help - Function

Provides user help.

Synopsis
help(help about, browser, server)

include "aips2help.g"

Description
help will either drive a browser (beta release supports Netscape only) to the requested help page or will scroll help text. If the argument contains a :, as in Refman:table, it will drive the browser to the table module in the reference manual. If instead you type, help('table') it would display the output on the local screen. You may time help() and see the following:

Please provide an argument to help.  If you type
 
 help('aips')
        will summarize the modules available in the aips package.
        Other packages available are synthesis and NRAO. You may also
        supply a function, tool, or module name in place of aips and
        have help about that argument printed.
 
 
 help('Refman:')
        it will give you the WWW address and drive your WWW browser
        to the \aipspp  User's Reference Manual
 
 
 help('Glish:')
        will give you the WWW address manual and drive your WWW browser
        to the Glish User Manual.
 

help('Refman:table.table')
        will drive your web browser the table tool constructor of the
        table tool in the \aipspp  User's Reference Manual.

Arguments

help about	Help a user is looking for
	Allowed:	String
browser	Optional browser to drive
	Allowed:	Optional: netscape or mosaic
	Default:	netscape
server	Optional server to use
	Allowed:	Optional: any valid AIPS++documentation server
	Default:	file://localhost

Returns
F if driving a browser, but prints help text to the local screen if not using a browser.

Example
There are two ways to use help, one prints help text to the glish window, the second drives a web browser (only Netscape for the beta release) to the appropriate place in the User Reference Manual.

help('table.close')

displays help about table.close in the local glish window.  To have help
drive a browser to a web page

help('Refman:table.close');

or to drive a different browser or server you could

help('Refman:table.close', browser='mosaic', server='http://aips2.nrao.edu')

the new browser and server are remembered so you don't need to subsequently
set them again.

If displaying help in the glish window, the argument may contain wild cards i.e catalog.* or *.catalog. All matches found will be displayed in a list. If only one match is found then its help text will be printed in the glish window. As a short cut, web() maybe used to drive the web browser to the appropriate page in the User Reference Manual.

If using the web browser as the means to display help, you need to specify which document to look at. In the above example, Refman: tells the help system to use the AIPS++User Reference Manual, table.close tell the help system to goto the label table.close. Table here refers to the table tool, and close to the table function close. You must specify the volume you wish to search by making it first in the argument list and seperating it with a : from the rest of the help string. If you don't use the : help will try and print a summary to your glish window. You may use either . or a space to seperate the help string. The following are equivalent

Refman:table:close
Refman:table.close
Refman:table close

The first item in the list is the volume to search.

Help may use two aipsrc variables to alter the default documentation server and browser. These are:

help.browser: The browser to use for driving help, the default is Netscape and
help.server: The address for the help server, the default is http://localhost.

See Also
web

Next: web - Function Up: misc - Module Previous: printer.printvalues - Function Contents Index

	Package	utility
	Module	misc