Using Your Online Help System

Transcription

1 Using Your Online Help System GS-2993A Universal Imaging Corporation 502 Brandywine Parkway, West Chester, PA USA Tel: (610) Fax: (610)

2 Copyright, Notices, and Trademarks 1998, 1999 Universal Imaging Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Universal Imaging Corporation. The software described in this document, including information contained in any databases, is furnished under a license agreement and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the agreement. It is illegal to copy the software, except as specifically allowed in the license agreement. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Universal Imaging Corporation. MetaView and MetaPolscope are trademarks of Universal Imaging Corporation. MetaMorph, MetaFluor, MetaGFP, Image-1/FL, and Image-1/AT are registered trademarks of Universal Imaging Corporation. Information Mapping is a registered trademark of Information Mapping, Inc. Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from Microsoft Corporation. Acrobat Reader Copyright Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated, which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other products mentioned in this documentation are the property of their respective companies. Universal Imaging Corporation 502 Brandywine Parkway West Chester, PA U.S.A. Tel: (610) Fax: (610) support@image1.com Internet:

3 Using Your Online Help System 1 Overview Introduction Welcome to the Universal Imaging Corporation s premiere family of imaging systems. We hope that this powerful and flexible system helps you achieve all of your image acquisition and analysis needs. To help you get started, this brief guide was written to instruct you in the methods for finding information in your imaging program s online Help system. The online Help system is an integral part of your imaging system software, and can be accessed any time the program is running. You will find this feature particularly handy for learning how to carry out a procedure while you perform it, or for looking up what a particular command or dialog box option does. Please take some time to read through the rest of this guide. When you have finished, you will have all the means of obtaining information from the online Help about the features and use of your imaging system. In this booklet This booklet contains the following topics: Topic See Page Overview 1 Structure of the Online Help System 2 Obtaining Context-Sensitive Help 4 Searching Through the Online Help Contents 5 Searching the Online Help Keyword Index 7 Performing Full-Text Searches of the Online Help 9 Using Your Online Help System Page 1

4 2 Structure of the Online Help System Introduction Your imaging system software includes an online Help system to assist you while you work. This convenient feature can be used to obtain information about a specific command, to learn how to perform a procedure, to search for all Help pages that contain a particular word, or to look up a definition or the use of a journal function. Help topic pages Most topics listed in the online Help system have three types of Help pages a Summary page, a Procedure page, and a Dialog Box Options page. The Procedure and Dialog Box Options pages, which are displayed in secondary windows, can be thought of as nested below the level of their corresponding Summary page. The Summary page The Summary page is the main page for a particular command or program tool. Summary pages describe the purpose of a command or tool, and may give some background information about its use. At the top of a Summary page, you will find buttons that jump you to a Procedure or Dialog Box Options page for the described command. Some commands may have more than one Procedure or Dialog Box Options page, in which case clicking the Procedure or Dialog button will display a pop-up that lists the various procedures or dialog box pages. Clicking one of these will then jump you to the appropriate Help page. Typically, the Summary page also has some hotspot jumps, indicated by dark green, underlined text, which when clicked will display the Summary, Procedure, or Dialog Box Options page for a related topic. If necessary, be sure to click the Back button at the top of the Help window to find your way back to your original Summary page. The Procedure page Procedure pages give step-by-step details on how to use a command. If you leave this window open on your desktop, you will be able to follow the instructions listed in the Procedure page. Some Procedure pages will have a jump to a related topic. Be sure to click the Back button at the top of the Help window to find your way back to your original Procedure page. The Dialog Box Options page Dialog Box Option pages describe each of the options in a command s dialog boxes. Some commands may not have a dialog box associated with them. As with Summary and Procedure pages, some Dialog Box Options pages may have jumps to related topics. Again, be sure to click the Back button at the top of the Help window to find your way back to your original starting point. Continued on next page Page 2 Using Your Online Help System

