The HelpBrowser(topiclist,opts) calling sequence displays a mini-help browser for the specified list of topics, containing a short description of the topic, and allowing access to help pages for that topic. There is no return value, simply a button to dismiss the help browser.

The topic list must be specified in a very particular form. It must be specified as a list of 3 element lists of the form [topic name, help pages, description].

The topic name entry must be a string that identifies the topic, and this is what will be displayed in the topic selection drop-down (Help for:) at the top of the window.

The description entry must be a pure text description of the topic, and can contain newline characters for more suitable display. This description is displayed in a text box below the topic selection.

The help pages entry must be a list of 0 or more help pages (specified as strings, e.g. "int" for the help ?int) to make available from the application, and their content can be pulled up by clicking the Help page button below the description text box. In the event that only a single help page is required, this can be specified as a single string. Note that the help information is obtained using the help function, so the same restrictions apply (i.e. packages must use package,member or  form, and not package:-member form).

Note that the help browser is designed to display content as simply as possible, so if the topic list contains only a single topic, then the drop-down for topic selection is removed, and the topic is displayed automatically. Similarly, if all topics have either no help page or only a single help page associated with them, then the drop-down for help page selection is removed.

The opts argument can contain one or more of the following equations that set Maplet application options.

font = Maplet Font Element

The font to be used for the Maplet. The default Maplet font is used if this is not specified.

helpfont = Maplet Font Element

The font to be used for the pure text help page display in the Maplet. Note that this must be a fixed width font to render help pages containing Maple output in a readable form. By default this is Maplets:-Elements:-Font("Monospaced").

helptype = tty or gui

This option is used to indicate the preferred method of viewing a help page. The default, tty, always brings up a help page as a monospaced text translation of the help in a separate window. This is the only available method when running Maple from the command line interface. The gui option brings up a help page in the worksheet interface when the Maplet is running from a worksheet session (otherwise it uses the tty form when running from the command line). Note that the option in the Maplet for specifying the help page width only applies to the tty output form.

starttopic = string

The initial topic to display when the Maplet starts up. By default the text  is displayed in the topic selection drop-down, and the description text box is blank. If the specified string is not in the topic list, then this text is assumed to specify a replacement for the  message. If the specified string is in the topic list, then this topic is displayed on startup.

title = string or symbol

The title that appears in the help browser title bar. The default title is Help Browser.