Overview

Before a help volume can be displayed, you must create a run-time help file by processing your files with the DocBook software. Run-time files use an online presentation format called Semantic Delivery Language (SDL). An.sdl file extension identifies a run-time help file.

The utility dtdocbook takes documents conforming to the DocBook 2.2.1 DTD subelement Part and produces documents conforming to the SDL 1.2 DTD, which can serve as input to the DtHelp viewer.

During translation, several items are precomputed to speed run-time display of the document. These items include: the table of contents, the keyword index, resolution of cross-references, and labeling of ordered lists. The SDL conforming document produced by the translation is compressed by default.

The Help System defines desktop actions and data types for help-specific files. This lets you easily process and view a run-time help file from the desktop.

DocBook Software

The DocBook software can be invoked automatically by double-clicking a help source file in File Manager or by running the dtdocbook command manually in a terminal window.

dtdocbook does two significant tasks:

1. The DocBook parser converts your marked-up files into an internal format (Semantic Delivery Language) understood by the Help System. If you've made any markup errors, the errors are reported in a file named volume.log.

2. If there are no parser errors, the master help volume file (volume.sdl) is created.

Viewing Your Volume

After processing your source files with DocBook, your help volume is ready to be displayed. You can display it by double-clicking the volume.sdl file icon in File Manager, or use the dthelpview command in a terminal window.

If you have written help for an application and the application is ready to use, you can display your help by running the application and asking for help.