JavaHelp^TM 1.0 - Change History

Copyright 1998-1999 Sun Microsystems

Changes from 0.90 to 1.0

This is the final set of changes so they are documented in more detail than the other sets.

• Refined the documentation of several methods. Fully defined when NullPointers are allowed and the resulting actions.
• The method getIcon in BasicSearchCellRenderer was made private.
• The method getCurrentNav was added to BasicHelpUI and HelpUI.
• The method setNavigatorDisplay was removed from HelpUI and BasicHelpUI.
• The method reloadData was changed to private in BasicTOCNavigatorUI, BasicIndexNavigatorUI, and BasicSearchNavigatorUI.
• The method installLookAndFeelDefaults was changed to package in HelpUtilities.
• Changed occurances of IllegalArgumentException to throw NullPointerException, except for classes that were copied from Swing.

Changes from 0.70 to 0.90

This is intented to be the last set of changes so they are documented in more detail than the other sets.

• Package name is now javax.help, rather than javax.javahelp. This is consistent with other packages in the Java Platform.
• Adjusted examples so they follow the Reference Implementation, in particular, the package names in the RI have also changed from *.javahelp.* to *.help.* and the default search database directory has changed from JavaHelpSearch to JavaHelpSearch.
• Better use of XML:
  • Moderate cleanup of HelpSet format to improve consistency and to better employ XML features, including Processing Instructions and empty tags.
  • Removed <impl> tag from the HelpSet (use PIs instead).
  • Dropped claim that the keydata registry of HelpSet would be initialized from the <impl> section.
  • Map files are now described as XML files.
  • All XML formats (HelpSet, TOC, Index, Map) are now formally described using a DTD. DTDs are versioned to allow for future changes.
• Standard Views now can be "empty" (i.e. without any <data>; this is useful when merging HelpSets) and clarified that non-existing subHelpSets are not to give an error.
• The DialogSupport class is no longer in the specification as it had too many limitations. We are planning direct support for Help in a future version of Swing's JOptionPane.
• CSH methods now accept both AWT Components as well as JComponents.
• The default CSH listener classes moved from DefaultHelpBroker to CSH and changed their name.
• The enabling methods on HelpBroker were modified to work on AWT components and some also changed their names.
• Refinements to the API to either fix bugs or improve reusability of functionality:
  • TOCView and IndexView now include a getDataAsTree() method.
  • Small changes in HelpSet to allow the creation of HelpSets programatically.
  • Cleaned up some more the parsing interface used in HelpSet, TOCView and IndexView.
  • Normalized a number of exceptions in corner cases (like when a null is passed in, etc).
  • Added removeNavigator() to several UI classes, setCellRenderer() to the ComponentUI classes, and merge() and remove() to BasicSearchNavigatorUI.
  • Made some additional methods public or protected so they can be reused.
  • Promoted UnsupportedOperationException from an inner to a top-level class.

Changes from 0.50 to 0.70

• Significantly improved support for internationalization and localization.
• We no longer claiming to comply with RDF, although we are still trying to be consistent with it.
• Created the notion of a NavigatorView to provide additional flexibility.
• Added the notion of Factories to access TOC, Index, and HelpSet parsers, including errors.
• Added support for a <subhelpset> tag in HelpSet files.
• Added a method to HelpUtilities to better support jar: in JDK1.2.
• Switched to using <OBJECT> tags instead of <APPLET> tags
• <OBJECT> tags are no longer part of the specification
• Clarified the role of the search engine.
• Added a section to this specification about the reference implementation.
• Classified Scenarios as a companion doc to the specification.
• Changed the package name of the search engine in the reference implementation.

Changes from 0.33 to 0.50 (unpublished but implemented in jhEA2)

• Added proper XML prefix to XML-based formats (TOC, Index, HelpSet).
• Now supports both JDK 1.1 and JDK 1.2 platforms.
• Removed mandated protocols from specification; instead we rely on the underlying platform.
• Added HelpBroker, Context-Sensitive Help, Search API.
• Dropped format from Views; type is enough.
• HelpSet nest (for merging) and IDs are now scoped within them.

Changes from 0.30 to 0.33

• First public draft.
• Improved the Beans proposed mechanism
• Cleaned up some the Merge examples
• Clarified some activation issues
• Added some references to the forthcoming Search Database Spec.

Changes from 0.20 to 0.30

• Improved pictures in the Scenarios. Improvements to the language of the document.
• The Navlet API was folded into JHelpNavigator and cleaned up
• Improvements on merging of HelpSets.
• Added initial description of DB format.
• Added Changes.html file.
• Added an intro to the JavaSoft API evolution process in preparation for a more public draft release.

Changes from 0.10 to 0.20

• Added a number of JavaHelp usage scenarios.
• Improved on applicability of map files using jar: format.
• Added navigational views.
• Added an overview to the spec.
• First cut at JavaBeans support.
• Provided examples of code fragments.