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author | Joe Hunkeler <jhunkeler@gmail.com> | 2015-08-11 16:51:37 -0400 |
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committer | Joe Hunkeler <jhunkeler@gmail.com> | 2015-08-11 16:51:37 -0400 |
commit | 40e5a5811c6ffce9b0974e93cdd927cbcf60c157 (patch) | |
tree | 4464880c571602d54f6ae114729bf62a89518057 /pkg/system/doc/help.hlp | |
download | iraf-osx-40e5a5811c6ffce9b0974e93cdd927cbcf60c157.tar.gz |
Repatch (from linux) of OSX IRAF
Diffstat (limited to 'pkg/system/doc/help.hlp')
-rw-r--r-- | pkg/system/doc/help.hlp | 599 |
1 files changed, 599 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/pkg/system/doc/help.hlp b/pkg/system/doc/help.hlp new file mode 100644 index 00000000..74a53917 --- /dev/null +++ b/pkg/system/doc/help.hlp @@ -0,0 +1,599 @@ +.help help Oct01 system +.ih +NAME +help -- print online documentation for the named modules or packages +.ih +USAGE +help [template] +.ih +PARAMETERS +.ls template +A string listing the modules or packages for which help is desired. +Each list element may be a simple name or a pattern matching template. +Abbreviations are permitted. If \fItemplate\fR is omitted a long format +menu will be printed for the current package, listing each task (or +subpackage) and describing briefly what it is. +.le +.ls file_template = no +If this switch is set the template is interpreted as a filename matching +template, and all help blocks found in the named files are output. The help +database is not searched, hence manual pages can be printed or documents +may be formatted without entering the files into a help database. +In other words, "help file.hlp fi+" makes it possible to use \fIhelp\fR as +a conventional text formatter. +.le +.ls all = no +Print help for all help modules matching \fItemplate\fR, rather than only the +first one found. +.le +.ls parameter = "all" +If the value of this parameter is not "all", only the help text +for the given parameter will be printed. +.le +.ls section = "all" +If the value of this parameter is not "all", only the help text for the +given section (e.g. "usage", "description", "examples") will be printed. +.le +.ls option = help +The option parameter specifies the type of help desired, chosen from +the following: +.ls help +Print the full help block for the named module. +.le +.ls source +Print the source code for the module (which often contains additional +detailed comments). +.le +.ls sysdoc +Print the technical system documentation for the named module. +.le +.ls directory +Print a directory of all help blocks available for the named package. +.le +.ls alldoc +Print all help blocks in the file containing the help block for +the named procedure (i.e., both the user and system documentation). +.le +.ls files +Print the names of all help files associated with the named modules or +packages. +.le +.ls summary +Print only the titles and sizes of help blocks in referenced help files. +The contents of the blocks are skipped. Titles are printed for \fIall\fR +help blocks found in the file containing the help block for the named module. +.le +.le +.ls page = yes +Pause after every page of output text. Turning this off for large documents +speeds up output considerably. +.le +.ls nlpp = 59 +The number of lines per page if output is redirected, e.g., to \fIlprint\fR. +.le +.ls lmargin = 1 +Left margin on output. +.le +.ls rmargin = 72 +Right margin on output. +.le +.ls search = no +If enabled the +.hr #l_template template +is interpreted as a search string and the task +is started with the search panel open with the results of the search. The +.hr #l_file_template file_template +parameter is ignored with search turned on. +.le +.ls home = "" +The home page for the task. If not set and no +.hr #l_template template +is specified +the task will start with the online help in the main window, otherwise it +may be set to a filename to be displayed when the task starts. This file +may contain a text help block which will be formatted before display, or +it may be a valid HTML file. See below for a description of the format of +a homepage file which provides links to tasks. +.le +.ls printer = "printer" +Default hardcopy printer name. If the \fIvalue\fR of the parameter is the +reserved string "printer", the actual device is the value of the CL +environment variable \fIprinter\fR. +.le +.ls showtype = no +Add task-type suffix in package menus? +.le +.ls quickref = "uparm$quick.ref" +Name of the quick-reference file used for searching. This file is created +the first time the task is run in GUI mode or whenever it doesn't exist, +or when any help database file has been updated. +.le +.ls uifname = "lib$scr/help.gui" +The user interface file. This file is what defines the look and behavior +of all the graphical user interface elements. Experts may create variants +of this file. +.le +.ls helpdb = "helpdb" +The filename of the help database to be searched. If the \fIvalue\fR of the +parameter is the reserved string "helpdb", the actual filename is the value +of the CL environment variable \fIhelpdb\fR. +.le +.ls device = "terminal" +Output device if the standard output is not redirected. Allowable values +include: +.ls terminal +If the \fIvalue\fR of +the parameter is the reserved string "terminal", the actual device name is +the value of the CL environment variable \fIterminal\fR. +.le +.ls text +Output the formatted help page as plain text. +.le +.ls gui +Invoke the GUI for browsing the help system. This option will only work if +the \fIstdgraph\fR environment variable is set the \fIxgterm\fR, and the +user is running IRAF from an \fIXGterm\fR window. +.le +.ls html +Output the formatted help page as HTML text. +.le +.ls ps (or postscript) +Output the formatted help page as postscript. +.le +.le +.ih +BASIC USAGE +Despite the complex appearing hidden parameters, \fBhelp\fR is easy to use +for simple tasks. \fBHelp\fR is most commonly used to get help on the current +package, and to get help on a program named in a CL menu. To get help on +the current package one need only type \fBhelp\fR without any arguments. +For example, if the current package is \fBplot\fR, the command and its output +might appear as follows: + +.nf + pl> help + contour - Make a contour plot of an image + graph - Graph one or more image sections or lists + pcol - Plot a column of an image + pcols - Plot the average of a range of image columns + prow - Plot a line (row) of an image + prows - Plot the average of a range of image lines + surface - Make a surface plot of an image + pl> +.fi + +To get help on a module one supplies the module name as an argument, + + pl> help graph + +and the manual page for the \fBplot.graph\fR program will be printed on the +terminal. To get a hardcopy of the manual page on the printer, the output +may be redirected to the line printer, as follows: + + pl> help graph | lprint +.ih +DESCRIPTION +The function of the \fBhelp\fR program is to perform a depth first search +of the help database \fIhelpdb\fR, printing help for all packages and modules +matching the template. By default the standard IRAF help database is searched, +but any other help database may be searched if desired. A help database is +precompiled with the \fBmkhelpdb\fR program to speed up runtime searches for +help modules. The standard IRAF help database contains the documentation and +source for all CL programs and system and math library procedures installed +in IRAF. + +A help template is a string type parameter to the CL. The form of a template +is a list of patterns delimited by commas, i.e., + + "pattern1, pattern2, ..., patternN" + +The form of a pattern is + + package_pattern.module_pattern + +If the "." is omitted \fImodule_pattern\fR is assumed. The standard pattern +matching meta-characters, i.e., "*?[]", are permitted in patterns. +Simple patterns are assumed to be abbreviations. + +.ih +GUI OPERATION + +The GUI component of the task is a front-end to the IRAF +.hr system.help \fBhelp\fR +task which provides on-the-fly conversion of help documents to HTML for +presentation in the GUI or formatted PostScript for hardcopy. +The GUI is started by setting the +.hr #l_device \fIdevice\fR +parameter to the special value \fIgui\fR, it is only available when using +an XGterm window to start IRAF and assuming the \fIstdgraph\fR environment +variable is set to \fRxgterm\fR. + +Help pages may be loaded on the command line, through use of a +file browser, or by navigating the help databases using a familiar CL +package menu scheme. It also features a search capability similar to the +.hr system.references \fBreferences\fR +task and a complete history mechanism. + +When invoked with no command line arguments the task starts as a browser +and the user is presented with a GUI that has the toplevel CL package menu +in the upper navigation window. The main display window below will contain +any help page specified in the +.hr #l_template template +parameter or loaded on +the command line by specifying the +.hr #l_template template +and +.hr #l_file_template file_template +parameters. If the +.hr #l_search search +parameter is enabled the +.hr #l_template template +is taken to be a search phrase and the database is searched for tasks +matching the keyword and the GUI will appear with the search panel mapped +so the user can select the task help to +view. When no +.hr #l_template template +is given the main display window will start with the page specified by the +.hr #l_home home +parameter, this can be a user-defined HTML file giving links to specific tasks +(see below for details) or if +.hr #l_home home +is empty the display will contain the online help for the task. + +The first time the task is run, or whenever the help database is updated, +a quick reference file (specified by the task +.hr #l_quickref quickref +parameter) and package menu file will be created in the user's \fIuparm\fR +directory to speed