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Bug 41335

Summary:	[Help] help could be installed in a more flexible way
Product:	[Eclipse Project] Platform	Reporter:	Rodrigo Peretti <rodrigo>
Component:	User Assistance	Assignee:	platform-ua-inbox <platform-ua-inbox>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE	QA Contact:
Severity:	enhancement
Priority:	P4
Version:	3.2
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	PC
OS:	All
Whiteboard:

Description Rodrigo Peretti

2003-08-08 11:06:30 EDT

Currently if you want to use the help for some plug-in you have to have that 
plug-in installed in your Eclipse IDE. Since our current development setup is 
different from the one of an Eclipse developer that is not always the best 
option.

In our current setup we have plain Eclipse as our development IDE. In the 
product we are developing one of the pre-requisites is GEF. If I want to see 
GEF docs and help I have to install those plug-ins in my IDE even though I do 
not use GEF in my IDE. It is only used in the product we're developing.

There should be a better way to include help/docs without having to install 
the given plug-ins in your IDE. There could be an option to point to help 
files or plug-ins while running Eclipse and dinamically populate the help 
system.

Comment 1 Konrad Kolosowski

2003-08-18 16:58:42 EDT

To view help of a plug-in that is in your workspace you do not have to install 
this plug-in in your IDE, you can launch it using PDE.

I do not believe that help system contained in Eclipse Platform should be able 
to launch help for code in the workspace, whether it is packaged as Eclipse 
help or other help.

I think there should be a way to view help in Eclipse format for a plug-in in 
the workspace only if PDE has been installed.  And currently it is already 
possible.  You can use PDE to launch runtime workbench using most plug-ins 
from development workbench plus the plug-in from workspace that contains help 
for component you are using.  This lets you view help for a component without 
destabilizing your IDE configuration.

I agree that there an easier way not involving more than couple of mouse 
clicks, would be helpful, but doubt that it should be made part of Eclipse 
Platform or Rich Client Platform (in 3.0).  It is definitely an IDE task.

Another way for an easier access to GEF documentation is to have the 
documentation installed on an infocenter, and be accessible using a browser.  
Eclipse help system supports this scenario, but some effort and resources to 
set up an infocenter is required on part of library provider.

Comment 2 Konrad Kolosowski

2005-05-04 17:28:23 EDT

Marking as P4 - unlikely to be looked at for 3.1.

Comment 3 Curtis d'Entremont

2006-06-14 14:31:45 EDT

Having remote help where you can browse help installed on a remote infocenter would allow you to browse help for plugins not installed as part of the base workbench. Marking as duplicate.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 122967 ***