Getting Started

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.

Oracle JDeveloper does not include the full OHDK, although it does include the OHJ runtime library (named ohelp4.jar in JDeveloper). The full Oracle Help for Java release including sample code, helpset authoring wizard, indexer, and demos is available at no cost from the Oracle Technology Network (otn.oracle.com) under "Oracle Help Technologies."

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

What Is Oracle Help For Java?
Contents of an OHJDK Release
Setting the Java CLASSPATH for OHJDK Development

What Is Oracle Help For Java?

The Oracle Help for Java engine is a full-featured Java-based help system for Java applications and applets. It provides pure Java components for navigating and displaying context-sensitive help. Oracle Help for Java is available for free, and may be redistributed as the help system for your application (see the license distributed with the release).

Oracle Help for Java supports help content in several file formats, including extensions of the Sun Microsystem's JavaHelp and Microsoft HTMLHelp standards. For information about authoring help content for Oracle Help for Java, refer to the Oracle Help for Java File Formats document. If you are using a third party help authoring system that supports OHJ, refer to the documentation provided.

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 OHDK also includes documentation. 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.
`ohj-jewt-version_num.jar` or `ohj-ewt-version_num.jar`	This file contains the help engine dependencies. OHJ 4.1.x is distributed with `ohj-jewt-version_num.jar`, while OHJ 3.2.x is distributed with `ohj-ewt-version_num.jar`.
`oracle_ice-version_num.jar`	Oracle's customized version of ICESoft's ICE Browser. The OHJ engine uses the ICE Browser for displaying HTML topics.

Authoring Tools

The following JAR files contain the implementation for the helpset Authoring Wizard and the Full 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 Full Text Search Indexer implementation. Authors may use the Full Text Search Indexer to process and create OHJ full text search (.idx) files. The Indexer can be run through the helpset Authoring Wizard, or manually via the instructions in the README-Indexer.txt file in the installation directory.
`wizard-ewt-version_num.jar`	This file contains dependencies for the helpset Authoring Wizard

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 OHJ control file formats.

To run the demonstration programs, execute the batch files located in the bin subdirectory of your OHJDK installation. (On Windows systems there will also be shortcuts in the 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 Navigator window. Demonstrates display of 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 F1 key help launching Right-click popup context 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). (This documentation is g enerated from the OHJDK classes as "JavaDoc".)	The `doc` subdirectory of the OHJDK installation
Oracle Help for Java File Formats	Control file formats for an Oracle Help system, including helpset, table of contents, index, and full-text search.
Oracle Help for Java Developer's Guide	This document.

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:

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 specific Java Virtual Machine and operating system to determine how to set the CLASSPATH variable.