These notes are to document the use of the JHelpBuilder
tool for editing and maintaining the WEPS help system(s).

There are three independent JavaHelp "helpsets":
	weps1
	mcrew1
	soil1

Currently, the soil1 helpset has not yet been fully created,
but will be soon.

Each of these three helpsets are specific for the main WEPS GUI
(main screen and output reports), MCREW and the SoilUI.  This
was done because MCREW and SoilUI can be ran as independent
standalone applications.  Therefore, we wanted the ability to
provide the standalone applications help specific to those
applications only.  The WEPS helpset provides the help for
the main WEPS GUI screen, the output reports and all other
WEPS screens not covered by the other two helpsets.


The JavaHelp system has the ability to create a "masterhelp"
that can include or merge other helpsets as "subhelpsets".
Therefore, we have one "MasterHelp" helpset that is a merge
of the contents from the other three helpsets into a single
help system.


We can modify any of these helpsets via the JHelpBuilder
tool.  By selecting the desired helpset at startup of JHelpBuilder,
one can edit that help system, create updated search indexes,
modify the Table of Contents, create a "helpsystem" jar file, etc.


There are currently four JHelpBuilder project files, "weps1/weps.spj",
"mcrew1/mcrew.spj", "MasterWeps.spj", and "soil1/soil.spj".

One should work primarily on the "subhelpsets" using JHelpBuilder.
When one has made the desired changes to them, one can simply load
the "MasterWeps" project and rebuild the merged search index and
create a merged help jar file.


When one has finished modifying the layout of a "subhelpset" via
JHelpBuilder, one needs to update the search index for that helpset.
To do so, one does the following via JHelpBuilder:

	1. Select the "Views" tab.
	2. Select the "Search" tab in the "Views" windowpane.
	3. Select the "Generate Database" button to create an updated
           search index (it will display a popup window showing the
           progress - close that window when it finishes)
	4. One should be able to test the search index by using the
	   preview help viewer and doing a "find" on a word via the
	   "Search" tab in the help viewer.


Once one has updated the search index, one can also create a single
file that contains the contents of the entire helpset.  One can do
that via JHelpBuilder as well:

	1. Under the "Tools" menu select the "Jar HelpSet" option.
	2. This will bring up a filechooser window.
	3. Go to the appropriate location that the "weps1.install"
	   directory is.  Currently we are putting the jar helpset
	   files in the "jar" directory.
	4. Currently, we are using the following names for these
	   helpsets:
		mcrew.spj     - McrewHelp.jar
		weps.spj      - WepsHelp.jar
		soil.spj      - SoilHelp.jar
		MasterWeps.spj - MasterHelp.jar


Remember, one should complete all changes to the "subhelpsets"
before rebuilding the search index and creating a MasterHelp.jar
file for the "MasterWeps.spj" helpset project to ensure that it
contains all the appropriate changes from the individual subhelpsets.

Mon Jan 24 21:00:38 CST 2005

LEW

Steps to create the Help files from scratch with JHelpBuilder

1. Every help set has the following components which can be created with JHelpBuilder
    a. HelpSet file                 - Has .hs extension
    b. Map file                     - Has .jhm extension
    c. TOC [Table of Contents] file - An XML file with .xml extension
    d. Index file                   - An XML file with .xml extension
    e. Glossary file                - An XML file with .xml extension
    f. Favorites                    - Favorites Directory
    g. Search                       - Search Directory

2. Put all the html files that contain the help stuff into one directory, lets say "weps1". 
Alternatively select an empty directory and later html files can be added to this diretory 
from the "FileSystem" tab in JHelpBuilder. Click on "FileSystem" tab and right click on
the parent directory, here weps1. select "Add Files" and this will open a file chooser 
dialog which will allow you to add files to the directory.

3. Open JHelpBuilder.
    Select "Create New Project".
        Give a "Project Name", say weps1.
        For "Choose Project File", select the directory "weps1"
        For "Master Helpset File Name", type in "weps.hs"
        Select "Next".
    In the next screen, Select "Finish"

4. Select "contents" under "Help" in JHelpBuilder. 
This contains detailed steps on how every component in the help set should be created.

5. Create all the XML files [Map, TOC, Index files] from JHelpBuilder after all the html
files are present in the parent directory.
The Map file is automatically populated in the JHelpBuilder.

If the entries for TOC and Index files are already existing, then Just Copy & Paste
the contents of the already existing TOC/Index file into this TOC/Index file
instead of manually creating each entry via JHelpBuilder. This saves a lot of time.

6. When creating Search directory, make sure that there is no CVS directory in any 
of the sub-directories of the "help" directory.

Tue Jan 25th 2005.

Neha.