Quintus Prolog Manual

c-6: QUI Help Window

c-6-1: Invoking Help

The help window allows you to navigate through all parts of the on-line version of the Quintus manual set. This window is displayed using the Help pulldown on the control panel of the QUI Main Window or by calling help/1 or manual/[0,1] (e.g. by typing 'help(compile)).' at the top level. Each Prolog help predicate accesses the manual set in a different way. See {manual(c-6-3-3)} for more information.

If any requests for help are invoked while the help window is already displayed, then this same help window is loaded with the newly requested portion of the manual set which is requested.

Instead of invoking help through the Prolog help predicates, you can use the Help Pulldown in the Control Panel of the QUI Main Window. Each button in this pulldown displays a different part of the manual set:

• On Prolog - Displays the menu of on-line Quintus manuals.
• On QUI - Displays the on-line version of this description of the Quintus User Interface.
• On This Window - Displays information regarding the main window.

c-6-2: Help Window

The name of the current manual is displayed in the title bar of the window. Below the title bar is the menu bar of options which are available in the help window. Below the menu bar is the name of the current section. Below the name is the current section, either a menu of sub-sections or text.

c-6-2-1: Selecting a Sub-Section from a Menu

When a menu is displayed, you can display one of the sub-sections listed by selecting the appropriate menu item. When you select a line of the menu, the sub-section indicated by the line is displayed.

c-6-2-2: Following Cross-References in Text

When a text section is displayed, it may contain cross-references. Cross-references are underlined. When you double-click on the cross-reference, the section indicated by it is displayed.

c-6-2-3: Selecting a Topic in Text

When a text section is displayed, you can select a new topic by pointing to a word and clicking the left mouse button. That word will then be highlighted. If you click again on the highlighted word then it is sent to Prolog via help/1. It is the same as entering the topic through 'index...' dialogue in the Goto pulldown menu.

A recognized topic is a word in the form of [A-Z a-z][A-Z a-z 0-9_-]* possibly followed by a slash preceding an arity specification such as '/1' and '/[1,2]'. Words consisting of non-alphanumeric characters such as '@>' will not be recognized.

c-6-3: Help Window Menu Bar

c-6-3-1: File Pulldown

• Quit - Selecting this button quits the help window. Any subsequent help command will redisplay the window.

c-6-3-2: Goto Pulldown

Each button in this pulldown allows you to directly display various parts of the manual set.

• Next Section - Travel to the following adjacent section of the manual. It is like paging through a paper manual.
• Previous Section - Travel to the previous adjacent section of the manual.
• Parent - When you select this button, the parent (a menu) of the current section is displayed. This button is not available when the current section does not have a parent. The only sections which do not have a parent are the top-most menu of manuals and any menu generated from index entries.
• Top - When you select this button, the top-most menu of manuals is displayed.
• Index... - When you select this button, a dialogue which prompts you for an index topic is displayed. When you enter a valid index topic, the help window will generate and display a menu of index entries which refer to that topic. If you enter an invalid index topic, the display will remain as it was. The form of the index topic is the same as that which is passed to help/1.
• Section... - When you select this button, a dialogue which prompts you for a manual section is displayed. When you enter a valid section, the help window will display that section. If you enter an invalid section, an error dialogue will appear. The form of the section is the same as that which is passed to manual/1.

c-6-3-3: Invoking Goto Options from Prolog Predicates

Each Prolog help predicate is mapped to a QUI Goto pulldown button.

• manual/0 - Same as selecting the Top button from the Goto pulldown.
• manual/1 - Same as selecting the Section button from the Goto pulldown.
• help/1 - Same as selecting the Index button from the Goto pulldown.

c-6-3-4: History Pulldown

This pulldown contains a dynamic list of buttons which represent the menus and text which have already been displayed in the help window. Initially this history list is empty. As each new section is displayed, the section which it replaces is placed at the top of this list. If a section which is already in the history list is redisplayed, it is not added to the list a second time. The list contains 10 buttons by default. The number of buttons it contains can be modified through the resource file (see {manual(c-7)}). When more than 10 (or whatever other number of buttons you have specified in the resource file) sections have been viewed, the oldest section is removed from the history list. Each history entry which refers to a menu generated from index entry matches is indicated as such so that there is no ambiguity between it and a section entry with the same name. When you select an element from the history list, that section is displayed and the history list is not changed. When you quit the help window, the history list is cleared.

c-6-3-5: Misc Pulldown -- Search

Currently the only item in this menu is Search. This button is available when the Help Window contains text rather than a menu. It brings up a dialog which enables you to search the text for a selected string.

• Selection - Type in the search string.
• Forward - to find the next occurrence of the string. (Or type <Return>.)
• Backward - to search to the beginning of the file.
• Wraparound - activates wraparound search.
• Cancel - The Search dialog remains on display, preserving its state, until you select Cancel. While it is on display selecting Search from the Misc pulldown will bring the dialog to the foreground.

When a match is found, the matching text is highlighted. A beep indicates that there are no (more) occurences of the string to be found by one search -- forward or back according to which type of search you selected -- of the frame. If Wraparound is on, a beep will be sounded only if there are no occurences of the string in the frame.

Where does it start searching?

• If a word or pattern is highlighted then the searching starts from that point.
• Otherwise the search begins from the beginning of the text.

Customization is discussed in {manual(c-7-2-7)}.

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