Using the Help in Version 30

[Jay Sage]

I'm trying to adjust to the radical difference between HELP in version 30 and HELP in the version I've been using for several years (27). I have several questions:

1. Is there documentation for the new system somewhere?
2. When following successive links to topics, is there a way to go back to the previous topic? (The "Previous" and "Next" buttons do not do that.)
3. I really miss the "favorites" settings that allowed one to quickly access the most often needed topics. Is there a way to do that with the new system?

 

[Charles Dye]

When following successive links to topics, is there a way to go back to the previous topic? (The "Previous" and "Next" buttons do not do that.)

I think you want the < and > buttons on the title bar. Not the « and » buttons on the ribbon.

 

[Joe Caverly]

This was discussed back in August of 2021

Favorites in eWriter Help

Hi, Is there a way to create a favorites list, like I used to do in the "obsolete CHM Help" versions of previous releases? Joe

jpsoft.com

Joe

 

[Charles Dye]

I really miss the "favorites" settings that allowed one to quickly access the most often needed topics. Is there a way to do that with the new system?

It doesn't look like eWriter supports a bookmarks function. Or rather, it doesn't support bookmarks in the viewer. The authoring software does support bookmarks. This sounds like an excellent feature request for the Help+Manual people.

I know it's really not the same thing, but you can create aliases for help pages you visit often:

alias whatsnew=`help whats-new-in-version-%@int[%_4ver]`

 

[vefatica]

alias whatsnew=`whats-new-in-version-%@int[%_4ver]`

Am I missing something? That seems pretty useless (without HELP and @ALIAS). How about

alias whatsnew `help whats-new-in-version-%@int[%_4ver]`

Have you got any advice for finding the names of things that can be used with the HELP command? Charles, where did you get that name (above)?

 

[Charles Dye]

Am I missing something? That seems pretty useless (without HELP and @ALIAS). How about

alias whatsnew `help whats-new-in-version-%@int[%_4ver]`

Yeah, stupid goof on my part. I've fixed it already.

Have you got any advice for finding the names of things that can be used with the HELP command? Charles, where did you get that name (above)?

If you open a print preview (click the little printer icon on the title bar), you may be able to get the page URL from the footer. Or if that doesn't work, you can open the same page in an older .CHM file. Rex doesn't seem to have renamed most (any?) pages when he switched help systems, and why should he?

 

[Jay Sage]

I think you want the < and > buttons on the title bar. Not the « and » buttons on the ribbon.

Thanks. I had not noticed that, in part because the < and > disappear when the window is not active. So as I was reading your reply, I could not find them in the help window.

Is there any documentation that describes all the stuff in the window and how to use it? For example, I don't understand the "New Tab" icon, which is sometimes there and sometimes not (clicking the "Home" icon seems to bring it back, and now I see multiple tabs). It would be really nice to have some teaching material to read about this. Perhaps the JPSoft website has a tutorial, or maybe I should search the forum.

 

[Jay Sage]

I know it's really not the same thing, but you can create aliases for help pages you visit often

I had thought of that, and I think I see how I can do that with a batch file (e.g., hlp.btm) that would display a list of my topics and then use the HELP command to open to that topic. It would involve more work than the old system but could also be more flexible.

P. S. I see that I need to update my signature line here to show that I'm now using TCMD30x64. I'm not sure that it has anything I really need or want, but since TCMD and TCC are my most used and valuable programs, I'm very happy to support Rex.

 

[vefatica]

I don't understand the "New Tab" icon, which is sometimes there and sometimes not (clicking the "Home" icon seems to bring it back, and now I see multiple tabs).

I don't completely understand the navigation, but you can have multiple addidional tabs. Now, I have three. Their captions don't (always) change so it's hard to remember what's what. The original one gives a hover-tip; the added ones don't. The added ones go away when the help is closed.
.

 

[vefatica]

Sorry, I guess the captions do change. But their often prefixed with "Takc Command and ..." so they all look the same.

Hmmm! It's hard to use.

 

[Charles Dye]

Thanks. I had not noticed that, in part because the < and > disappear when the window is not active. So as I was reading your reply, I could not find them in the help window.

Strange. I always have 'em, whether the window is active or not. I wonder how my system differs from yours.

 

[Jay Sage]

Actually, sometimes my help window does have them even when inactive, but often that top bar is missing most of the material when the window is not active. I'll have to watch and try to figure out what affects the appearance or absence of that content. As I'm writing this, the material is not there. It appears when I click on the window and disappears when i click back here. I will attach a screen shot file and also try to paste it (I haven't really learned how to use all the features of this forum software).

 

[vefatica]

I can't get the title bar to change. It's the same, active or inactive.

 

[Jay Sage]

That is strange! For me, all the extra stuff almost always disappears when another window is active. In fact, that's all I see now, though at least once the material remained in the top bar.

The only difference I note is that you are running Win10Pro/64, while I am running the non-pro version. (I'm just an amateur!)

I haven't installed v30 on my laptop yet. I did allow the laptop to update to Windows 11 (again, not the pro version, and I'm not really happy that I did). The trouble is that, while playing with Take Command is much more fun, I actually have some real (non-computer) work that needs to get done. That's the June issue of a genealogy journal, and since today is the last day of May, I'm running out of time.