up help searching and subsequent startups of the task. + +.ih +NAVIGATING THE HELP SYSTEM +When run as a GUI browser \fIHELP\fR works very much like any WWW browser. +The top panel is a list widget that will always contain a CL package listing, +at startup this will be the toplevel \fI"Home"\fR package menu one would see +when first logging into the CL containing the core system packages, NOAO +package, and any site-specific external package, or in the case of starting +with a specific task it will be the parent package for the task. Additionally, +system documents for the +.hr os \fBos\fR +HSI routines and the +.hr sys.imfort \fBimfort\fR +and +.hr math \fBmath\fR +interfaces will be available in the \fIHome\fR package although +these are programmatic interfaces and not tasks which can be executed. + +New packages or task help pages are loaded by selecting an item from the +package menu list using the left mouse button. If the requested item is a +package, the menu listing will change as though the package were loaded in +the CL, and the help display panel will contain a listing of the package +tasks with a one-line description for each task such as would be seen with +a \fI"help <package>"\fR command using the standard task. New items may then +be selected using either the menu list or links in the display panel. If the +item is a task, the help page for the task will appear in the display panel. +In either case new pages may be selected from the menu listing. + +Specific help documents may also be requested by entering the task/package +name in the \fBTopic\fR text widget above the menu list. As when selecting +from the package menu list, items selected this way will cause the menu +list to change to the package menu for the parent package if the item is a +task (displaying the help page in the display panel) or the package menu +if the item is a package (displaying the one-liner package listing in the +display panel). + +Using the \fBBack\fR button will revert to the previous page in the history +list which will either be the previously loaded package or help page. +Similarly, selecting the \fBForward\fR button will move the next page further +down in the history list, either button will become insensitive when the +end of the list on either end is reached. Selecting the \fBUp\fR button will +cause the browser to immediately jump up the previous package, skipping +over any help pages that were loaded in between. The \fBHome\fR button will +cause the default homepage (either the user-defined page if specified by the +task \fIhome\fR parameter or the online help) to be displayed. Browsing +in this way can also be done using the navigation menu created by hitting +the right mouse button while in the main display panel. + +Users can also jump to specific pages in the history list using the +\fBHistory\fR button on the main menubar. The right column of the menu +will indicate whether the item is a task, package, internal link or a text +file. The history list is truncated at about 40 entries in the menu but +the user may work back incrementally by selecting the last item of the +menu, after which the History button will display the previous 40 entries. +The history list may be cleared except for the current page by selecting +the \fIClear History\fR menu item. + +.ih +BROWSING A HELP DOCUMENT +Once a help page is loaded the middle menubar above the display panel +will change to activate widgets based on the position within the history +list and options available for a particular page. The left-most group +of buttons are the standard navigation buttons described above. +The middle group of buttons contains the \fBSections\fR and +\fBParameters\fR buttons which are used to browse within a help document. +The \fISections\fR button is a menu listing all of the sections found +within a help page, allowing the user to jump to a specific section +rather than scrolling through the entire document. The \fISections\fR +menu is also available using the middle mouse button from the +main display area. The \fIParameters\fR button is similarly a menu +listing of all task parameter help sections found within the document. +Both or either of these buttons will become insensitive when no section +or parameter information is found in the document. + +The right-most group of buttons represent the various help options available +for each page. The default is to get the task help, however help pages +may have an associated \fBsource\fR file or \fBsysdoc\fR (e.g. if the task is +a CL script there may be a pointer to the script source itself, or a package +may have a general overview document listed as the system document). Once +a help page is loaded these buttons will change become sensitive if that option +is available, simply select the button to view the option. Selecting the +\fBFiles\fR button will bring up a panel listing all the files associated +with a particular help topic. When a help topic is selected and an