Creating Effective JavaHelp

Creating the HelpSet File

Take a look at the HelpSet file for the Aviation JavaHelp sample. I like to keep filenames simple, so I named it HelpSet.hs. Another good name would be Aviation.hs. Regardless of what you name the HelpSet file, you must use the .hs filename extension; the HelpSet Viewer won’t open it otherwise.

Using a text editor, open the file HelpSet.hs. It contains the following code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='ISO-8859-1' ?>
<!DOCTYPE helpset
  PUBLIC "-//Sun Microsystems Inc.//DTD JavaHelp HelpSet Version 1.0//EN"
         "http://java.sun.com/products/javahelp/helpset_1_0.dtd">

<helpset version="1.0">
  <title>Aviation Information</title>
  <maps>
    <homeID>intro</homeID>
    <mapref location="Map.jhm"/>
  </maps>
  <view>
    <name>TOC</name>
    <label>Aviation TOC</label>
    <type>javax.help.TOCView</type>
    <data>TOC.xml</data>
  </view>
  <view>
    <name>Index</name>
    <label>Aviation Index</label>
    <type>javax.help.IndexView</type>
    <data>Index.xml</data>
  </view>
  <view>
    <name>Search</name>
    <label>Aviation Word Search</label>
    <type>javax.help.SearchView</type>
  <data engine="com.sun.java.help.search.DefaultSearchEngine">
      JavaHelpSearch
    </data>
  </view>
</helpset>

This code demonstrates both HelpSet data tags and navigation component tags. I explain how to use tags to merge HelpSets in Chapter 6.

Understanding the HelpSet Data Elements

The HelpSet file begins with two optional declarations. The XML declaration (<?xml ...) and the document type definition, or DTD (<!DOCTYPE ...), identify this file as an XML ...