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Inside Macintosh: Apple Guide Complete / Part 4 - Scripting Guide Files

Chapter 10 - Guide Script Command Reference / Guide Script Command Descriptions

/ Defining Topic Areas

<Topic Area>

You can use the <Topic Area> command to specify a phrase that appears in the left column (the topic area column) in the Full Access window when Topics is the active list.

<Topic Area> topicAreaPhrase [, mixinOrder]

topicAreaPhrase

A text string that specifies a phrase to display in the list of topic areas.

mixinOrder

You use this parameter only for Mixin guide files to specify the sort order for this topic area after it is mixed in. You can either specify the name of a topic area in the main guide file that this topic area should follow or you can specify the constant FIRST or LAST to insert the topic area at the beginning or end of the main guide file's topic areas.

DESCRIPTION

Apple Guide displays, in the list of topic areas, the phrase defined in the topicAreaPhrase parameter. When the user clicks the Topics button, Apple Guide displays the phrases defined by <Topic Area> commands. When the user selects a particular topic area, Apple Guide displays the topics and any headers associated with the selected topic area. You associate topics and headers with a particular topic area by following a <Topic Area> command by <Header> and <Topic> commands.

Apple Guide displays topic areas in the same order as they are defined in your help source files.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS

A <Topic Area> command must be followed by at least one <Header> or <Topic> command.

A Single List Access window contains topics and (optionally) headers. Although Apple Guide does not display topic areas for a Single List Access window, you must include one <Topic Area> command (followed by the <Header> and <Topic> commands) for your Single List Access guide file.

EXAMPLES

#specify a topic area 
<Topic Area> "Fonts"
   #specify header and topics for this topic area
   <Header> "How do I"
      <Topic> "change the font of a word?", "SeqFont1"
      <Topic> "change the font of a paragraph?", "SeqFont2"
      <Topic> "change the font of a document?", "SeqFont3"
      <Topic> "change the default font?", "SeqFont4"
#specify a topic area 
<Topic Area> "Styles"
   #specify headers and topics for this topic area
   <Header> "How do I"
      <Topic> "change the style of a word?", "SeqStyle1"
      <Topic> "change the style of a paragraph?", "SeqStyle2"
      <Topic> "change the style of a document?", "SeqStyle3"
      <Topic> "change the default style?", "SeqStyle4"
   <Header> "Definitions"
      <Topic> "style", "DefnsStyle"
#specify a topic area 
<Topic Area> "Index markers"
   #specify header and topics for this topic area
   <Header> "How do I"
      <Topic> "create an index marker?", "CreateIndexMarkerSeq"
      <Topic> "select an index marker?", "SelectIndexMarkerSeq"
      <Topic> "remove an index marker?", "RemoveIndexMarkerSeq"
      <Topic> "generate an index?", "GenerateIndexSequence"

SEE ALSO

For information on the <Header> and <Topic> commands, see page 10-135 and page 10-137, respectively.