qt-creator/doc/src/howto/creator-help.qdoc

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/*!
    \contentspage index.html
    \previouspage creator-help-overview.html
    \page creator-help.html
    \nextpage creator-faq.html

    \title Using the Help Mode

    \QC comes fully integrated with Qt documentation and examples using the Qt
    Help plugin.

    \list

        \li To view documentation, switch to \gui Help mode.

        \li To view context sensitive help on a Qt class or function as a
            tooltip, move the mouse cursor over the class or function. If help
            is not available, the tooltip displays type information for the
            symbol.

        \li To display the full help on a Qt class or function, press \key F1.
            The documentation is displayed in a
            pane next to the code editor, or, if there is not enough vertical
            space, in the fullscreen \gui Help mode.

        \li To select and configure how the documentation is displayed in the
            \gui Help mode, select \gui Tools > \gui Options > \gui Help.

    \endlist

    The following image displays the context sensitive help in the \gui Edit
    mode.

    \image qtcreator-context-sensitive-help.png

    \section1 Viewing Function Tooltips

    To hide function tooltips by default, select \gui {Tools > Options >
    Text Editor > Behavior > Show help tooltips using the mouse >
    On Shift+Mouseover}. You
    can still view the tooltips by pressing and holding down the \key Shift
    key.

    To use a keyboard shortcut for viewing help tooltips, select
    \gui {Show help tooltips using keyboard shortcut (Alt)}.

    \section1 Finding Information in Qt Documentation

    \QC, \QSDK and other Qt deliverables contain documentation
    as .qch files. All the documentation is accessible in the \gui Help mode.

    To find information in the documentation, select:

    \list

        \li \gui Bookmarks to view a list of pages on which you have added
            bookmarks.

        \li \gui Contents to see all the documentation installed on the
            development PC and to browse the documentation contents.

        \li \gui Index to find information based on a list of keywords in all
            the installed documents.

        \li \gui {Open Pages} to view a list of currently open documentation
            pages.

        \li \gui Search to search from all the installed documents.

    \endlist

    \section2 Adding Bookmarks to Help Pages

    You can add bookmarks to useful help pages to easily find them later
    in the \gui Bookmarks view. You can either use the page title as the
    bookmark or change it to any text. You can organize the bookmarks in
    folders in the view.

    \image qtcreator-help-add-bookmark-dlg.png "Add Bookmark dialog"

    To add a bookmark to an open help page:

    \list 1

        \li Click the
            \inlineimage qtcreator-help-add-bookmark.png
            (\gui {Add Bookmark}) button on the toolbar.

        \li In the \gui {Add Bookmark} dialog, click \gui OK to save the
            page title as a bookmark in the selected folder.

    \endlist

    To import and export bookmarks, select \gui {Tools > Options > Help >
    General Settings > Import} or \gui Export.

    \section2 Full-text Search

    In the \gui Search pane, you can use full-text search for finding a
    particular word in all the installed documents. In the \gui {Search for}
    field, enter the term you are looking for, and select the \gui Search
    button. All documents that contain the specified term are listed. The list
    is sorted by the number of search hits that the documents contain. Select a
    document in the list to open it.

    \image qtcreator-help-search.png "Search pane"

    The following are examples of common search patterns:

    \list

        \li \c deep lists all the documents that contain the word \c deep.
            The search is not case sensitive.

        \li \c{deep*} lists all the documents that contain a word beginning
            with \c deep

        \li \c{deep copy} lists all documents that contain both \c deep and
            \c copy

        \li \c{"deep copy"} lists all documents that contain the phrase
            \c{deep copy}

    \endlist

    For more flexibility, use the \gui {Advanced search}. Specify words to
    exclude from the search hits, or search for an exact phrase or for similar
    words. For example, searching for \c{QStin}, \c{QSting}, or \c{QStrin} lists
    all the documents with titles that are similar, such as \c{QString}.
    Combine options to improve the search results.

    Full-text search is based on indexing all the installed documents the first
    time when you open the \gui Search pane. If you add or remove documents,
    \QC recreates the index.

    If you cannot find words that you know are there, indexing might not have
    been completed for some reason. Remove the \c {.helpcollection} folder and
    open the \gui Search pane again to recreate the index. The folder is located
    in \c { ~/.config/QtProject/qtcreator/.helpcollection} on Linux and Mac OS X and
    in \c {\AppData\Roaming\QtProject\qtcreator\} on Windows.

    Punctuation is not included in indexed terms. To find terms that contain
    punctuation, such as domain names, use the asterisk as a wild card. For
    example, to find \c {Pastebin.Com}, enter the search term \c {Pastebin*}.

    \section1 Adding External Documentation

    You can display external documentation in the \gui Help mode.
    To augment or replace the documentation that ships with \QC and Qt:

    \list 1

        \li Create a .qch file from your documentation.

            For information on how to prepare your documentation and create a
            .qch file, see \l{The Qt Help Framework}.

        \li To add the .qch file to \QC, select \gui Tools > \gui Options >
            \gui Help > \gui Documentation > \gui Add.

    \endlist

    \section1 Detaching the Help Window

    By default, context-sensitive help is opened in a window next to the
    code editor when you press \key F1. If there is not enough vertical
    space, the help opens in the full-screen help mode.

    You can specify that the help always opens in full-screen mode or
    is detached to an external window. Select \gui {Tools > Options > Help >
    General Settings} and specify settings for displaying context-sensitive help
    in the \gui {On context help} field. To detach the help window, select
    \gui {Always Show Help in External Window}.

    \section1 Selecting the Start Page

    You can select the page to display when you open the \gui Help mode in the
    \gui {Tools > Options > Help > General Settings > On help start} field.
    To display the page and help panes that were open when you exited the mode,
    select the \gui {Show My Tabs from Last Session} option. However, Web pages
    are not opened, because loading them would slow down opening the \gui Help
    mode.

    To display a particular page, select \gui {Show My Home Page}, and specify
    the page in the \gui {Home Page} field.

    To display a blank page, select the \gui {Show a Blank Page} option. You can
    also select the \gui {Use Blank Page} button to set a blank page as your
    home page.

    \section1 Using Documentation Filters

    You can filter the documents displayed in the \gui Help mode to find
    relevant information faster. Select from a list of filters in the
    \gui {Filtered by} field (1). The contents of the \gui Index and \gui Contents
    pane in the sidebar change accordingly.

    \image qtcreator-help-filters.png "Help filters"

    You can modify the filters to include external documentation, for example,
    or you can define your own filters. To construct filters, you can use the
    filter attributes that are specified in the documentation. Each document
    contains at least one filter attribute. If several documents contain the
    same filter attribute, such as \c tools, you can use that attribute to
    include all those documents.

    To add filters:

    \list 1

        \li Select \gui {Tools > Options > Help > Filters > Add}.

        \li Enter a name for the filter and press \gui {OK}.

        \li In \gui Attributes, select the documents that you want to include
            in the filter.

            \image qtcreator-help-filter-attributes.png "Help filter attributes"

        \li Click \gui OK.

        \li In the \gui Help mode, select the filter in the \gui {Filtered by}
            field to see the filtered documentation in the sidebar.

    \endlist

    To modify filters, select a filter in \gui Filters, select the attributes,
    and then click \gui Apply.

    To remove filters, select them in \gui Filters, and click \gui Remove.

*/