Docs/Manual/English/About_Doc.xml

   1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   2 <article id="About_Doc">
   3   <title>About WinMerge Help</title>
   4
   5   <para>This is Help for WinMerge &WinMergeVersion;.</para>
   6
   7   <section>
   8     <title>Audience and scope</title>
   9
  10     <para>WinMerge Help is intended for both new and experienced users. It
  11     explains how to use WinMerge, and documents its capabilities and
  12     limitations.</para>
  13   </section>
  14
  15   <section>
  16     <title>How to access Help</title>
  17
  18     <para>WinMerge Help topics are provided in two forms:</para>
  19
  20     <itemizedlist>
  21       <listitem>
  22         <para>Microsoft HTML Help (<filename>WinMerge.chm</filename>), located
  23         in your WinMerge\Docs installation directory.</para>
  24       </listitem>
  25
  26       <listitem>
  27         <para>HTML manual on the WinMerge Web site.</para>
  28       </listitem>
  29     </itemizedlist>
  30
  31     <para>You can access WinMerge Help in several ways:</para>
  32
  33     <variablelist>
  34       <varlistentry>
  35         <term>WinMerge Help menu</term>
  36
  37         <listitem>
  38           <para>While using WinMerge, click <menuchoice>
  39               <guimenu>Help</guimenu>
  40
  41               <guimenuitem>WinMerge Help</guimenuitem>
  42             </menuchoice>. HTML Help opens at the beginning (this topic).</para>
  43         </listitem>
  44       </varlistentry>
  45
  46       <varlistentry>
  47         <term>Context-sensitive help</term>
  48
  49         <listitem>
  50           <para>While using any WinMerge window, press <keycap>F1</keycap>. If a specific topic
  51           is available for your current window, Help opens at that topic. If
  52           not, Help opens at the beginning.</para>
  53         </listitem>
  54       </varlistentry>
  55
  56       <varlistentry>
  57         <term>WinMerge command line</term>
  58
  59         <listitem>
  60           <para>Use the /? or -? switch when running WinMerge from the command
  61           line. HTML Help opens at the beginning.</para>
  62         </listitem>
  63       </varlistentry>
  64
  65       <varlistentry>
  66         <term>WinMerge Web site</term>
  67
  68         <listitem>
  69           <para>Open your Web browser to <ulink
  70           url="https://winmerge.org/">winmerge.org</ulink>. Under <ulink
  71           url="https://winmerge.org/docs/">Documentation</ulink>, follow the
  72           <ulink url="https://manual.winmerge.org/">Manual</ulink> link to
  73           the latest Help version.</para>
  74         </listitem>
  75       </varlistentry>
  76     </variablelist>
  77   </section>
  78
  79   <section>
  80     <title>How to use Help</title>
  81
  82     <para>Please read the following topics to learn essential WinMerge
  83     basics,</para>
  84
  85     <variablelist>
  86       <varlistentry>
  87         <term><xref linkend="Quick_start" /></term>
  88
  89         <listitem>
  90           <para>Gets you quickly started with WinMerge and shows its basic
  91           usage.</para>
  92         </listitem>
  93       </varlistentry>
  94
  95       <varlistentry>
  96         <term><xref linkend="Compare_dirs" /></term>
  97
  98         <listitem>
  99           <para>Explains the folder comparison window, available operations, and
 100           customizing the results display.</para>
 101         </listitem>
 102       </varlistentry>
 103
 104       <varlistentry>
 105         <term><xref linkend="Compare_files" /></term>
 106
 107         <listitem>
 108           <para>Explains the file comparison/merge window, available operations,
 109           methods of navigation, and modes.</para>
 110         </listitem>
 111       </varlistentry>
 112
 113       <varlistentry>
 114         <term><xref linkend="Compare_images" /></term>
 115
 116         <listitem>
 117           <para>Explains the image comparison/merge window.</para>
 118         </listitem>
 119       </varlistentry>
 120
 121       <varlistentry>
 122         <term><xref linkend="Compare_bin" /></term>
 123
 124         <listitem>
 125           <para>Explains the hex comparison/merge window.</para>
 126         </listitem>
