Gnome Library Reference Manual
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# gnome-help

## Name

gnome-help -- Routines for displaying help

## Synopsis

    #include <gnome.h>

    struct      GnomeHelpMenuEntry;
    gchar*      gnome_help_file_find_file       (gchar *app,
                                                 gchar *path);
    gchar*      gnome_help_file_path            (gchar *app,
                                                 gchar *path);
    void        gnome_help_display              (void *ignore,
                                                 GnomeHelpMenuEntry *ref);
    void        gnome_help_goto                 (void *ignore,
                                                 gchar *file);
    void        gnome_help_pbox_display         (void *ignore,
                                                 gint page_num,
                                                 GnomeHelpMenuEntry *ref);
    void        gnome_help_pbox_goto            (void *ignore,
                                                 int ignore2,
                                                 GnomeHelpMenuEntry *ref);

## Description

These routines provide simple wrappers for invoking the help system in GNOME. They will take care of invoking the help browser with the help file you provide.

## Details

### struct GnomeHelpMenuEntry

    typedef struct {
        gchar *name;
        gchar *path;
    } GnomeHelpMenuEntry;

This structure describes where to get the help from. The `name` field is used to specify the name of the application (this is used to pull the help files from the help directory where the files were installed). The `path` parameter is the name relative to the package's help directory.

For example, the Gnumeric spreadsheet uses the structure like this:

    static GnomeHelpMenuEntry help_ref = { "gnumeric", "formatting.html" };

This identifies the application and the filename that is displayed

### gnome_help_file_find_file ()

    gchar*      gnome_help_file_find_file       (gchar *app,
                                                 gchar *path);

`app` : | Name of this application
`path` : | File that contains the help document
Returns : | a fully resolved file name for path. Use needs to g_free the path when done. It looks in LANG, then unser C if LANG is not set I added this because I didnt want to break all apps using gnome_help_file_path() currently. We need a good solution (if this isnt it) to handle case where locale file didnt exist

### gnome_help_file_path ()

    gchar*      gnome_help_file_path            (gchar *app,
                                                 gchar *path);

`app` : | Name of this application
`path` : | File that contains the help document
Returns : | a fully resolved file name for path. Use needs to g_free the path when done. It looks in LANG, then unser C if LANG is not set

### gnome_help_display ()

    void        gnome_help_display              (void *ignore,
                                                 GnomeHelpMenuEntry *ref);

Cause a help viewer to display help entry defined in `ref`.

`ignore` : | value of this is ignored. To simplify hooking into clicked signals
`ref` : | A GnomeHelpMenuEntry.

### gnome_help_goto ()

    void        gnome_help_goto                 (void *ignore,
                                                 gchar *file);

Cause a help viewer to display file.

`ignore` : | ignored.
`file` : | file to display in the help browser.

### gnome_help_pbox_display ()

    void        gnome_help_pbox_display         (void *ignore,
                                                 gint page_num,
                                                 GnomeHelpMenuEntry *ref);

Cause a help viewer to display the help entry defined in ref. This function is meant to be connected to the "help" signal of a GnomePropertyBox. If ref is { "my-app", "properties-blah" }, and the current page number is 3, then the help viewer will display my-app/lang/properties-blah-3.html, which can be symlinked to the appropriate file.

`ignore` : | ignored.
`page_num` : | The number of the current notebook page in the properties box.
`ref` : | A GnomeHelpMenuEntry

### gnome_help_pbox_goto ()

    void        gnome_help_pbox_goto            (void *ignore,
                                                 int ignore2,
                                                 GnomeHelpMenuEntry *ref);

Cause a help viewer to display the help entry defined in `ref`. This function is meant to be connected to the help button of a GnomePropertyBox, when you don't want any munging of the help path done. Most of the time, you can use gnome_help_pbox_display, though.

`ignore` : | ignored.
`ignore2` : | also ignored.
`ref` : | A GnomeHelpMenuEntry

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