5 2 Structure of the Online Help System, continued The Print button The Summary, Procedure, and Dialog Box Options pages all have a standard Print button. This opens the Print dialog box, allowing you to print the current topic in the window. Note: You can also print a Help system page by pressing the right mouse button and choosing Print Topic from the pop-up shortcut menu that appears. Procedure and Dialog buttons in secondary windows Like the Summary page s main window, Procedure and Dialog Box Options secondary windows have Procedure and Dialog buttons. You can use these buttons to toggle between the Procedure and Dialog Box Options pages for the topic that is currently displayed within the smaller window. To update the contents of the Procedure or Dialog Box Options window with a new topic currently being displayed in the main help window, choose the Procedure or Dialog button from the Summary page s toolbar (not the Procedure or Dialog button in the smaller window). The Up button Secondary windows also have an Up button. This can serve two purposes. By default, the secondary windows are configured to stay on top of all other windows, including that of the imaging application. (You can change this behavior by altering the selection for the secondary window Options menu s Keep Help on Top setting.) Also by default, however, main windows are configured not to stay on top. Thus, if you click elsewhere after opening a main window, it may become obscured by the application window. By choosing the Up button from the secondary Help window, you can bring the Summary page back into view (but bear in mind that the secondary window will still be displayed on top of the main window). The other use for the Up button is to display the Summary page for a command whose Help pages you may have entered directly from the Procedure or Dialog Box Options page. This may occur, for example, when you jump from a different page directly to a secondary Help window, or when you access a Procedure page directly from the Help Topics dialog box s contents page. Browse buttons There are several other buttons in the button bar of the main Help window which you will find very useful for navigating through an online Help system. The Browse buttons (<< and >>) allow you to browse through topics that are on the same level in the online Help system. Getting help Your online Help system can be used in a number of different ways. The remaining sections of this booklet describe the four major ways in which the Help system can be used. Using Your Online Help System Page 3

6 3 Obtaining Context-Sensitive Help Introduction One method of obtaining information is referred to as context-sensitive Help. This may be the method you use most, and it requires the least amount of work on your part. Your imaging program can keep track of which command s dialog box is currently active. When you press the [F1] function key on your keyboard, the program will automatically display the appropriate Help page for that command. You can then read the step-by-step procedure on the Procedure page, or see what each option does by reading the Dialog Box Options page, while concurrently looking at and making selections from the dialog box itself. Obtaining context-sensitive Help To obtain context-sensitive Help, use the procedure presented in the following table. Table 1 Step Obtaining Context-Sensitive Help Action 1 With the dialog box for the command in question open and active in your application workspace, choose Help on Current Function from the imaging program s Help menu. OR Press the [F1] function key on your keyboard. The Summary page for that command will appear. 2 If you want to read a step-by-step description of how to use the command, click the Procedure button. The Procedure page will appear automatically. Some commands may have more than one procedure associated with them, in which case a pop-up list of choices will appear. Click on the desired entry, and the selected Procedure page will appear. OR If you want to read a description of each option in the command s dialog box, click the Dialog button. The Dialog Box Options page will appear automatically. Some commands may have more than one dialog box associated with them, in which case a pop-up list of choices will appear. Click on the desired entry, and the selected Dialog Box Options page will appear. Note: You can also jump between the Procedure and Dialog Box Options pages by clicking the Procedure or Dialog buttons, respectively. You can also bring a Summary page associated with a Procedure or Dialog Box Options page to the front by clicking the Up button. Page 4 Using Your Online Help System

7 4 Searching Through the Online Help Contents Introduction Because it is organized in a logical, task-based order, you can simply browse through the Help Topics dialog box s contents page (see example in Fig. 0.1). With this dialog box open, you can double-click successively through folders (indicated by the book icon). When you find the topic you are looking for (indicated by an icon of a page with a question mark), a double-click will display the Help page for that topic. In addition to being a useful way to learn about a subject, this will be your method of choice when you wish to look through the online Help s Reference folder to find the meaning of a term or to determine how to use a journal function. Figure 1 Sample Online Help Contents Dialog Box Continued on next page Using Your Online Help System Page 5

