displaying Help documentation

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stevek2
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2015 5:04 pm

displaying Help documentation

Postby stevek2 » Fri Nov 13, 2015 5:17 pm

Is there a way to use Jade method showHelp to display local html files from an application defined folder (on presentation client)?

I note from Jade documentation that showHelp only shows html file if the URL begin with http:// (or https://), however I would like to use file:/// to force local browser to the nominated folder (some of our customer sites do not allow access to C: drive folders)

I am experimenting with document authoring in different output formats trialling which works the easiest
Prefer to avoid the older style .chm files and rather work with latest (responsive) html output

Steve

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BeeJay
Posts: 312
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2009 2:42 pm
Location: Christchurch, NZ

Re: displaying Help documentation

Postby BeeJay » Sat Nov 14, 2015 10:38 am

You may be able to get this to work using _shellExecute to open the users default browser along the lines of the following:

Code: Select all

call _shellExecute( self.hwnd, "open", app.helpFile & self.helpKeyword, null, null, 1 );
You'd probably want code to make sure app.helpFile and self.helpKeyword are non null and app.helpFile is set to an appropriate base directory etc.

Note: If you're running in a Unicode Jade system, you'd use _shellExecuteUnicode instead of _shellExecute for the call statement.

Cheers,
BeeJay.

stevek2
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2015 5:04 pm

Re: displaying Help documentation

Postby stevek2 » Wed Nov 18, 2015 7:43 am

Thanks BeeJay

That answers two questions
1. call help file manually (though prefer Jade add this as a possible future feature to showHelp method)
2. was always wondering how to execute shell commands - now I know!

Appreciated

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Jade Support
Posts: 103
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:27 am
Location: Jade Software Corporation, Christchurch

Re: displaying Help documentation

Postby Jade Support » Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:22 am

Please note that the RootSchema external functions _shellExecute and _shellExecuteUnicode are both unpublished and unsupported, and subject to change without notice.

If you want to call the Windows ShellExecute API you should create your own External Function definition. Alternatively, you could consider using supported JADE methods such as the example below.

This example opens the default browser for an htm file on the local hard drive.

result := node.createExternalProcess(null, "explorer C:\work\sample.htm", null, null, true, false, returnCode);

Regards,
Jade Support
Jade Support
Jade Software Corporation Ltd

Email: jadesupport@jadeworld.com
Web: http://www.jadeworld.com

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