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Robin Kiszka-Kanowitz asked about a cross-platform solution for online
help for an Oracle application. Robin, with no sarcasm intended, the
solution is right under your nose!
Since what you described seems to me to be a command reference of
sorts, why not simply create the help text as an Oracle database
table, linked directly to the appropriate data-entry screens or
loadable upon demand? If the user wants to find a specific parameter,
s/he simply loads the appropriate table and invokes the search
function. (A keyword index linked to the specific data might work
better.) Not elegant, perhaps not hypertextual, but a simple solution
until you can find one that works better. I don't know enough about
Oracle to know if you can build-in hyperlinks between topics, but if
you can, so much the better. Biggest advantage is that the help will
work on any system that Oracle supports, including Mac. In any event,
another advantage is that once you find the desired software, you can
export the Oracle data into that software and add the all the
hyperthingies you need!
--Geoff Hart #8^{)}
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
Disclaimer: These comments are my own and don't represent the opinions
of the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada.
