<chapter id="help-system-user-manual">
<docinfo>
<date>2000-10-21</date>
<releaseinfo>1.94.00</releaseinfo>
</docinfo>
<title>KDE Help System User Manual</title>
<anchor id="help">

<sect1 id="help-introduction">
<title>KDE Help System</title>

<para>The KDE help system is designed to make accessing the common UNIX help
systems (<application>man</application> and <application>info</application>)
simple, as well as the native KDE documentation (<abbrev>HTML</abbrev>). </para>

<para>All base KDE applications come fully documented, thanks to the efforts of
the Documentation team.  If you would like to help, please write to the
Documentation coordinator, Mike McBride, at <email>mpmcbride7@yahoo.com</email>
for information.  No experience is required, just enthusiasm and patience.  If
you would like to help translating KDE Documentation to your native language,
the Translation coordinator is &eacute;ric Bischoff
<email>e.bischoff@noos.fr</email>, and he would also welcome the help.
More information, including the coordinators for each language team, can be
found on the <ulink url="http://i18n.kde.org">Internationalisation web
site</ulink>, and in the <link linkend="contact">Contact</link> section of this
document. </para>

<sect2 id="installation">
<title>Installation</title>

<para>&khelpcenter; is an integral part of the KDE Base installation, and is installed
with every copy of KDE.  It can be found in the kdebase package, and is
available from the <ulink url="ftp://ftp.kde.org/">KDE FTP site</ulink> or will
be found in your linux distributions kdebase package.</para>

</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="invoking-help">
<title>Invoking Help</title>

<para>&khelpcenter; can be called in several ways:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>From the <guimenu>Help</guimenu> menu</term>
<listitem><para>The most common will probably be from within an application.
Choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Help</guimenu>
<guimenuitem>Contents</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to open that applications help
file, at the contents page.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>From the <guimenu>K</guimenu> menu</term>
<listitem><para>Choose the big <guiicon>K</guiicon> in your panel, and select
<guimenuitem>Help</guimenuitem> to open &khelpcenter;, starting at the default welcome
page.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>From the panel</term>
<listitem><para>The <application>Kicker</application> panel contains by default
an icon to call &khelpcenter;.  Again, the default welcome page is displayed.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>From the command line</term>
<listitem><para>&khelpcenter; may be started using a <abbrev>URL</abbrev> to display a
file.  <abbrev>URL</abbrev>s have been added for <application>Info</application>
and <application>man</application> pages also. You can use them as
follows:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term>An application help file</term>
<listitem><para><command>khelpcenter
<option>help:/<replaceable>kedit</replaceable></option></command></para>
<para>Opens the <application>Kedit</application> help file, at the contents
page.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>A local url</term>
<listitem><para><command>khelpcenter
<option><replaceable>file:/usr/local/src/qt/html/index.html</replaceable></option></command></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>A Man page</term>
<listitem><para><command>khelpcenter
<option>man:/<replaceable>strcpy</replaceable></option></command></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>An Info page</term>
<listitem><para><command>khelpcenter <option>info:/<replaceable>gcc</replaceable></option></command></para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

<para>Invoking <command>khelpcenter</command> with no parameters opens the
default welcome page.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

</variablelist>
</sect1>

<!-- Interface - Basics, using Konqueror -->
<sect1 id="interface-basics">
<title>The &khelpcenter; interface</title>

<para>The &khelpcenter; interface consists of two panes of information, embedded in a
&konqueror; window.  This makes navigation simple, and intuitive, using &konqueror;'s own
toolbars, just as you would a website.  Additionally, most documents contain
their own navigation tools, enabling you to move either sequentially through a
document, using <guilabel>Next</guilabel> and <guilabel>Previous</guilabel>
links, or to move around in a less structured manner, using hyperlinks.  Links
can take you to other parts of the same document, or to a different document,
and you can use the <guiicon>Back</guiicon> (Left pointing arrow) or
<guiicon>Forward</guiicon> (Right pointing arrow) icons on the toolbar to move
through the documents you have viewed in this session.</para>

