HelpSet Navigator

Purpose

As the name implies, the HelpSet Navigator (this screen) will give you direct access to the relevant on-line documentation provided with the Project Hirtius application in a contextual manner, will allow you browse and navigate the entire HelpSet whatever your entry point was, and to search it for matches on any word or substring.

Using the HelpSet Navigator to read the application documentation is probably the best way to learn about all the features of Project Hirtius, as well as the suggested ways of working with it (through the so-called "workflows" in this documentation).

Getting There...

From any page in the application, click on the Help link displayed on the left side of the page header. Following this link will open the HelpSet Navigator in a new window, automatically loaded with the help text relevant to the application page you were using.

To get "Help-on-Help" (this page), simply click on the identical Help link located at the right side of the HelpSet Navigator window header.

Layout

The HelpSet Navigator interface is divided into four zones using frames, as illustrated in the figure below.

Help Browser screen layout

The purpose and content of each frame will be discussed individually in the next sections.

Header

The header in the HelpSet Browser is a reduced functionality version of the one present on all the other pages of Project Hirtius (see Main Application Menu for more details). The header contains three separate sections:

Left:

your login name: its rendering also indicates the role you play with respect to the application. Read-only accounts are rendered in italics, regular accounts are rendered with no added effect, and administrator accounts are rendered in bold face.
help: a link to the context-sensitive on-line help browser. In this case, the link directs you to the documentation about the HelpSet Navigator, i.e. this page.

Center:

The center section on this page only contains the application name.

Right:

The current date and ISO week number (for information only). The date displayed is that of the server -- it may not match that of the client if the latter is located in a different timezone.

HelpSet tree / Search

The left frame is divided into two tabs called Browse and Search.

Browse:

In the Browse tab is an HelpSet tree browser implemented in JavaScript.

To navigate it, use the '+' and '-' icons to open and close categories (represented by folder icons). Categories may contain multiple levels of sub-categories. These help organise the on-line help library. Only leaf nodes in this structure (represented by a "computer" or "document" icon) contain actual HTML text.

You can also use the open all and close all links at the top of the tree to help you browse its entire contents in one go, or return it to its default state.

When reaching the HelpSet Navigator through a context-sensitive help request, the HelpSet tree will be open with the relevant topic highlighted.

Search:

When first reaching the Search tab, you will be greeted with an empty search term field. Fill it with any case-insensitive search string that strikes your fancy and hit Go!. The results for your search will be listed below, ordered by decreasing amount of hits per page (the number of hits is indicated between paranthesis next to the link -- this gives you some information about its relevance). The scope of this search is limited to the HelpSet content.

Clicking on any of these links will display the selected document in the viewer (right frame), with the hits highlighted in yellow for easy identification.

You still keep the search term field at the top of the frame, so you can start another search at any time. The second search won't be limited to the result set of the first.

HelpSet viewer

The selected document will be displayed in the right frame. Which document will display there can be a result of:

answering a context-sensitive help request
the user browsing the HelpSet structure in the left frame and clicking one of the documents
the user clicking one of the links offered as result to a search in the left frame

In any case, the document is displayed as a plain HTML file, and can be scrolled through as such. It may contain hyperlinks that can be followed to allow for another easy way of navigating the HelpSet contents.

Footer

The page footer is divided into two sections:

Left:

On the left side, you get a mailto: link for the Administrator of the present Project Hirtius instance, to be used for support requests for instance. This email address should be configured in the Global Definitions File. You will also find there the copyright notice which includes the version number of the currently running program and its release date.

Right:

The right side of the footer is empty on the HelpSet Navigator.

Controls

Tree browser

Navigation bar: At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the two functionalities offered by the left-hand frame: Browse and Search. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as links.
Open all link: Opens all categories and sub-categories of the HelpSet tree beneath. Gives the tree its fullest extent in one go.
Close all link: Closes all categories and sub-categories of the HelpSet tree beneath. Reduces the tree to its shortest form possible.
[+] icon: Opens the category opposite.
[-] icon: Closes the category opposite.
Document titles: Document titles in the tree are clickable hyperlinks. Clicking any one of them will open the selected document in the viewer located in the right-hand frame.

Search interface

Navigation bar: At the top of the page, just below the header, you'll find links that you can use to switch between the two functionalities offered by the right-hand frame: Browse and Search. This control acts like a set of "Tabs", where the currently active one is rendered as plain text, and other available choices are rendered as links.
Go! button: Starts the search on the contents of the search term field located next to it. The scope of this search is limited to the HelpSet content.
Search result: Document titles in the search result (below the search term edit box) are clickable hyperlinks. Clicking any one of them will open the selected document in the viewer located in the right-hand frame, with each occurrence of the seach term highlighted on a yellow background.

HelpSet viewer

The viewer area doesn't contain any control as such, but the help documents that will be displayed there use the HTML format and contain hyperlinks that you can click, offering another way for you to browse the documentation.