option is +defined but the file does not exist, the options button will display a yellow +diamond icon even if the button is insensitive, a green icon indicates the +currently selected option. This feature may be disabled by selecting the +"Show missing files" item from the main menubar \fBOptions\fR menu. + +.ih +SEARCHING +Searching the help database is done by selecting the \fBSearch\fR button +from the main menubar to bring up the search panel. Users may then enter +one or more keywords into the \fBTopic\fR field at the bottom of the panel +and initiate the search with either a carriage return or hitting the +\fISearch\fR button just beside it. The panel will then show a list of all +tasks and packages which match the search phrase along with a one-line +description of the task. Help pages may be displayed by selecting either the +task or package link with the left mouse button, in both case the package +menu list on the main help window will be updated to list the package +contents allowing other tasks from that package to be selected in the normal +way. + +By default the exact phrase entered in the topic window will be used for the +search. This can be relaxed by toggling the "Require exact match" button +at the top of the panel. For example, to search for all tasks matching +\fIeither\fR the keyword "flat" or "field" turn off the exact match +toggle and the search will return not only tasks matching "flat field" but +also any task description containing only one of the words such as the +VELVECT task which plots velocity \fIfield\fRs. + +Within a help document itself one can search for a string by selecting +the \fBFind\fR button from the main menubar to bring up a panel used to +enter the search string. When the text is entered the main display +window will reposition itself and highlight the text found within the +document. Searches can be repeated and will wrap around the document +automatically, searches can be done either forward or backward through +the text and may be case insensitive. + +.ih +USER_DEFINED HOME PAGES +By default the \fIhelp\fR GUI will start with the online help page displayed +in the main help window. The user can change this by setting the task +\fBhome\fR parameter to be a path to any valid file. This file may be plain +text, a help document in LROFF format which will be converted to HTML for +display, or a native HTML document. + +HTML files may contain URLs of the form +.nf + \fB<a href=\fI[package.]task\fB>\fIurl_text\fB</a> +.fi + +where \fIurl_text\fR is the text to appear in the window and the URL itself +consists of an optional package and task name delimited by a period. For +example, to create a link to the +.hr onedspec.splot \fBsplot\fR +task in a document one would use the URL +.nf + \fB<a href=onedspec.splot>splot</a>\fR +.fi + +In this way users can create a homepage which serves as a \fI"bookmark"\fR +file or index of shortcuts to the most commonly accessed help pages. + +.ih +LOADING FILES +Text files may be loaded on the command line when starting the task by +specifying the filename and setting the +.hr #l_file_template file_template +task parameter. The named file +will be searched for a \fI.help\fR LROFF directing indicating it contains +a help block that will be converted to HTML for display. If no help +block is found the file will be displayed as-is, meaning existing +HTML documents can be loaded and will be formatted correctly. + +Once the task is running users may load a file by selecting the \fBOpen +File...\fR menu item from the main menubar \fBFile\fR menu or the +right-mouse-button menu from within the main display area. This will +open a file browser allowing users to change directories by using the +navigation buttons at the top of the panel, or selecting items from the +leftmost directory listing. Selecting a file on the rightmost list will +cause it to be loaded and automatically formatted if it contains a help +block. The file list may be filtered to select only those files matching +a particular template by changing the \fBFilter\fR box at the top of +the panel. Filenames or directories may be entered directly using the +\fBSelection\fR box at the bottom of the panel. + +.ih +SAVING FILES +Once a file has been loaded in the browser it may be saved to disk as +either \fIsource\fR (i.e. the original LROFF file if that was converted +for the display, or whatever file is currently displayed regardless of +format), \fItext\fR to save formatted plain text such as that produced +by the standard \fBhelp\fR task, \fIHTML\fR to save the converted HTML +used in the display, or \fIPostScript\fR to save formatted PostScript of +the document such as that sent to the printer using the \fBPrint\fR +button. Not all options will be available depending on the format of the +input text, unavailable options will be insensitive in the GUI. + +The \fBSave\fR panel is opened by selecting the \fBSave As...