<para>The two panes display the contents of the help system, and the help files
themselves, on the left and right respectively.</para>


<sect2 id="contents-pane">
<title>The <guilabel>Contents</guilabel> pane</title>

<para>The <guilabel>Contents</guilabel> pane in &khelpcenter; is displayed on the left
hand side of the window.  As you might expect, you can move the splitter bar, to
make sure you can comfortably read the contents of either pane.</para>

<para>The <guilabel>Contents</guilabel> pane is further divided into two tabs, one
containing a <link linkend="contents-menu">menu</link> showing all the help
information &khelpcenter; is aware of, and the other enabling you to <link
linkend="search">Search</link> for specific information.</para>

<sect3 id="contents-menu">
<title>The <guilabel>Contents</guilabel> Menu</title>

<para>The <guilabel>Contents</guilabel> contains the following default
entries:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Introduction</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Welcome to KDE - an introduction to the K Desktop
Environment.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Introduction to KDE</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>The KDE Quickstart guide.  Contains a tour of the KDE Interface
and specific help and tips on how to work smarter with KDE.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>KDE User's manual</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>The KDE User's manual is an in depth exploration of KDE,
including installation, configuration and customization, and
use.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Application manuals</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Native KDE application documentation. All KDE applications have
documentation in <abbrev>HTML</abbrev>. This section lists all the KDE
applications with a brief description and a link to the full application
documentation.</para>
<para>The applications are displayed in a tree structure that echoes the default
structure of the <guimenu>K</guimenu> menu, making it easy to find the
application you are looking for.</para></listitem> 
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>System Manual Pages</term>
<listitem><para>UNIX man pages are the traditional on-line documentation format
for unix systems. Most programs on your system will have a man page. In
addition, man pages exist for programming functions and file
formats.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>System Info Directory</term>
<listitem><para>TeXinfo documentation is used by many GNU applications,
including <application>gcc</application> (the C/C++ compiler),
<application>emacs</application>, and many others.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>The KDE FAQ</term>
<listitem><para>Frequently asked questions about KDE, and their
answers.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>KDE on the web</term>
<listitem><para>Links to KDE on the web, both the official KDE website, and
other useful sites.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Contact Information</term>
<listitem><para>Information on how to contact KDE developers, and how to join
the KDE mailing lists.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>Supporting KDE</term>
<listitem><para>How to help, and how to get involved.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect3>

<sect3 id="search">
<title>The <guilabel>Search</guilabel> tab</title>

<para>Searching requires you have the <application>ht://Dig</application>
application installed.  Information on installing and configuring the search
index is available in the document.  Configuration of the search index is
performed in the <application>KDE Control Center</application>, by choosing
<menuchoice><guisubmenu>Help</guisubmenu><guimenuitem>Index</guimenuitem></menuchoice>,
and detailed help is available from this module.</para>

<para>For the purposes of this document, we'll assume you already have this set
up and configured.</para>

<para>Searching the help files is fairly intuitive, enter the word(s) you wish
to search for in the text box, choose your options (if any), and press
<guibutton>Search</guibutton>.  The results display in the viewer pane to the
right.</para>

