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JavaHelpTM 1.0 - Change History

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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.

JavaHelpTM 1.0
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Last modified: Mon Apr 12 16:56:07 MDT 1999