Oracle Help File Formats	Contents	Previous	Next

About the Files

Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) and Oracle Help for the Web (OHW) both use the following kinds of files.

Metadata files provide information about the the structure and operation of the help system:

The helpset file specifies information about the appearance and operation of a help system. It defines aspects of the help system's user interface, including navigational views, windows, and title. It also tells what other files are used by the help system, including subhelpsets, map files, and link files.
Map files associate topic IDs with topic (HTML) files.

Help information files contain information about the content of the help system:

Table of contents files define entries in tables of contents and associate them with topic files.
Index files index entries and associate them with topic files.
Link files define associative links.
Search index files contain databases used for text searches.

Topic files are the HTML files containing the content for the help system. Features used in topic files include topic ID links, associative links, popups, topic IDs, and window types.

In addition to the above files, OHW uses the OHW Configuration File to configure the OHW servlet.

The Oracle Help file formats are based on the Sun Microsystems JavaHelp^TM 1.0 Specification. See Comparison to JavaHelp File Formats for a comparison.

About File Name Extensions

Earlier versions of OHJ used helpbooks instead of the helpsets that are recommended in current versions of Oracle Help. (See Adding the Help Data for information about programming OHJ with helpbooks vs. helpsets. See OHW Configuration File for information about configuring OHW to use helpbooks and helpsets.)

When helpbooks are used, both OHJ and OHW look in a specified directory for files with file name extensions that correspond to the supported file formats, including TOC, TOK, HHC, HHK, OHT, and IDX. Oracle Help still supports helpbooks and the related file formats. If you are using helpbooks in OHJ or OHW, you must use the appropriate file name extensions for those control files.

When you use helpsets, you don't have to use specific extensions for the names of the associated control files. The only requirement is that the correct file name (and its extension) must be used whenever the file is referenced. The following table shows conventional (but not required) extensions for the helpset-related file formats. It also show where these files are referenced, so you can be sure the correct name and extension are used.

Type of File	Conventional Extension	Referenced by...
Helpset	.hs	In OHJ, the calls from the Java program that launches the help. In OHW, this section from the OHW configuration file: `<books> <helpSet location="filename.hs" /> </books>`
Helpset used as a subhelpset	.hs	Master helpset file in `<subhelpset location="filename.hs"/>`
Map	.xml	Helpset file in `<maps> <mapref>filename.xml</mapref> </maps>`
TOC	.xml	Helpset file in `<view> <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLTOCEngine">filename.xml</data> </view>`
Keyword Index	.xml	Helpset file in `<view> <data engine="oracle.help.engine.XMLIndexEngine">filename.xml</data> </view>`
Link	.xml	Helpset file in `<links> <linkref>filename.xml</linkref> </links>`
Search index	.idx	Helpset file in `<view> <data engine="oracle.help.engine.SEearchEngine">filename.idx</data> </view>`