Accessing Topics

Many elements in the HelpTag language support an ID attribute. An ID is a unique name used internally to identify topics and elements within topics. An ID is defined only once, but multiple hyperlinks and cross-references can refer to the same ID. IDs are not seen by the user.

If you are writing help for an application, IDs are also used by the application to identify particular topics to display when the user requests help.




	Rules for ID Names: ID strings may contain letters (A - Z and a - z), digits (0 - 9), plus (+), and minus (-), and must begin with a letter. Author-defined IDs may not use the underscore character (_); it is reserved for IDs that are built into some HelpTag elements. Case is not significant, but is often used to increase readability. ID strings cannot be longer than 64 characters. Each ID within a single help volume must be unique.

To add an ID to a topic

Use the id parameter for the element as follows:
<element id=id> ...

The elements that start a new topic and support an author-defined ID are:

   <chapter id=id>

   <otherfront id=id>

   <rsect id=id>

   <s1 id=id>

   <s2 id=id>

       .

       .

       .

   <s9 id=id>

Built-in IDs. A few elements have built-in IDs and therefore do not support an author-defined ID. Each of the following elements also starts a new topic, but these elements have pre-defined IDs (shown in parentheses):

   <abstract>   (_abstract)

   <copyright>  (_copyright)

   <glossary>   (_glossary)

   <hometopic>  (_hometopic)

   <title>      (_title)

To add an ID to an element within a topic

If the element supports an author-defined ID, use the id parameter for the element as follows:
<element id=id> ...
The elements (within a topic) that support an ID attribute are:
<figure id=id> <graphic id=id> <location id=id> <p id=id>
Or, use the <location> element to set an ID at an arbitrary point within the topic as follows:
<location id=id> text <\location>
Where text is any word or phrase where you want to add an ID. The <\location> end tag is required.

Examples. Here's a figure with the ID my-big-picture. Whenever you assign an ID to a figure, be sure to provide a caption.

   <figure id=my-big-picture entity=big-picture-TIFF>

   Here's My Figure

   <\figure>

Here's a paragraph where the phrase "easier than ever" has been assigned the ID easy-spot:

   Getting help is <location id=easy-spot>easier 

   than ever<\location> -- just press F1.

Accessing Topics

Technical documentation

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To add an ID to a topic

To add an ID to an element within a topic