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Eclipse help system on Solaris with no browser [message #651834]

Tue, 01 February 2011 18:13

No real name

Messages: 5
Registered: January 2011

Junior Member

I want to run the Eclipse help system on Solaris. I cannot install a web browser like Firefox in this particular situation. Is a web browser of some type always required to run the Eclipse help system?

I was looking at the following options for the org.eclipse.help.base plug-in:

always_external_browser
default_browser
custom_browser_path

Between these and the 3.6 docs, "Platform Plug-in Developer Guide > Programmer's Guide > User assistance support > Help", it seems that only running in workbench mode avoids the external browser. This would work for me if I could integrate it into my non eclipse-based application. Is this possible? Can workbench mode only be run in an Eclipse RCP based application? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!

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Re: Eclipse help system on Solaris with no browser [message #652126 is a reply to message #651834]

Wed, 02 February 2011 17:57

No real name

Messages: 5
Registered: January 2011

Junior Member

Ok, I was able to integrate this into my application. When launching in workbench mode it still errors out looking for a browser. I don't understand why it needs this if it is launching using the Eclipse help classes.

The error I'm getting is, "java.lang.Exception: Launching URL "http://127.0.0.1:port/help/index.jsp" using browser program "mozilla %1" has failed. Specify another browser in help preferences."

Can this be done without a browser?

Is it really using a browser to display the help information inside the Eclipse help window?

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Re: Eclipse help system on Solaris with no browser [message #652188 is a reply to message #652126]

Wed, 02 February 2011 22:41

No real name

Messages: 5
Registered: January 2011

Junior Member

I believe the Eclipse help system uses the SWT Browser, which according to: http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-SWT-browser-widget/b rowser.html

"The Browser widget binds to a suitable native HTML rendering engine for the platform it is running on (Internet Explorer on Windows, Mozilla on Linux, Safari on the Mac; the Eclipse SWT FAQ page lists the prerequisites for running the Browser widget on a particular platform). The constructor of the Browser widget throws an SWTError if a suitable native HTML rendering engine is not available. An application could trap this exception and degrade gracefully by disabling features that require the Browser widget."

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Re: Eclipse help system on Solaris with no browser [message #652607 is a reply to message #652188]

Fri, 04 February 2011 16:36

Grant Gayed

Messages: 2150
Registered: July 2009

Senior Member

Hi,

I think your question is best asked on the eclipse.platform.ua (ua = user
assistance) newsgroup. In the meantime, maybe some of the following is
helpful (?):

- the Eclipse Help system does require either a native browser (eg.-
Firefox, or the browser that ships with Solaris) or an embeddable browser
component (eg.- XULRunner, or the browser that ships with Solaris)
- in Eclipse, Help can be configured on the Help preference page to open
either "In an external browser", or "In the help browser" (this is an
Eclipse-created Shell containing an SWT Browser control)
- if you're using Eclipse 3.5.2 or newer then the "In the help browser" case
should work on Solaris 10 (SPARC) or OpenSolaris (x86)
(http://www.eclipse.org/swt/faq.php#browsersolaris), assuming that SWT's
Browser control finds a native embeddable browser component to use
- if you're using Eclipse 3.6 or newer then the "In an external browser"
case should work, assuming that a native browser can be found (I specify
Eclipse 3.6.x because of
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=292882 )

HTH,
Grant

<nwyatt@unomaha.edu> wrote in message news:iicm8b$7b7$1@news.eclipse.org...
>I believe the Eclipse help system uses the SWT Browser, which according to:
> http://www.eclipse.org/articles/Article-SWT-browser-widget/b rowser.html
>
> "The Browser widget binds to a suitable native HTML rendering engine for
> the platform it is running on (Internet Explorer on Windows, Mozilla on
> Linux, Safari on the Mac; the Eclipse SWT FAQ page lists the prerequisites
> for running the Browser widget on a particular platform). The constructor
> of the Browser widget throws an SWTError if a suitable native HTML
> rendering engine is not available. An application could trap this
> exception and degrade gracefully by disabling features that require the
> Browser widget."

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