<enableFilterFunctionality>}
            \li Enables or disables user accessible filter functionality,
            making it possible to prevent the user from changing any filter when running \QA.
            It does not mean that the internal filter functionality is completely disabled.
            Set the value to \c{false} if you want to disable the filtering. If the filter
            toolbar should be shown by default, set the attribute \c{visible} to \c{true}.
        \row
            \li \c{<enableDocumentationManager>}
            \li Shows or hides the \gui Documentation tab in the \gui Preferences
            dialog. Disabling the \gui Documentation tab allows you to limit
            \QA to display a specific documentation set or make it impossible for the end user
            to accidentally remove or install documentation. To hide the \gui Documentation tab,
            set the tag value to \c{false}.
        \row
            \li \c{<enableAddressBar>}
            \li Enables or disables the address bar functionality. By default it
            is enabled. To disable it, set the tag value to \c{false}. If the
            address bar functionality is enabled, the address bar can be shown by setting the
            tag attribute \c{visible} to \c{true}.
        \row
            \li \c{<aboutMenuText>, <text>}
            \li Lists localized versions for the \gui About menu item in the
            \gui Help menu. For example, \gui {About Application}. The text is
            specified within the \c{text} tags. The \c{language} attribute takes the two
            letter language name. The text is used as the default text if no language
            attribute is specified.
        \row
            \li \c{<aboutDialog>, <file>, <icon>}
            \li Specifies the text for the \gui About dialog that can be opened
            from the \gui Help menu. The text is taken from the
            file in the \c{file} tags. It is possible to specify a different file or any
            language. The icon defined by the \c{icon} tags is applied to any language.
        \row
            \li \c{<cacheDirectory>, <cacheDirectory base="collection">}
            \li Specifies the cache directory that is used to store index files
            needed for the full text search and a copy of the collection file.
            The copy is needed because \QA stores all its settings in the
            collection file, and therefore, it must be writable for the user.
            The directory is specified as a relative path.
            If the \c{base} attribute is set to "collection", the path is
            relative to the directory the collection file resides in.
            If the attribute is set to "default" or if it is missing,
            the path is relative to the directory given by
            QDesktopServices::DataLocation. The first form is useful for
            collections that are used in a \e mobile way, such as carried around
            on a USB stick.
        \row
            \li \c{<enableFullTextSearchFallback>}
            \li Enables or disables the ability to fallback and use the full text
            search if a keyword cannot be found in the index. This functionality
            can be used while remote controlling \QA. To make it available for
            remote control, set the tag value to \c{true}.
    \endtable

    In addition to those \QA specific tags, the tags for generating and registering
    documentation can be used. See \l{Qt Help Collection Files} documentation for more information.

    An example of a help collection file that uses all the available tags is shown below:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 1

    To create the binary collection file, run the \c qhelpgenerator tool:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 10

    To test the generated collection file, start \QA in the following way:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 8

    \section1 Using Qt Assistant Remotely

    Even though the help viewer is a standalone application, it will mostly
    be launched by the application it provides help for. This approach
    gives the application the possibility to ask for specific help contents
    to be displayed as soon as the help viewer is started. Another advantage
    with this approach is that the application can communicate with the
    help viewer process and can therefore request other help contents to be
    shown depending on the current state of the application.

    So, to use \QA as the custom help viewer of your application, simply
    create a QProcess and specify the path to the \QA executable. In order
    to make \QA listen to your application, turn on its remote control
    functionality by passing the \c{-enableRemoteControl} command line option.

    The following example shows how this can be done:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 2

    Once \QA is running, you can send commands by using the stdin channel of
    the process. The code snippet below shows how to tell \QA to show a certain
    page in the documentation.

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 3

    \note The trailing newline character is required to mark the end
    of the input.

    The following commands can be used to control \QA:

    \table
        \header
            \li Command
            \li Brief Description
        \row
            \li \c{show <Widget>}
            \li Shows the sidebar window (dock widget) specified by <Widget>. If the widget
            is already shown and this command is sent again, the widget will be
            activated, meaning that it will be raised and given the input focus.
            Possible values for <Widget> are "contents", "index", "bookmarks" or "search".
        \row
            \li \c{hide <Widget>}
            \li Hides the dock widget specified by <Widget>. Possible values for
            <Widget> are "contents", "index", "bookmarks" and "search".
        \row
            \li \c{setSource <Url>}
            \li Displays the given <Url>. The URL can be absolute or relative
            to the currently displayed page. If the URL is absolute, it has to
            be a valid Qt help system URL. That is, starting with "qthelp://".
        \row
            \li \c{activateKeyword <Keyword>}
            \li Inserts the specified <Keyword> into the line edit of the
            index dock widget and activates the corresponding item in the
            index list. If such an item has more than one link associated
            with it, a topic chooser will be shown.
        \row
            \li \c{activateIdentifier <Id>}
            \li Displays the help contents for the given <Id>. An ID is unique
            in each namespace and has only one link associated to it, so the
            topic chooser will never pop up.
        \row
            \li \c{syncContents}
            \li Selects the item in the contents widget which corresponds to
            the currently displayed page.
        \row
            \li \c{setCurrentFilter <filter>}
            \li Selects the specified filter and updates the visual representation
            accordingly.
        \row
            \li \c{expandToc <Depth>}
            \li Expands the table of contents tree to the given depth. If depth
            is 0, the tree will be collapsed completely. If depth is -1,
            the tree will be expanded completely.
        \row
            \li \c{register <help file>}
            \li Adds the given Qt compressed help file to the collection.
        \row
            \li \c{unregister <help file>}
            \li Removes the given Qt compressed help file from the collection.
    \endtable

    If you want to send several commands within a short period of time, it is
    recommended that you write only a single line to the stdin of the process
    instead of one line for every command. The commands have to be separated by
    a semicolon, as shown in the following example:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 4
*/

/*
\section2 Modifying \QA with Command Line Options

    Different help collections can be shown by simply passing the help collection
    path to \QA. For example:

    \snippet doc_src_assistant-manual.qdoc 0

    Other available options the can be passed on the command line.

    \table
        \header
            \li Command Line Option
            \li Brief Description
        \row
            \li -collectionFile <file.qhc>
            \li Uses the specified collection file instead of the default one.
        \row
            \li -showUrl URL
            \li Shows the document referenced by URL.
        \row
            \li -enableRemoteControl
            \li Enables \QA to be remotly controlled.
        \row
            \li -show <widget>
            \li Shows the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index",
            "bookmarks" or "search".
        \row
            \li -hide <widget>
            \li Hides the specified dockwidget which can be "contents", "index",
            "bookmarks" or "search.
        \row
            \li -activate <widget>
            \li Activates the specified dockwidget which can be "contents",
            "index", "bookmarks" or "search.
        \row
            \li -register <doc.qch>
            \li Registers the specified compressed help file in the given help
            collection.
        \row
            \li -unregister <doc.qch>
            \li Unregisters the specified compressed help file from the given
            collection file.
        \row
            \li -quiet
            \li Doesn't show any error, warning or success messages.
    \endtable
    */