 127       </varlistentry>
 128
 129       <varlistentry>
 130         <term><xref linkend="Compare_table" /></term>
 131
 132         <listitem>
 133           <para>Explains the table comparison/merge window.</para>
 134         </listitem>
 135       </varlistentry>
 136
 137       <varlistentry>
 138         <term><xref linkend="Compare_webpages" /></term>
 139
 140         <listitem>
 141           <para>Explains the Web page comparison window.</para>
 142         </listitem>
 143       </varlistentry>
 144
 145       <varlistentry>
 146         <term><xref linkend="Configuration" /></term>
 147
 148         <listitem>
 149           <para>Explains how to customize WinMerge, including handling
 150           whitespace, colours, and text encoding.</para>
 151         </listitem>
 152       </varlistentry>
 153     </variablelist>
 154
 155     <para>To learn about WinMerge in more detail, read these topics:</para>
 156
 157     <variablelist>
 158       <varlistentry>
 159         <term><xref linkend="Open_paths" /></term>
 160
 161         <listitem>
 162           <para>Introduces several ways to open files and folders in WinMerge -
 163           there are many! For example, do you know how to use the Shell
 164           Extension context menu in advanced mode?</para>
 165         </listitem>
 166       </varlistentry>
 167
 168       <varlistentry>
 169         <term><xref linkend="Plugins" /></term>
 170
 171         <listitem>
 172           <para>Describes the optional, extra features that you can add to
 173           WinMerge using its plugin mechanism.</para>
 174         </listitem>
 175       </varlistentry>
 176
 177       <varlistentry>
 178         <term><xref linkend="Filters" /></term>
 179
 180         <listitem>
 181           <para>Explains how to control what is compared in the folder or file
 182           comparison window.</para>
 183         </listitem>
 184       </varlistentry>
 185
 186       <varlistentry>
 187         <term><xref linkend="Command_line" /></term>
 188
 189         <listitem>
 190           <para>Lists command-line parameters for using WinMerge with other
 191           tools or from a script.</para>
 192         </listitem>
 193       </varlistentry>
 194
 195       <varlistentry>
 196         <term><xref linkend="Faq" /></term>
 197
 198         <listitem>
 199           <para>Contains answers to many common questions asked of
 200           developers.</para>
 201
 202           <para>Before submitting questions to <ulink
 203           url="https://github.com/WinMerge/winmerge/">GitHub</ulink>,
 204           please check the <xref linkend="Faq" /> topic first to see if your
 205           question is answered there.</para>
 206         </listitem>
 207       </varlistentry>
 208     </variablelist>
 209   </section>
 210
 211   <section>
 212     <title>Documentation conventions<indexterm>
 213         <primary>conventions, documentation</primary>
 214       </indexterm></title>
 215     <para></para>
 216     <informaltable>
 217       <tgroup cols="2">
 218         <thead>
 219           <row>
 220             <entry>Example</entry>
 221
 222             <entry>Indicates</entry>
 223           </row>
 224         </thead>
 225
 226         <tbody>
 227           <row>
 228             <entry>Enter <userinput>UTF-8</userinput> in the field.<para>Click
 229             the <guibutton>Browse</guibutton> button to navigate to the
 230             path.</para><para>Press <keycap>F5</keycap> once to refresh the
 231             window. </para></entry>
 232
 233             <entry>Bold font in descriptive text can indicate:<itemizedlist>
 234                 <listitem>
 235                   <para>A value or string that you are instructed to
 236                   enter</para>
 237                 </listitem>
 238
 239                 <listitem>
 240                   <para>The name of a GUI button or keycap</para>
 241                 </listitem>
 242               </itemizedlist></entry>
 243           </row>
 244
 245           <row>
 246             <entry>Press <keycombo>
 247                 <keycap>Ctrl</keycap>
 248
 249                 <keycap>O</keycap>
 250               </keycombo></entry>
 251
 252             <entry><wordasword>Press</wordasword> indicates a keyboard action.
