Specifying a Help File for a Plug-in

A plug-in help file can be an html page or a compiled (.chm) help file.

Users can access the help in a number of ways:

• In the Plug-in Tree, right-click the plug-in and choose Help.

• If the plug-in includes a self-installing property, then in the property page, click the ? icon in the title bar.

Pressing F1 in the script editor does not open the help for a custom command. The F1 key works only for commands (and objects, methods, and properties) documented in the Softimage SDK help file.

By default, Softimage looks for a plug-in help file in the Doc subfolder of the plug-in installation folder. Softimage assumes the help file has the same name as the plug-in. For example, if the plug-in MyPlugin.js is located in the folder

    C:\users\sblair\Softimage\XSI_7.5\Application\Plugins\MyPlugin\

then Softimage looks in the folder MyPlugin\Doc for a help file named MyPlugin.chm, MyPlugin.html, or MyPlugin.htm.

If a plug-in help file has a different name or location, you can use PluginRegistrar.Help and PluginItem.Help to specify the names of help files and, optionally, their locations. For example:

    // JScript
    function XSILoadPlugin( in_reg )
    {
       in_reg.Author = "sblair";
       in_reg.Name = "MyPlugin";

       // Help file is in the same folder as the plug-in
       var sChm = "MyPluginHelp.chm";
       in_reg.Help = XSIUtils.BuildPath( in_reg.OriginPath, sChm );

       var oPluginItem = in_reg.RegisterProperty("MyProperty");

       // Open a specific help topic for the property
       sChm = "MyPluginHelp.chm::/MyProperty.htm";
       oPluginItem.Help = XSIUtils.BuildPath( in_reg.OriginPath, sChm );

       //RegistrationInsertionPoint - do not remove this line

       return true;
    }

| For html pages, you cannot include a destination anchor (for example, MyPlugin.htm#command).

Autodesk Softimage v7.5