Sorry this slipped through the cracks – you have to click “Show all N results” at the top of the pop-up box below the search field.

It looks like the specific bug described in 32891 no longer exists in 9.5 or 10, but I forgot to close the bug. Can you double-check?

What effect are you trying to achieve? Copying a POPnet is not the first thing I would think of doing, but I'm not exactly an expert.

JColdrick
Couple of questions. If I have existing html docs that I don't particularly want to convert to wiki markup - any shortcuts(or possibilities for that matter) of generating indexes from it? I was about to dig into the indexer program but was wondering of existing shortcuts. Also, currently the indexer rather crudely sticks new custom entries at the bottom of the table of contents. Any plans or current abilities to allow these to be a little more formatted(let's say under a Local Docs section)?

There's nothing there right now to index HTML, but it shouldn't be hard. Give me a couple of days to think about it and I should be able to make it work.

The ordering of the table of contents is determined by two things:

• The more elegant solution that was introduced in 9.5 is to have a section in the parent document (usually directory/_index.txt) like this:
  
  
  @subtopics
  
  == Category 1 ==
  
  
  
  
  == Category 2 ==
  
  
  
  
  
  Grep for occurances of “@subtopics” in the docs for examples of this. This lets you specify the order and categorization of the subpages manually. It's great when you want to design the order of the pages in a chapter.
  
  
• If you add a property like this:
  
  
  = Title =
  
  #order: N
  
  
  …where N is some number (positive or negative), the page will be ordered by that number relative to its siblings (if the order is not explicitly given it's assumed to be 0). So if you just wanted one page to show up before all the others, you could say #order: -100 or something.
  
  You should also be able to do this:
  
  
  = Title =
  
  #order: -100
  #cagegory: categoryid
  
  
  …where the categoryid matches up with an id on a heading in the @subtopics section on the parent page:
  
  
  @subtopics
  
  == Getting started == (categoryid)
  
  
  …
  
  
  
  
  I think what's happening is that it's adding your pages to the end of the “designed” list as “uncategorized” pages. The #order trick will let you move your page *before* the designed pages, but unfortunately you can't easily add your pages to existing cateegories (except by editing the parent page), because I didn't bother to manually give them IDs you can use ops: .
  
  If any of that isn't clear, let me know

Well, I'll spew some information and you can tell me if this is what you were asking…

The help server has the ability to overlay the contents of multiple directory trees. In the default configuration ($HFS/houdini/config/deploy.ini) that includes all HOUDINIPATH/help directories (that's what the special “@path” token does in the “docs =” line of the config file).

So, if you want to add a page at the root level of the help server, you could e.g. create “$HOME/houdiniX.X/help/mypage.txt”. Instructions on the wiki format the docs use is in the “How to use the help” chapter of the help. You could then view your page in the embedded browser at http://localhost:48626/mypage.html. [localhost]

The tricky part is building the index. Since the configuration file that ships with Houdini depends on being run from inside Houdini (or at least hython – it imports hou for several things like getting the houdini path and pulling help out of digital assets), you'll probably need to get the stand-alone thing working before you try re-indexing using the script above.

In the list of directories on the “docs =” line of the configuration, later entries override earlier ones (the opposite of the Houdini path :twisted: ). So if e.g. you've got a standalone server setup where the original docs are in “/A” and your docs are in “/B” (and your config file says “docs = /A, /B”), you can override an original doc under “/A” by recreating the same path under “/B”, e.g. “/B/nodes/sop/copy.txt”.

Does that help?

Pagefan
Sounds like a good idea. Will this mean the help files won't be part of the houdini downloads anymore but a separate one? Would make a lot of sense for keeping the help server up to date, you just download the new doc package when you added some new info Matt.

I don't think it would be possible to take the docs out of the product – it would be too complicated for new users. I was thinking about a separate download that also included the docs and everything else you need for a central help server.

I'm thinking the ideal might be to create downloadable turnkey zip files for Windows and Mac/Linux that contain the libraries, docs files, etc., and a script that sets up the proper paths and start the server (as long as you have Python 2.5 ).