\fR menu +item from the main menubar \fBFile\fR menu or the right-mouse-button +menu from within the main display area. The file browser operates the +same as when loading images, the only difference is that file selection +simply defines the filename to be used and does not cause the save to +occur automatically. Users can overwrite existing files by selecting the +\fIOptions\fR toggle at the bottom of the panel. + +.ih +HARDCOPY OUTPUT AND SAVING DISK FILES. +Help pages may be output to any configured IRAF printer by selecting the +main menubar \fBPrint\fR button to bring up the print panel. Task help pages +will be converted to formatted PostScript and may be sent to either a +printer or saved to disk depending on the selection made in the printer +panel. If the printer name is set to the special value \fI"printer"\fR then +the device named by the CL \fIprinter\fR environment variable will be used. +When saving to disk files the default action is to save to a filename whose +name is the task name plus a ".ps" extension. Either of these are changeable +within the GUI as is the default page size to be used when generating the +PostScript. + +The main menubar \fBFile\fR button can also be used to bring up the file +browser in order to save the current document to disk. Help pages may be +saved as either the origin LROFF source for the file, formatted text as you +would get from the standard help task, HTML as is displayed in the GUI, or +formatted PostScript. The choice of formats is dictated by the type of file +being displayed (e.g. you cannot save PostScript of a program source). + +.ih +LROFF DIRECTIVE EXTENSIONS FOR HTML +To better support HTML links within documents and to other help pages two +new directives have been added to the LROFF text formatter. These are +\fB.hr\fR to specify a link (an HTML \fIHREF\fR directive) and \fB.hn\fR +to specify a name (an HTML \fINAME\fR directive). The syntax for these are +as follows: +.nf + + \fB.hn\fI <name>\fR + \fB.hr\fI <link> <text> \fR +.fi + +where \fI<name>\fR is the destination name of an internal link, \fI<link>\fR +is the URL of the link to be created, and \fI<text>\fR is the text to be +displayed in the HTML. The URL syntax is either a '#' character followed +by a destination name, a simple \fItask\fR name or \fIpackage\fR name, +or a \fIpackage.task\fR pair giving a more precise task. For internal links +the current document is repositioned so the name is at the top of the display, +for task help links new help pages will be loaded in the browser. + +These directives are ignored when converting the LROFF to either formatted +plain text or PostScript. + +.hn examples_target +.ih +GUI EXAMPLES +1) Start \fIhelp\fR as a GUI browser: +.nf + + cl> help dev=gui +.fi + +2) Begin by searching for the phrase 'gauss', tasks and packages may be +selected from the search panel which will appear when the task starts: +.nf + + cl> help gauss dev=gui search+ +.fi + +3) Load an LROFF help page in the browser at startup +.nf + + cl> help mytask.hlp dev=gui file+ +.fi + +.ih +EXAMPLES + +1. Print the help text for the program \fIdelete\fR in the package +\fIsystem\fR (output will be directed to the terminal): + +.nf + cl> help system.delete +or + cl> help delete +or + cl> help del +.fi + +2. Print the help text on the line printer: +.nf + + cl> help delete | lprint +.fi + +3. Print help for the current package: +.nf + + cl> help +.fi + +4. Print the usage section of all modules in the package \fBimages\fR: +.nf + + cl> help images.* section=usage +.fi + +5. Print a directory of all help blocks in the packages \fBclpackage\fR +and \fBclio\fR (and any others whose names begin with the string "cl"): +.nf + + cl> help cl* op=dir +.fi + +6. Print a directory of each package in the database (useful for getting an +overview of the contents of a help database): +.nf + + cl> help * op=dir +.fi + +7. Print the source for all of the string utilities in the system library +package \fBfmtio\fR: +.nf + + cl> help fmtio.str* op=source +.fi + +8. Find all tasks that delete something: +.nf + + cl> help * | match delete +.fi + +9. Print the manual pages for the \fIhelp\fR and \fIlprint\fR tasks on the +default printer device: +.nf + + cl> help help,lprint | lpr +.fi + +10. Capture the manual page for task \fIhedit\fR in a text file, in a form +suitable for printing on any device. +.nf + + cl> help hedit dev=text > hedit.txt +.fi + +11. Print the manual page for task \fIhedit\fR as a Postscript file. +.nf + + cl> help hedit dev=ps | lprint +.fi + +.ih +BUGS +On some systems, typing the next command keystroke before the end-of-page +prompt is printed may result in the character being echoed (messing up the +output) and then ignored when raw mode is enabled for the prompt. + +.ih +SEE ALSO +.hr system.references references +, +.hr system.phelp phelp +, +.hr system.mkhelpdb mkhelpdb +, +.hr system.hdbexamine hdbexamine +, +.hr system.mkmanpage mkmanpage +, +.hr system.lroff lroff +, the online task help documents. +.endhelp |