Help
using the HTML documentation is invoked with the built-in Emacs
command browse-url, which displays the relevant help
topic in a browser of your choosing. Beginning with version 6.2,
IDL comes with the help browser IDL Assistant, which it
uses by default for displaying online help on all supported
platforms. This browser offers topical searches, an index, and is
also now the default and recommended IDLWAVE help browser. The
variable idlwave-help-use-assistant controls whether
this browser is used. Note that, due to limitations in the
Assistant, invoking help within IDLWAVE and ? topic
within IDL will result in two running copies of Assistant.
Aside from the IDL Assistant, there are many possible browsers
to choose among, with differing advantages and disadvantages. The
variable idlwave-help-browser-function controls
which browser help is sent to (as long as
idlwave-help-use-assistant is not set). This
function is used to set the variable
browse-url-browser-function locally for IDLWAVE help
only. Customize the latter variable to see what choices of
browsers your system offers. Certain browsers like
w3 (bundled with many versions of Emacs) and
w3m (http://emacs-w3m.namazu.org/)
are run within Emacs, and use Emacs buffers to display the HTML
help. This can be convenient, especially on small displays, and
images can even be displayed in-line on newer Emacs versions.
However, better formatting results are often achieved with
external browsers, like Mozilla. IDLWAVE assumes any browser
function containing "w3" is displayed in a local buffer. If you
are using another Emacs-local browser for which this is not true,
set the variable idlwave-help-browser-is-local.
With IDL 6.2 or later, it is important to ensure that the
variable idlwave-system-directory is set (see
Catalogs). One easy way to
ensure this is to run the IDL Shell (C-c C-s). It will
be queried for this directory, and the results will be cached to
file for subsequent use.
See HTML Help Browser Tips, for more information on selecting and configuring a browser for use with IDL's HTML help system.
Relative directory of the system-supplied HTML help directory, considered with respect to
idlwave-system-directory. Relevant for IDL 6.2 and greater. Should not change.
The directory where the idl_html_help HTML directory live. Obsolete and ignored for IDL 6.2 and greater (
idlwave-html-system-help-locationis used instead).
tIf set, use the IDL Assistant if possible for online HTML help, otherwise use the browser function specified in
idlwave-help-browser-function.
The browser function to use to display IDLWAVE HTML help. Should be one of the functions available for setting
browse-url-browser-function, which see.