 253             In this example, press the <keycap>Ctrl</keycap> and
 254             <keycap>O</keycap> keys in combination.</entry>
 255           </row>
 256
 257           <row>
 258             <entry><para>Click <guibutton>OK</guibutton>. </para></entry>
 259
 260             <entry>Click indicates a left mouse click on an object, such as a
 261             menu item or button.</entry>
 262           </row>
 263
 264           <row>
 265             <entry>Click <menuchoice>
 266                 <guimenu>File</guimenu>
 267
 268                 <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem>
 269               </menuchoice>.</entry>
 270
 271             <entry>The arrow indicates menu navigation. In the example, you
 272             choose the <guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem> item in the WinMerge
 273             <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu .</entry>
 274           </row>
 275
 276           <row>
 277             <entry>Right-click the row and choose the
 278             <guimenuitem>Compare</guimenuitem> shortcut.</entry>
 279
 280             <entry>Click the right mouse button on an object to open its context
 281             menu, and then either left-click or right-click the indicated item
 282             in the context menu.</entry>
 283           </row>
 284
 285           <row>
 286             <entry>Enter <replaceable>options file</replaceable>.ini<para>Use
 287             the <guilabel>Filter</guilabel> field to eliminate files from the
 288             operation.</para><para>One or more consecutive different lines form
 289             one difference (or <glossterm>diff</glossterm>).</para></entry>
 290
 291             <entry>Italicized text can represent: <itemizedlist>
 292                 <listitem>
 293                   <para>A replaceable value or string. In the first example, you
 294                   would substitute a real file name for the italicized term, but
 295                   enter the <filename>ini</filename> file extension, which is
 296                   not italicized, as written.</para>
 297                 </listitem>
 298
 299                 <listitem>
 300                   <para>The name of a field, menu, or control in a WinMerge
 301                   window.</para>
 302                 </listitem>
 303
 304                 <listitem>
 305                   <para>A significant word or phrase that is introduced.</para>
 306                 </listitem>
 307               </itemizedlist></entry>
 308           </row>
 309
 310           <row>
 311             <entry>The path <envar>%WORKDIR%\project1</envar> is expanded to
 312             <filename
 313             class="directory">C:\workfiles\project1</filename>.<para><screen
 314             format="linespecific">TwoWords</screen></para></entry>
 315
 316             <entry>Monospaced text can indicate:<itemizedlist>
 317                 <listitem>
 318                   <para>A path or the name of a file or other system item</para>
 319                 </listitem>
 320
 321                 <listitem>
 322                   <para>Sample code fragments</para>
 323                 </listitem>
 324
 325                 <listitem>
 326                   <para>Sample output</para>
 327                 </listitem>
 328
 329                 <listitem>
 330                   <para>Information that you enter in a form or on the command
 331                   line</para>
 332                 </listitem>
 333               </itemizedlist></entry>
 334           </row>
 335
 336           <row>
 337             <entry><cmdsynopsis sepchar=" ">
 338                 <command moreinfo="none">command</command>
 339
 340                 <arg choice="plain"
 341                 rep="norepeat"><replaceable>inputpath</replaceable></arg>
 342
 343                 <arg choice="opt"
 344                 rep="norepeat"><replaceable>outputpath</replaceable></arg>
 345               </cmdsynopsis></entry>
 346
 347             <entry>In syntax lines, brackets indicate optional elements. In this
 348             example, you must enter an input path with the command; you can
 349             enter an output path, but the command is valid without it.</entry>
 350           </row>
 351         </tbody>
 352       </tgroup>
 353     </informaltable>
 354     <para></para>
 355   </section>
 356 </article>