4.1 Online manuals in HTML format

A complete documentation set is provided with LispWorks in the form of HTML files. Assuming that you have installed the documentation, these files are in the directory which is the result of evaluating this form:

(sys:lispworks-dir "manual/online/")

The Help menu links directly to these HTML files, allowing you to go straight to the most relevant documentation for the current context.

No proprietary extensions to HTML have been used, so you can use any HTML browser to view the documents. The Help menu drives the following browsers: Netscape, Firefox, Mozilla, Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Opera.

4.1.1 Getting help on the current symbol

Choose Help > On Symbol... to search for help on the symbol under the point (in an editor-based window) or the current object of a tool. This option displays the Search dialog described in 4.1.3 Searching the online manuals, but with options pre-selected to enable you to search for documentation on the current symbol. Click OK, and the results of the search are displayed in your HTML browser.

4.1.2 Getting help on the current tool

Choose Help > On Tool... to get help on the current tool. This takes you to the appropriate online chapter of this manual.

4.1.3 Searching the online manuals

Choose Help > Search... to search the online documentation. The Search dialog, shown in Search dialog, appears.

This dialog lets you specify what you want to search for, and which manuals you want to search in.

Enter a string of text in the Search for area.

There are a number of additional options that you can set if you want:

• Select Whole Word if you want to confine your search to whole words only. Select Partial Search if you want to match part of a word as well. By default, partial searches are performed. For example, if Whole Word is selected, searching for "pane" only matches the word "pane". If Partial Search is selected, searching for "pane" also matches "panels".
• You can choose whether to search the index or the table of contents of any given manual; select Index or Contents as appropriate. By default, indexes are searched, as these tend to produce the richest information.

Select the manuals you want to search in the Manuals list. If nothing is selected, all manuals are searched. You can select any number of items in this list.

Select the packages you want to search from the Packages list. If nothing is selected (the default), all packages are searched. You can select any number of items in this list.

Note that selections made in the Manuals and Packages lists reflect each other. If you choose one or more manuals, the relevant packages are also selected, and if you choose one or more packages, the relevant manuals are selected.

Once you have specified the search options, click OK. The results of the search are displayed in your HTML browser.

4.1.4 Searching the example source files

Choose Help > Search Examples... to search the supplied example source files. Enter the text to search for in the dialog (not shown here) and click OK.

The results are displayed in a Search Files tool. See 16 The Search Files tool for information about this tool.

4.1.5 Browsing manuals online

Choose Help > Manuals to select any of the available manuals from a submenu.

If you already have an HTML browser running, a link to the first page of the manual you choose is displayed in it. If you do not have a browser running, one is started for you.

4.1.6 The Lisp Knowledgebase

Choose Help > Lisp Knowledgebase to visit the LispWorks knowledgebase at www.lispworks.com . Please search the knowledgebase for solutions before reporting problems to Lisp Support.

4.1.7 LispWorks Patches

Choose Help > LispWorks Patches to visit the LispWorks patches page at www.lispworks.com where you can download the latest public patches for LispWorks. You must run LispWorks with the latest patch release installed.

4.1.8 Installing private patches in LispWorks for Windows

On Microsoft Windows, choose Help > Install Private Patches... to install private (named) patches. Select the private patch file with the Add button and edit the private-patches/load.lisp in the pane at the bottom to include the loading form supplied by Lisp Support. Then click Save Changes, which will run a helper application that interacts with the Windows User Access Control mechanism to allow you to write the files into the protected Program Files directory.

4.1.9 Configuring the browser used

The operating system has a default setting for which application to use to display HTML pages, and this is the application that LispWorks uses.