[Lazarus] lHelp improvements

Соболь Андрей Евгеньевич andrey.sobol.nn at gmail.com
Sun Dec 27 15:15:23 CET 2020


Hi, guys.

I am trying to do the lHelp more convenient. And after I have combined a chm indexes on start, I think about next step. What I see...
1. Exist a contradiction of behavior for contex searching through hh.exe (windows) an lHelp (this is for first start of help subsystem):
- When I press F1 for hh.exe enabled for context searching, then Lazarus send only one command - open chm file and seek TOC index position.
- When I press F1 for the lHelp enabled for context searching, then Lazarus send group of command as

    got BeginUpdate
    got BeginUpdate
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\fcl.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\fclres.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\fpdoc.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\ideintf.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\lazutils.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\lcl.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\prog.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\ref.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\rtl.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\toc.chm, url /index.html
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\user.chm, url /index.html
    got EndUpdate
    got rturl, filename M:\lazarus\docs\chm\ref.chm, url /ref/refse92.html#keyword_function
    got EndUpdate
    got rtmisc/mrShow
    
    Lazarus sends commands for opening all chm files and the last command is for performing contex search. As result hh.exe always does it more faster then lHelp. I think behavior have to be same, only a perform of context seaching. On second request lHelp can open next file and index and so on.
    
2. I think that the lHelp (or user) should make a decision myself, open all indexes on first start or none (for contex search primarily). It should have own preferences for that. But the lHelp don`t have any information about searchpath where is chm files. I can add a new command for sending searchpath or add new option to Lazarus (open all indexes on first start - see paragraph  1).

3. lHelp got a start command with the option "--hide" at start. Then lHelp gets many commands on openning of indexes. I think that I have the right to show lHelp or splash screen on getting first command. Without this, the user gets a hanging program (1-3 sec) and does not understand what happens. This is for the case when I open all the indexes.

What is your opinion about it?


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