 

[rconn]

I'm trying to adjust to the radical difference between HELP in version 30 and HELP in the version I've been using for several years (27). I have several questions:

1. Is there documentation for the new system somewhere?

No, but with tooltips on all the buttons I don't know that it's necessary / useful. If you still can't understand something, the tooltip probably needs more text. If so, post it in the suggestions forum.

1. When following successive links to topics, is there a way to go back to the previous topic? (The "Previous" and "Next" buttons do not do that.)

Title bar < and >.

1. I really miss the "favorites" settings that allowed one to quickly access the most often needed topics. Is there a way to do that with the new system?

No.

 

[Jay Sage]

One more thing, Rex. Do you have any idea why on my computer the "previous" and "next" symbols disappear from the window bar when the window is not active?

Window Selected:

Window Not Selected"

In any case, it seems to me that those symbols really should be on the toolbar (the bar with the "Browse", "Index", etc. buttons).

Duh. While I was previewing the message, the answer suddenly became obvious!!! The symbols are in white text, and the window bar turns white when not active. The title text "Take Command / TCC Help v. 30" automatically turns gray, but those symbols and the printer icon on the right do not, and thus vanish. Is that something you can change? Is there a way for me to change the properties of that window so that the bar takes on a different color when the window is inactive?

 

[rconn]

Duh. While I was previewing the message, the answer suddenly became obvious!!! The symbols are in white text, and the window bar turns white when not active. The title text "Take Command / TCC Help v. 30" automatically turns gray, but those symbols and the printer icon on the right do not, and thus vanish. Is that something you can change? Is there a way for me to change the properties of that window so that the bar takes on a different color when the window is inactive?

That's your default Windows theme doing that, not the help.

 

[Jay Sage]

How do I change the color of the title bar of an inactive window?

 

[rconn]

How do I change the color of the title bar of an inactive window?

Windows Registry.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\AccentColorInactive

 

[vefatica]

Can HELP/F1 (unqualified) be made to open at a location other then the overview?

Is there a command line that will open the help at the keyword index tab?

Can F1 be key-aliased and/or caught by a plugin keyhandler?

Can you give tooltips to new (added) tabs?

 

[rconn]

Can HELP/F1 (unqualified) be made to open at a location other then the overview?

No. Whyever would you want to? You can open it anywhere you want by passing the topic name. You want to open it in some random location automagically?

Is there a command line that will open the help at the keyword index tab?

Help /I

Can F1 be key-aliased and/or caught by a plugin keyhandler?

Yes.

Can you give tooltips to new (added) tabs?

No.

 

[vefatica]

Help /I

Thanks, that's good. So does HELP /S. (All just like it says in the manual.) :-)

I never want to go to the overview (except for "What's new" during testing). Things are easier to find via the keyword index. I never liked clicking my way through a tree.

 

[Jay Sage]

Is there a way using the HELP command to get to a topic area, such as "Commands by Name"?

For example, help Commands opens the help for the COMMANDS command. What if I want to open the "Commands" topic?

When I go to that topic interactively, the tab name at the top is "TCC Commands", so I thought that help "TCC Commands" might do it, but it does something strange. It goes to the same page about the COMMANDS command but with the side panel collapsed with no icon to restore it.

 

[Joe Caverly]

Try these, each preceded by help;

tcc_commands
commandnames
commandcategories
variablecats

etc.

Joe

 

[vefatica]

Try these, each preceded by help;

tcc_commands
commandnames
commandcategories
variablecats

etc.

Joe

etc (?)

How did you find those strings?

 

[Charles Dye]

etc (?)

How did you find those strings?

One way is to print the page, then look at the page URL in the footer.

 

[Joe Caverly]

I de-compiled the Version 27 tcmd.chm file a while back.

E:\...\tcmd>dir /km commandnames.* commandcategories.* variablecats.*
2020-12-15  18:16         110,237  commandnames.htm
2020-12-15  18:16         112,554  commandcategories.htm
2020-12-15  18:16         101,462  variablecats.htm

Joe

 

[Joe Caverly]

Since there is no method of having favorites in the new help system,
it is faster, and easier, to launch my favorites from the command line,
rather than navigate the new help system.

Joe

 

[Joe Caverly]

I can also launch the TCC 30 help, from the TCC 30 command line, into my browser (Microsoft Edge).

For example;

http://127.0.0.1:8000/903740DE-8B73-4B83-A01B-4D1EA7BB26F8/variablecats.htm

http://127.0.0.1:8000/903740DE-8B73-4B83-A01B-4D1EA7BB26F8/functioncats.htm

Joe

 

[vefatica]

I can also launch the TCC 30 help, from the TCC 30 command line, into my browser (Microsoft Edge).

For example;

http://127.0.0.1:8000/903740DE-8B73-4B83-A01B-4D1EA7BB26F8/variablecats.htm

http://127.0.0.1:8000/903740DE-8B73-4B83-A01B-4D1EA7BB26F8/functioncats.htm

Joe

Can you decipher that for us. I get "404" in MSEdge and Firefox.