8 4 Searching Through the Online Help Contents, continued Searching through the online Help system To search through the online Help system, use the procedure presented in the following table. Table 2 Step Searching Through the Online Help System Action 1 Select the imaging program s Help menu and choose Help Topics. The Help Topics dialog box will appear. 2 Select the Contents tab. 3 You can now double-click successively through folders (indicated by the book icon). When you find the topic you are looking for (indicated by an icon of a page with a question mark), a double-click will display the Summary or Procedure page for that topic. 4 At the same time that the Help page is displayed, the Help Topics dialog box will disappear. To bring it up again, click the Help Topics button in the upper left corner of the currently displayed Help page. Page 6 Using Your Online Help System

9 5 Searching the Online Help Keyword Index Introduction A second way to obtain help is to look up all pages that pertain to a specific index keyword that you type. This is best used when you already know the name of the command you want to learn more about, or when you need to know about a specific subject or procedure but don t know which commands to use. An example of the Help Topics dialog box s Index page is shown in Fig. 2. Figure 2 Sample Online Help Index Dialog Box Continued on next page Using Your Online Help System Page 7

10 5 Searching the Online Help Keyword Index, continued Looking up keywords in the online Help index To look up all topic pages for an index keyword, use the procedure presented in the following table. Table 3 Step Looking Up Keywords in the Online Help Index Action 1 Select the imaging program s Help menu and choose Help Topics. The Help Topics dialog box will appear. 2 Select the Index tab. 3 In the upper text box (1), start typing the keyword you are looking up. The table in the lower box (2) will automatically scroll to the index entries that match the letters you have typed. OR Drag the thumb or click the Down Arrow at the right of the table in the lower box (2) to scroll to the desired index entry. 4 Double-click the desired entry, or click the entry to highlight it and then choose Display. If there is only one topic page associated with that entry, the appropriate Help page will be displayed automatically. OR If more than one topic page exists for that entry, the Topics Found dialog box will appear. Select the desired topic from the Topics Found table and choose Display. The appropriate Help page will be displayed. 5 At the same time that the Help page is displayed, the Help Topics dialog box will disappear. To bring it up again, click the Help Topics button in the upper left corner of the currently displayed Help page. Page 8 Using Your Online Help System

11 6 Performing Full-Text Searches of the Online Help Introduction One final method of obtaining help is to perform a full-text search through the entire online Help system for all occurrences of a word. This method is similar to searching for a keyword, but is much less discriminating. An example of the Help Topic dialog box s full-text search Find page is shown in Fig. 3. Figure 3 Sample Online Help Full-Text Search Dialog Box Searching for a specific word in the online Help To search for all Help pages that contain a specified word, use the procedure presented in the following table. Table 4 Step Searching for All Occurrences of a Word in the Online Help Action 1 Select the imaging program s Help menu and choose Help Topics. The Help Topics dialog box will appear. 2 Select the Find tab. 3 In the upper text box (1), start typing the word for which you want to perform a fulltext search. The table in the middle box (2) will display all entries that contain the letters you have typed, in the order that you are typing them. Simultaneously, the lower box (3) will display the titles of the Help pages associated with those entries. Continued on next page Using Your Online Help System Page 9

12 6 Performing Full-Text Searches of the Online Help, continued Searching for a specific word in the online Help (continued) Step Action 4 Click the entry in the topics table (3) that you want to view, and then choose Display. The appropriate Help page will be displayed automatically. 5 At the same time that the Help page is displayed, the Help Topics dialog box will disappear. To bring it up again, click the Help Topics button in the upper left corner of the currently displayed Help page. You can then select a different entry in the topics table (3) to read its entry. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 as necessary. Page 10 Using Your Online Help System