Oracle Help for Java Developer's Guide	Contents	Previous	Next

Getting Started with the OHJDK

The Oracle Help for Java Developer's Kit (OHJDK) is a set of Java components and an API for developing and displaying HTML-based help content in a Java environment. It includes the Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) engine and additional tools necessary for implementing context-sensitive help in Java applets and applications.

This chapter describes the contents of the OHJDK and tells how to set up for developing OHJ help systems. It contains the following sections:

Contents of an OHJDK Release
Setting the Java CLASSPATH for OHJDK Development

Contents of an OHJDK Release

The OHJDK includes the compiled libraries for the OHJ engine as well as libraries for the authoring tools and demonstrations. These libraries are distributed in JAR (Java ARchive) format. The OHJDK also includes documentation (including this document). The files are discussed in the following sections:

OHJ Engine
Authoring Tools
Demonstration Files
Documentation

OHJ Engine

These files contain binary files for the OHJ engine implementation and its dependencies. You must redistribute these files with your product application.

**OHJ Binaries**
File	Contents
`help-version_num.jar`	The help engine optimized binaries.
`oracle_ice-version_num.jar`	Oracle's customized version of the ICEbrowser from ICEsoft Technologies, Inc. The OHJ engine uses the ICEbrowser for displaying HTML topics.

Authoring Tools

The following JAR files contain the implementation for the Helpset Authoring Wizard and the Text Search Indexer. These files are not intended for distribution with your product application.

File	Contents
`help-wizard-version_num.jar`	Helpset Authoring Wizard implementation. Authors can run the Helpset Authoring Wizard using batch files created in the bin directory of their OHJDK installation.
`help-indexer-version_num.jar`	OHJ Text Search Indexer implementation. Authors can use the Full-Text Search Indexer to process and create Oracle Help search index (.idx) files.

Demonstration Files

The following JAR file contains the demonstration programs distributed with the OHJDK. This file is not intended for distribution with your product application.

File	Contents
`help-demo-version_num.jar`	Demonstration binaries and source code, plus sample documentation in HTML and the Oracle Help control file formats.

To run the demonstration programs, execute the batch files located in the bin subdirectory of your OHJDK installation. (The OHJ installer for Windows adds shortcuts to the Windows Start Menu.) The sample content used by the demo programs is located in the demodoc subdirectory.

When integrating OHJ with your application, it may be helpful for you to examine the source code for the demonstration programs (located in the help-demo-version_num.jar file (see above). The following two demos will be particularly helpful:

File	Contents
`ChoiceDemo.java` (OHJ Features Demo)	Sample Java code that illustrates the following features: Constructing the `Help` object Adding helpsets (data) Displaying the OHJ navigator window Displaying multiple helpsets
`CSHDemo.java` (Context-Sensitive Help Demo)	Sample Java code that illustrates the following features: Launching the help system from a menu Associating help topics with particular application controls Enabling the F1 key to launch help Implementing right-click pop-up menu help

Documentation

The following documentation is included with the OHJDK:

Document	Content	Location in OHJDK release
OHJ API Reference Documentation	Reference documentation for the OHJ Application Programming Interface (API), provided as JavaDoc.	The `doc/javadoc` subdirectory of the OHJDK installation. To view the API documentation, open the index.html file in an HTML browser.
Oracle Help Guide	This document.	The `doc` subdirectory of the OHJDK installation.

Setting the Java CLASSPATH for OHJDK Development

To develop with the OHJDK, you must add the OHJ engine libraries and toolkit dependencies (JAR files listed above) to your environment class path, for example:

On Windows 2000 or XP, set the CLASSPATH variable in the Environment Variables dialog, accessed from the Advanced tab of the System Properties control panel.
On Windows NT, set the CLASSPATH variable in the Environment tab of the System Properties control panel.
On Windows 95/98, use the SET command in your Autoexec.bat file.
On UNIX, use the setenv command to set an environment variable for your shell.

Consult the documentation for your Java Virtual Machine (JVM) and operating system to determine how to set the CLASSPATH variable.