Programming with the JavaHelp System

The topics in this chapter of the JavaHelp System User's Guide describe the aspects of the JavaHelp system of primary interest to application developers.

The JavaHelp system classes are distributed in the following JAR files. The following redistributable JAR files are located in the javahelp\lib folder:

jh.jar
The standard library that includes everything needed to use the help viewer and the standard navigator types (TOC, index, full-text search).
jhbasic.jar
A subset of jh.jar that does not include support for the full-text search engine. This subset might be useful for simple help systems that do not require a full-text search database or for help systems whose size is important.
jhall.jar
Includes all the JavaHelp system classes, including the tools required to create a search database.
jsearch.jar
The default full-text search engine used in the JavaHelp system.

Supplemental Information

You will probably find the following supplemental documentation and source code useful:
API
The javadoc generated documentation of the JavaHelp software API is included with this release. You can view the API by using the JavaHelp software API viewer (demos\bin\apiviewer) or by using a web browser (doc\api\index.html).
Specification The specification for version 2.0 of the JavaHelp system is included in this release and can be found at:
doc\spec\JavaHelp_V2_0_Specification.pdf
Sample Source Files This release includes demo programs that demonstrate JavaHelp system functionality. Sources for the demo programs are included in the release at:
demos\src

See also:

Adding the JavaHelp System to Applications
Implementing Context-Sensitive Help
Embedding JavaHelp Components
Creating Lightweight Java Components