Oops, sorry demjson is also a required library.

ops:

easy_install demjson

Your not being able to scroll is really weird. It works for us :? (just tried it in FF on Gentoo).

The error at the bottom of the page has to do with displaying the user contributed notes.

What do you mean by “partial access”?

Here's the script we use for indexing. In a shell with the necessary libaries on the Python path, do:


python index.py configfile


…where configfile is the configuration INI file you copied and modified from $HFS/houdini/config/Help/deploy.ini. The script will get the location of the index directory and document directory(ies) from the config file (see the setup instructions above).

This file should will be included somewhere in the standard Houdini install in the future.


import os.path
from optparse import OptionParser
from ConfigParser import ConfigParser

from houdinihelp import providers, indexing


def command(options, args):
if not args:
raise ValueError(“You must give a config file”)

filename = args
if not os.path.exists(filename):
raise OSError(“File %r not found” % filename)

configparser = ConfigParser()
configparser.read(filename)
configparser._defaults.setdefault('here', os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(filename)))
configparser._defaults.setdefault('__file__', os.path.abspath(filename))

dirs = configparser.get(“DEFAULT”, “docs”)
provider = providers.provider_from_string(dirs)

indexdir = configparser.get(“DEFAULT”, “index”)

print “dirs=”, dirs
print “indexdir=”, indexdir

indexing.index_docs(provider, indexdir,
clean = options.clean, optimize = options.optimize,
prefix = options.prefix,
stems = not options.nostems, spelling = not options.nospell)

if __name__ == ‘__main__’:
parser = OptionParser(usage = “%prog configfile”)
parser.add_option(“–clean”, “-c”,
dest=“clean”,
default=False,
help=“Re-index from scratch, instead of incrementally”,
action=“store_true”)

parser.add_option(“–optimize”, “-o”,
dest=“optimize”,
default=False,
help=“Optimize after an incremental index”,
action=“store_true”)

parser.add_option(“–no-stems”, “-S”,
dest=“nostems”,
default=False,
help=“Do not update the stem database”,
action=“store_true”)

parser.add_option(“–no-spell”, “-s”,
dest=“nospell”,
default=False,
help=“Do not update the spell check database”,
action=“store_true”)

parser.add_option(“–prefix”, “-p”,
dest=“prefix”,
help=“Only index pages starting with a certain path prefix. FOR DEBUG USE ONLY.”,
default=“/”)

command(*parser.parse_args())

In Houdini 9.5, the help server is based on the Python Paste project. This makes it more robust and easy to configure, but also means the previous experimental method for running a stand-alone central help server are out-of-date.

So, if there are any brave souls out there who want to help me test the procedure for the new way to do it, I'd appreciate it.

Part of the problem is the extreme variance of Python setups and Python knowledge out there, but if we don't start somewhere, it'll never get done, so I want to try outlining a procedure and see how far people can get with it. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Hope that's OK.

• Starting with a clean Python, install setuptools.
  
  
• Once you have setuptools, use easy_install to install Paste, Paste Deply, Paste Script, and Pygments.
  
  EDIT: you also need to easy_install demjson, a JSON parsing library.
  
  
• Copy the “houdinihelp”, “whoosh”, and “wikiparser” packages from $HFS/houdini/scripts/python/ onto your Python path.
  
  NOTE the version of Genshi included with Houdini is specific version that avoids an issue that was introduced into Genshi that prevents the Houdini help system from working. Using the current version of Genshi from the Genshi website will not work. We are working with the Genshi developers to rectify this.
  
  
• Copy the “genshi” and “Genshi.egg-info” folders from $HFS/houdini/scripts/pythonlibs/ onto your Python path.
  
  
• Make sure you don't have another copy of any of these libraries overriding them on the Python path.
  
  
• The Houdini help folder is here: $HFS/houdini/help The search index folder is here: $HFS/houdini/config/Help/index You can copy these folders somewhere central if you want.
  
  
• Make a copy of the server configuration file in $HFS/houdini/config/Help/deploy.ini.
  
  
• Edit the config file so the “index =” line at the top points to the search index folder.
  
  
• Change the “docs =” line underneath to a comma-separated list of directories containing help.
  
