How to get help

All Tycho documentation is on-line. Most windows have a Help menu at the upper right. The most useful item in that menu in the long run is the Concept Index, which accesses the documentation via keyword search. It opens an index browser. The Help button in the index browser explains how to use it. In brief, Tab completes partial entries, if possible. Repeated Tabs scroll through multiple matches. Pattern searches and wildcards are also supported in the browser.

Many Tycho menu commands are available through keyboard shortcuts so that you do not need to interrupt your typing to use the mouse. If you find the keyboard shortcuts unfamiliar, you will want to study the bindings documentation soon.

The items in the help menu and their usefulness are explained below:

About Tycho
This opens the Tycho welcome window, which has a hyperlink to the top level of the Tycho documentation. This provides a convenient starting point for new users. You should scan the available documentation to get a feel for what is there.
Tycho Home Page
The main entry point into the documentation.
Guide to ...
This points to the documentation for whatever widget belongs to the help menu. For example, the HTML viewer will have the menu command Guide to the ::tycho::HTML widget. All Tycho widget names begin with ::tycho::, which designates the namespace for Tycho code.
Concept Index
This opens an index browser for the master index to Tycho documentation. This is the most useful item in this menu for regular users.
Code Index
This opens an index browser that accesses the Tycho source code. This is useful to code developers using Tycho for its primary purpose: as infrastructure for application development. The index points to the documentation (which is automatically generated from comments in the source code) for all classes, methods, and procedures.
Itcl Man pages
This opens the Itcl man pages. Itcl2.2 includes HTML format manpages in itcl2.2/html. This Help menu choice merely opens up $TYCHO/itclhtml/TclTkMainList.html. The Tycho installer should make links to their local Itcl man pages.
Style Preferences
This is not really a Help item. It opens the Tycho preference manager, which permits users to customize the appearance of Tycho.
Class Diagram
This opens a pictorial representation of the classes that make up the Tycho system, arranged according to their inheritance hierarchy. The nodes in the diagram are hyperlinks to the documentation for the classes. The source code for the classes can also be accessed using the pop-up menu (usually invoked by the right mouse button).


Copyright © 1996-1998, The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Last updated: 06/07/98, comments to: tycho@eecs.berkeley.edu