Background

HelpGUI is a HTML help browser built using pure Java.  The library provides functionality similar to other help systems.  The browser most closely resembles Sun Microsystems JavaHelp.  The largest differences between JavaHelp and HelpGUI is the Licensing.  While JavaHelp is distributed under a binary-only license, HelpGUI is distributed under the GNU General Public License.

HelpGUI was designed by Alexandre Thomas.  The base HelpGUI distribution can be found at the project homepage.

Approximatrix Edition

The Approximatrix Edition adds features to the HelpGUI system.  Most importantly, it adds the ability to request topics from the calling program.  The calling program can simply pass a topic "key" to the help browser, which will bring up the appropriate page.

The Approximatrix edition also adds the ability to access files on the file system instead of using resources in the browser's path.  This small addition allows the html files to be placed anywhere on the file system, greatly reducing the path requirements.

Finally, the Approximatrix edition implements anchor controls within an individual page.  Links containing anchors are now processed correctly, and the page is moved to the proper anchor location.

For more information and the API specification, proceed to the HelpGUI javadocs.

Download

The HelpGUI binaries, source, and javadocs can be downloaded below.  The current version of the HelpGUI Approximatrix Edition is 1.2-A.

Binary archive (includes source): Download!

Source archive: Download!

Javadocs: Download!

Older Versions

Previously released Approximatrix editions are also available below:

Binaries: 1.1-A

Source: 1.1-A

Support & Licensing

Approximatrix does not provide official support for HelpGUI.  Any questions should be posted in the Approximatrix Forums, where they will be answered in due course. 

HelpGUI is copyrighted by Alexandre Thomas.  It is distributed under the GNU General Public License.  Before including HelpGUI in a proprietary program, please read and understand the terms of this license.  Linking against HelpGUI (a grey area in Java) may require the calling program to be distributed under the GNU GPL as well.