jHelp Version 2.08r4a - December 7, 1997

Welcome to jHelp 2.0, the drop-in HTML-based help and document viewing package for Java applets and applications.

There have been many enhancements added to jHelp 2.08, and the distribution zip and installation has been restructured. A summary of new features is provided in New Features.

For information concerning licensing options, ordering jHelp, and contacting Moondog Software, see Licensing and Ordering.

System Requirements

jHelp 2.0 requires an installed and configured Java 1.1 runtime. JavaSoft's JDK 1.1.3 is preferred, although the demo apps should run under Java 1.1.2 or Java 1.1.1.

Demo applets should be run under a fully-compliant Java 1.1 browser or appletviewer. At this time, only HotJava 1.0 FCS or the JDK appletviewers (and Symantec's 1.1.2 appletviewer) meet this requirement. The applets should not be tested with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0, or Netscape Communicator 4.02 with the JDK 1.1 patch.

Important Java 1.1.5 Notes:

• jHelp's index and word search panels use AWT List components. We've noticed that a list containing a large number of items (over 100,) such as a global word list will take a very long time to display under JDK 1.1.4 and JDK 1.1.5, the length of time increasing with the number of items in the list. This was a known bug in 1.1.4 and was apparently not fixed in 1.1.5.
   
• With Java 1.1.5, the URL returned from Class.getResource() has been changed, providing less information about the location of the named resource. This affects the htmlLocator class, rendering it unusable for finding and locating help files. This may not affect users of jHelp to any great extent, except that the index Wizard will not display its own online help files if run with Java 1.1.5. We have reported this behavior to JavaSoft. For these reasons, use Java 1.1.3 to run jHelp until these issues are resolved.
   
• We are recommending that developers do not enable jHelp's printing feature in shipping applications. JavaSoft has recently reported that they are disabling printing in the Windows version of HotJava, and we have seen numerous JavaSoft bug reports concerning rendering and stability issues. jHelp users have reported JVM crashes when attempting to print jHelp documents. jHelp's Print button is easily hidden with htmlHelpFrame.setPrintButtonVisible(boolean).
   

Unpacking

You must unpack the distribution using a zip utility that supports case-sensitive, long filenames. Create a directory on your system to receive the extracted files. Unpack the zip with the option to use the contained subdirectory names so as to create the proper directory substructure for running the examples. If you cannot run a zip utility on your system, you should be able to unpack the distribution zip using the JAR tool provided with the JDK.

After installation, you should see a directory structure as follows:

Running the Demo Programs

Detailed information for running the sample applications and applets can be found in the following documents:

• Demo Application
• Demo Applets
• Extended htmlHelpPanel Demo
• Custom Help Frame Demo

Additional Documentation

Detailed documentation is provided in the following forms:

• jHelp Users' Manual (PDF)
• Javadoc API Documentation
• Example Source Code

National Language Support

jHelp is designed to permit localization of literal strings by implementing Java 1.1's ResourceBundles. The source code for the extended ResourceBundle classes is provided.

• package jHelp
• package jHelp.index
• package moondog.dialogs
• package moondog.wizard

jHelp software and documentation - Copyright © 1997 by William Giel d.b.a. Moondog Software. All Rights Reserved.