Inside Macintosh: Apple Guide Complete / Part 2 - Building Guide Files

Chapter 5 - Creating Your Guide File

Creating a Mixin for Your Guide File

If, after distributing a guide file, you need to add to or modify its content, you can create a Mixin guide file (also known as a guide file addition, or mixin). This section gives information on how to create a Mixin guide file that revises the contents of an existing guide file.

Creating a Mixin guide file is much like creating any guide file: first you describe the help content in source files and then you compile the source files into a Mixin guide file (that is, you build your mixin). To specify that you want Guide Maker to create a Mixin guide file, use the <Mixin> command. You also specify the guide file you wish to mix information into using this command. (For information on how to use the <Mixin> command and for descriptions of the commands you can use in your mixin source file to replace, delete, or add content to a main guide file, see the chapter "Guide Script Command Reference.")

Once you have created your source files, build your Mixin guide file using Guide Maker's Build utility. For information on how to build a guide file, see the section "Building Your Guide File in Four Steps" beginning on page 5-6. Note that when you build your Mixin guide file, you typically give it the name of your guide file and append the word "Addition". Figure 5-9 shows an icon for a guide file and one for its accompanying mixin. Note that the icon of a Mixin guide file has a plus (+) symbol.

Figure 5-9 A guide file and its guide file addition, or mixin

A Mixin guide file contains additional information that Guide Maker automatically mixes into an existing guide file. You can restrict which mixins mix into a main guide file by using the <Mixin Match> command; for information on this command, see the chapter "Guide Script Command Reference." A mixin and the guide file it mixes into must be kept in the same folder for the help information to appear in the application. Note that the mixin does not appear in the Help menu; the user sees only the name of the guide file.