<para>The options available are:</para>

<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Method</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Choose how to search for multiple words.  If you choose
<guilabel>and</guilabel>, results are returned only if all your search terms are
included in the page. <guilabel>or</guilabel> returns results if
<emphasis>any</emphasis> of the search terms are found, and
<guilabel>boolean</guilabel> lets you search using a combination.</para>
<para>Boolean syntax lets you use the operators <literal>AND</literal>,
<literal>OR</literal> and <literal>NOT</literal> to create complex searches.
Some examples:</para>
<variablelist>
<varlistentry>
<term><userinput>cat and dog</userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Searches for pages which have both the words
<userinput>cat</userinput> and <userinput>dog</userinput> in them.  Pages with
only one or the other will not be returned.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><userinput>cat not dog</userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Searches for pages with <userinput>cat</userinput> in them, but
only returns the ones that don't have the word <userinput>dog</userinput> in
them.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><userinput>cat or (dog not nose)</userinput></term>
<listitem><para>Searches for pages which contain <userinput>cat</userinput>, and
for pages which contain <userinput>dog</userinput> but don't contain
<userinput>nose</userinput>.  Pages which contain both
<userinput>cat</userinput> and <userinput>nose</userinput> would be returned,
pages containing all three words would not.</para></listitem> 
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
<para>If your searches are not returning the results you expect, check carefully
you haven't excluded the wrong search term with an errand <literal>NOT</literal>
or a stray brace.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Max. results</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Determines the maximum number of results returned from your
search.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Format</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Decide if you want just a short link to the page containing your
search terms, or do you want a longer summary.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Sort</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Sort the results in order of <guilabel>Score</guilabel> (how
closely your search terms were matched,) alphabetically by
<guilabel>Title</guilabel> or by <guilabel>Date</guilabel>.  Selecting the
<guilabel>Reverse order</guilabel> check box, naturally enough, reverses the
sort order of the results.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
<varlistentry>
<term><guilabel>Update index</guilabel></term>
<listitem><para>Update the search index, to incorporate new documents, or if you
think your database is incomplete or damaged.  This may take some
time.</para></listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>
</sect3>
</sect2>

<sect2 id="man-and-info">
<title>The <application>Man</application> and <application>Info</application>
sections</title>

<para>Man pages are the standard unix manual pages, and have been in use for
many years on many operating systems.  They are extremely thorough, and are the
very best place to get information about most linux commands and
applications.  When people say <quote>RTFM</quote>, the Manual they're referring
to is very often the man page.</para>

<para>The man pages are not perfect however.  They tend to be in depth, but also
extremely technical, often written by developers, and for developers. In some
cases this makes them somewhat unfriendly, if not downright impossible for many
users to understand.  They are however, the best source of solid information on
most commandline applications, and very often the only source.</para>

<para>If you've ever wondered what the number is when people write things like
man(1) it means which section of the manual the item is in.  You'll see &khelpcenter;
uses the numbers to divide the very many man pages into their own sections,
making it easier for you to find the information you're looking for, if you're
just browsing.</para>

<para>Also available are the Info pages, intended to be a replacement for the
man pages.  The maintainer of some applications no longer update the man pages,
so if there is both a man page and an info page available, the info page is
probably the most recent.  Most applications have one or the other though.  If
the application you are looking for help on is a <abbrev>GNU</abbrev> utility,
you will most likely find it has an info page, not a man page.</para>

<sect3 id="navigation">
<title>Navigating inside the <application>Info</application> pages</title>

<para>Info documents are arranged hierarchically with each page called a
node. All info documents have a <guilabel>Top</guilabel> node,
<abbrev>i.e.</abbrev> the opening page.  You can return to the
<guilabel>Top</guilabel> of an info document by pressing
<guilabel>Top</guilabel>.</para>

<para><guibutton>Prev</guibutton> & <guibutton>Next</guibutton> are used to
move to the previous/next page at the current level of the hierarchy.</para>

<para>Clicking on a menu item within a document moves you to a lower level in
the hierarchy. You may move up the hierarchy by pressing
<guibutton>Up</guibutton>.</para>

<para>Man is treated similarly to info, with the section index being the Top
node and each man page on the level below.  Man entries are one page long.</para>

</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1 id="credits">
<title>Credits and Licenses</title>

<para>&khelpcenter;</para>

<para>Originally developed by Matthias Elter <email>me@kde.org</email></para>
<para>Current maintainer Matthias Hoelzer-Kluepfel
<email>mhk@kde.org</email></para>

&underFDL;
&underGPL;

</sect1>
</chapter>
