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

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/*!
    \page creator-help.html
    \if defined(qtdesignstudio)
    \previouspage {Examples and Tutorials}
    \nextpage studio-faq.html
    \else
    \previouspage creator-help-overview.html
    \nextpage creator-faq.html
    \endif

    \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 \uicontrol 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 or
            select \uicontrol {Context Help} in the context menu.
            The documentation is displayed in a
            view next to the code editor, or, if there is not enough vertical
            space, in the fullscreen \uicontrol Help mode.

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

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

    \image qtcreator-context-sensitive-help.png

    If the help HTML file does not use a style sheet, you can change the font
    family, style, and size in \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options >
    \uicontrol Help > \uicontrol General.

    \image qtcreator-help-options.png

    By default, you can use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom help pages. To
    disable this feature, deselect the \uicontrol {Enable scroll wheel zooming}
    check box.

    To switch to the editor context when you close the last help page, select
    the \uicontrol {Return to editor on closing the last page} check box.

    \section1 Selecting the Help Viewer Backend

    The help viewer backend determines the style sheet that is used to display
    the help files. A help viewer backend that is based on the \l {QTextBrowser}
    is used by default. However, it has several issues that have been fixed when
    using litehtml as the help viewer backend.

    On \macos, you can also use a help viewer backend that is based on the
    system WebView component.

    To switch the help viewer backend:

    \list 1
        \li Select \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol Help >
        \uicontrol General.
        \li In the \uicontrol {Viewer backend} field, select a viewer backend.
        \li Reload the help page to take the new backend to use.
    \endlist

    \section1 Viewing Function Tooltips

    To hide function tooltips by default, select \uicontrol Tools >
    \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol {Text Editor} > \uicontrol Behavior >
    \uicontrol {Show help tooltips using the mouse} >
    \uicontrol {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
    \uicontrol {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 \uicontrol Help mode.

    By default, \QC registers only the latest available version of the
    documentation for each installed Qt module. To register all installed
    documentation, select \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options >
    \uicontrol Kits > \uicontrol {Qt Versions} >
    \uicontrol {Register documentation}.

    To find information in the documentation, select:

    \list

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

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

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

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

        \li \uicontrol 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 \uicontrol 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 bookmark.png
            (\uicontrol {Add Bookmark}) button on the toolbar.

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

    \endlist

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

    \section2 Full-text Search

    In the \uicontrol Search pane, you can use full-text search for finding a
    particular word in all the installed documents. Enter the term you are
    looking for, and select the \uicontrol Search button. All documents that
    contain the specified term are listed. The list is sorted by document
    version (if you have installed several Qt versions, for example) and
    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

    Full-text search is based on indexing all the installed documents the first
    time when you open the \uicontrol 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. To regenerate the index, click
    \inlineimage reload_gray.png
    (\uicontrol {Regenerate Index}).

    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 \uicontrol 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 \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options >
            \uicontrol Help > \uicontrol Documentation > \uicontrol 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 \uicontrol Tools >
    \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol Help > \uicontrol General and specify
    settings for displaying context-sensitive help
    in the \uicontrol {On context help} field. To detach the help window, select
    \uicontrol {Always Show in External Window}.

    To change this setting in a help view, select the \inlineimage linkicon.png
    toolbar button.

    \section1 Selecting the Start Page

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

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

    To display a blank page, select the \uicontrol {Show a Blank Page} option. You can
    also select the \uicontrol {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 \uicontrol Help mode to find
    relevant information faster. Select a filter from a list of filters (1). The
    contents of the \uicontrol Index and \uicontrol Contents
    view 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 \uicontrol Tools > \uicontrol Options > \uicontrol Help >
            \uicontrol Filters > \uicontrol Add.

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

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

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

        \li Click \uicontrol OK.

        \li In the \uicontrol Help mode, select the filter in the list of
            filters to see the filtered documentation in the sidebar.

    \endlist

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

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

*/