StreamBase Documentation


Using the StreamBase Documentation

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This topic describes several features that are available in StreamBase Help.

Types of Help Available

The following types of StreamBase Help are available:

  • The main help system: an extensive set of Help topics that you can browse using common navigation methods, such as a table of contents, index, and searches. The main help system contains comprehensive information about StreamBase.

    Topics in the main Help system can be displayed in several ways:

    • In the StreamBase Help Viewer, which runs outside of StreamBase Studio and (beginning in Version 3.0) can be launched independently of StreamBase Studio. The StreamBase Help Viewer includes these navigation aids:
      • A navigation pane with an expandable table of contents (TOC) that links to most topics. The TOC can be synchronized with the current topic in the main pane.
      • Full-text search on the current topic or on a range of topics.
      • Bookmarks: saved links to topics that you intend to return to.
      • An alphabetized Topic Index that provides direct links to the primary discussion about the StreamBase features.
      • A Site Map that shows the hierarchy of all topics in the StreamBase documentation.
      • Breadcrumb links to show your current location in the hierarchy of StreamBase documentation topics.
    • In an external Web browser (such as FireFox or Internet Explorer), which can also be launched independently. Web browser-based documentation includes these navigation aids:
      • A navigation menu that links to the top-level topics.
      • An alphabetized Topic Index that provides direct links to the primary discussion about the StreamBase features.
      • A Site Map that shows the hierarchy of all topics in the StreamBase documentation.
      • Breadcrumb links to show your current location in the hierarchy of StreamBase documentation topics.
  • Context help: brief summary information, related to the component that currently has focus in StreamBase Studio. Context help can also include links to relevant main help topics.

    StreamBase Studio can display context help in two modes:

    • As Dynamic Help, in the StreamBase Studio Help View. In addition to the content provided by the help author, Dynamic Help includes a list of related topic links that is automatically generated. This list is dynamically regenerated each time you change focus within StreamBase Studio.
    • As an infopop.

    You can configure StreamBase Studio to use either Dynamic Help or infopops by changing the settings for context help in Window > Preferences > Help.

  • Cheat sheets: Step-by-step instructions for each of the StreamBase Studio demos, which you can access from the StreamBase Studio Demos perspective.
  • Command-line help for StreamBase commands that you enter in a terminal window. On Linux, manpages are also available.

Javascript Requirement

The StreamBase Help system requires Javascript. If you do not have Javascript enabled, or if you disable it, the Help will not work properly. For example, context may be lost if you click the "Show in External Window" option from the StreamBase Studio menu for Window > Preferences. If you do not wish to enable Javascript for all web visits, you can set your blocking script to not block Javascript for localhost:<any-port>. If you want to only allow one specific port for the script-unblocking, go into StreamBase Studio, select Window > Preferences > Help Server, and set the port number there.

Getting Help for StreamBase

  • To get context help in StreamBase Studio:

    With focus on the StreamBase component you want help on, Press F1.

  • To access the main Help system while using StreamBase Studio:

    click Menu > Contents. The Help appears in either the StreamBase Help viewer or your external Web browser, depending on your settings in Window > Preferences > Help.

  • To access the main Help system outside of StreamBase Studio (in the StreamBase Help Viewer):
    • From the Windows desktop: Click Start > Programs > StreamBase > StreamBase Help Viewer
    • From a Linux terminal window or Windows Command Prompt window: Enter sbhelp.
  • To access the main Help system outside of StreamBase Studio (in a Web browser):
    • From the Windows desktop: Click Start > Programs > StreamBase > StreamBase Documentation > StreamBase Help
    • On Windows or UNIX: Open a Web browser. Then open file:////streambase_home/doc/index.html (where streambase_home is your StreamBase installation directory).
  • To get syntax help for StreamBase commands while using a UNIX terminal window or Windows Command Prompt window, enter:

    command --help

  • On UNIX, to get full help for help for StreamBase commands while using a terminal window enter:

    man command

Features Available in the StreamBase Help

This section describes navigation and informational features that are available when you use the StreamBase Help Viewer.

Browsing Help Topics

Browse topics in the Help Contents frame ( Contents icon ) on the left. Click on a topic to have it displayed. Use the Back and Forward buttons in the upper right menu to navigate within the history of viewed topics. For example:

StreamBase Help navigation

Searching the Help

To quickly locate topics on a particular subject in the documentation, you can use any of the following options:

  • Select "Help > Search" from the top-level menu, and enter one or more words on which to search the documentation.
  • Select "Help > Help Contents" from the top-level menu, which opens the Help in a separate window. From there, you can enter a search query in the Search box near the top-left corner of the window.

If you select "Help > Search" from the menu, enter a search sting and matches are found, the Help View provides links to the found topics. For example:

StreamBase Studio search results example

When you click a topic's link in the search results (part of the Help View), the topic is opened in the same (and usually narrow) view window. For example:

StreamBase Studio search results example

If desired, you can double-click on the Help tab (shown here), to toggle between the narrow-format view and the full-screen view, and vice versa:

StreamBase Help tab

You can also minimize the search results window, or click the X in the Help tab to close it and return to the StreamBase Studio Authoring or Test/Debug perspective.

Synchronizing the Help Topics and Contents

If you selected "Help > Help Contents" from the top-level menu, the StreamBase Help in opened in a separate window. If you search for a topic, the Search Results are displayed in a left-side pane. If you click one of the matching topics, the page is opened in the right-side pane. For example:

StreamBase Studio search results

To synchronize the displayed matching topic and the Help's full table of contents, click either the Refresh / Show Current Topic button ( Refresh / Show Current Topic icon ) or Show in Table of Contents button ( Show in Table of Contents icon ) to match the navigation tree with the current topic. For example:

StreamBase Studio search results

You might also find it useful to synchronize after following in-topic links.

Context-Sensitive Help

In StreamBase Studio, a number of user-interface components have context-sensitive Help that you can access by pressing:

  • The F1 key, on Windows
  • The Ctrl+F1 key sequence, on Linux

Note: Context-sensitive help is enabled for specific areas of StreamBase Studio. Because these areas are not explicitly marked and because help is not provided for all areas, you may not get the result you expect every time you press F1 or Ctrl+F1. Sometimes you can display the help you need by selecting a different area first.

For example, if you simply open a view for which help is available and click F1 or Ctrl+F1, the help provides general information about that type of view. If help is available for smaller areas within the view, such as tabs, you must click into an area that accept input, such as a text field or table area, in order to display help at that level.

The following screen shows the Help View displayed after we set our cursor's focus in the Tuple Output Interval box on the Output Settings tab, and then entered F1 or Ctrl+F1:

StreamBase Studio context-sensitive Help

Please see the suggestion in the Searching the Help section for a tip about toggling between the narrow- and full-screen formats of the Help View.

If you prefer, you can switch your Help preference to display the Help in an external browser. You can also elect to have the context-sensitive Help displayed in an "InfoPop" instead of the Help View. The preferences can be set by selecting "Window > Preferences..." from the top-level menu. The

The previous screen shows the default settings. If we instead select "Open window context help ... in an infopop," the context-sensitive Help will be displayed in a simpler format. For example, the following screen shows an InfoPop that was displayed after we opened the "Operation Settings" tab on the Properties view for a Query operator, then clicked in one of the field rows, then clicked F1 or Ctrl+F1:

StreamBase Studio InfoPop example

You can then click a link for a related topic to open it in a separate StreamBase Help window.

More Information

If you cannot find the answer to your question in the on-line Help, visit the Developer Zone to find technical articles and FAQs, and to participate in the StreamBase community.

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