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Help (SIObject)

Introduced

4.0

Description

Specifies the help file for an object as a String (an empty string is returned if an object has no help file).

The Help property is read-only for all objects except PluginItem and PluginRegistrar.

A plug-in help file can be an HTML page or a compiled help (.chm) file.

By default, XSI looks for a plug-in help file in the "doc" subfolder of the plug-in installation folder. XSI assumes the help file has the same name as the plug-in. For example, if the plug-in MyPlugin.js is located in the folder "C:\MyWorkgroup\Application\Plugins" then XSI looks in the folder "C:\MyWorkgroup\Application\Plugins\Doc" for a help file named MyPlugin.chm, MyPlugin.html, or MyPlugin.htm.

If a plug-in help file has a different name or location, you can set this property on the PluginItem or PluginRegistrar object to specify the names of help files and, optionally, their locations.

Notes:

To specify the help file for a dynamic custom property (a property created with SceneItem.AddCustomProperty) use PPGLayout.SetAttribute to set the siUIHelpFile attribute.

The help file string for SPDL objects contains the location of the help file and an index separated by a semicolon. For example, "HelpFile;HelpID", where HelpFile is the object help file and HelpID is an identifier for indexing the help file.

C# Syntax

// get accessor
String rtn = SIObject.Help;

// set accessor
SIObject.Help = String;

Examples

1. JScript Example

/* 
   This example shows how to specify the help
   for a plug-in and for a custom property.
*/
function XSILoadPlugin( in_reg )
{
   in_reg.Author = "sblair";
   in_reg.Name = "MyPlugin";

   // Help file is in the same folder as the plug-in
   var sChm = "MyPluginHelp.chm";
   in_reg.Help = XSIUtils.BuildPath( in_reg.OriginPath, sChm );

   var oPluginItem = in_reg.RegisterProperty("MyProperty");

   // Open a specific help topic for the property
   sChm = "MyPluginHelp.chm::/MyProperty.htm";
   oPluginItem.Help = XSIUtils.BuildPath( in_reg.OriginPath, sChm );

   //RegistrationInsertionPoint - do not remove this line

   return true;
}

2. VBScript Example

'
' This example shows how to specify help files for a plug-in 
' and for specific plug-in items. The help files are assumed
' to be in the "doc" subfolder of the plug-in installation folder.
'

Function XSILoadPlugin( in_reg )
   ' register plugin information
   in_reg.Author = "Softimage Co." 
   in_reg.Name = "Mesh Filter plugin"
   in_reg.Help = "MeshFilter.htm"
   in_reg.URL = "http://www.softimage.com"
   in_reg.Email = "webmaster@softimage.com"

   ' set the version number of this plugin
   in_reg.Major = 1
   in_reg.Minor = 0 

   ' register filter plugin items

   set item = in_reg.RegisterFilter( "Border Edge", siFilterSubComponentEdge )
   item.help = "BorderEdge.htm"

   set item = in_reg.RegisterFilter( "Triangle", siFilterSubComponentPolygon )
   item.help = "Triangle.htm"

   in_reg.RegisterFilter "Quad", siFilterSubComponentPolygon 
   in_reg.RegisterFilter "N-gon", siFilterSubComponentPolygon 
   in_reg.RegisterFilter "Border Point", siFilterSubComponentPoint 
   in_reg.RegisterFilter "Polygon Island", siFilterSubComponentPolygon 

   XSILoadPlugin = true
end Function

3. VBScript Example

'
'  This example shows how to get a SPDL object help file
'
set cone = ActiveSceneRoot.AddPrimitive( "cone" )
helpArray = Split(cone.Help, ";")
LogMessage "help file: " & helpArray(0)
LogMessage "help ID: " & helpArray(1)

' The example above will output the following:
'INFO: help file: Help/property.hlp
'INFO: help ID: 6025

4. JScript Example

/*
   This example shows how to get the plug-in items help files
*/

var items = Application.Plugins("Mesh Filter plugin").Items;
for (var i=0; i<items.Count; i++) 
{
   LogMessage( items(i).Name + " help file is " + items(i).Help );
}

See Also

SOFTIMAGE|XSI v6.01     <     >