  If you list multiple directories, the later ones will overlay the earlier ones. You can use this to keep an original copy of the help in one directory tree and put your own files in other and overlay them.
  
  Do not leave @nodes, @shelf, or @path in the list: they are only meaningful inside a running Houdini.
  
  
• In a shell with the proper python path set up and the “paster” tool on the shell path (should have been set up with you easy_install'ed the Paste packages), try this: paster serve <config.ini> (where <config.ini> is the path to your edited copy of the configuration file.
  
  Paste lets you set up server options such as the port number in the configuration file (see the "" section) or on the command line, e.g.: paster serve –port 8888 config.ini See the Paste documentation for more information.
  
  To set up a central server that other machines can access, you'll want to change the “host” option from 0.0.0.0 to the domain name of the server. E.g. if you're running the help server on internal.company.com, change the “host =” line in the config file to internal.company.com, or set the option on the command line, e.g.: paster serve –host internal.company.com –port 12345
  
  
• Try viewing the help in a browser.
  
  
• In Houdini 9.1, open the embedded browser and click the “Settings” tab. In Houdini 9.5 (only works in versions after build 180), open the embedded browser and click the screwdriver (settings) icon at the top. Set the “External help URL” to the URL of the central server.
  
  
  Big note 1: some things in Houdini that cause the help to open (e.g. pressing F1 in a tooltip) won't respect the external URL setting. This is a bug in Houdini we need to fix. The external URL setting will need to move out of the embedded browser and become a real Houdini preference.
  
  Big note 2: As you create your own documentation, you'll want to index it (this is necessary not only to make it searchable but for lots of other things, including showing up in the table of contents). I'll provide a script you can use to update the index ASAP (just need to clean up the script we use during our build process).
  
  Finally, apologies to everyone who's been interested in doing this and has been frustrated by the lack of progress. A bunch of things changed about how the help works between 9.1 and 9.5 that reset the process, and a bunch of resources were diverted to other things. Hopefully now we can move forward on it.

Wren
I have been having a similar problem at work on suse 10.3 x64 in addition the search bar doesn't work.

loadTocBranch: [Exception… "Component returned failure code: 0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE) “ nsresult: ”0x80004005 (NS_ERROR_FAILURE)“ location: ”JS frame :: chrome/houdini/content/browserUI.js :: loadTocItem :: line 1516" data: no]

startToc: TypeError: kids has no properties

Should I suggest that IPv6 thing to the sys-admin or is my problem related to something else?

houdini 9.1.124

No, that's something else – probably the help server not starting. Please open a support ticket so we can get all your platform/version info etc.

jjstanley
Maybe even just a list of the parameters that can be added like that and a very brief description.

It's there, though it's sometimes not pretty.

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/current/props/ [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/current/props/mantra9_1 [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/current/props/shop [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/current/props/vopnet [sidefx.com]
http://www.sidefx.com/docs/current/props/viewport [sidefx.com]

The second link above (manta 9.1 properties) is the big one. It lists all the properties that mantra knows about.

Currently there's no docs for properties that correspond to settings of other renderers (e.g. AIR, Rman).

Simon
Of course it does beg the question how new user are supposed to find this stuff, its not in the help anymore either, and you would never be able to go through all the parameters you can add in the edit parameter interface, and even if you did you'd have to guess what they did.

Hovering over the properties in the left-hand list of the edit parameter interface shows the help for that property (you can press F1 from there to open the full help).

http://www.sidefx.com/docs/current/props/viewport.txt [sidefx.com]

Not having all controls by default is certainly a hard thing for new users, but people felt that the trade-off of removing clutter was worth it. You can file an RFE arguing that property X or Y should be available by default.

I'm going to add specific docs on setting up onion-skinning so it at the very least might become more findable.

And if anyone has a good UI suggestion for a better way to handle “obscure” properties, feel free to share.

Matt

The help has nothing to do with Java anymore. It sounds like you've got a problem with the embedded browser. I'll ask the appropriate people to take a look.

No idea about the other issue is with the back and forward buttons. Could you post your platform, version, and steps to reproduce?

Thanks,

Matt

Also, putting a wiki-formatted file in HOUDINIPATH/help/nodes/X/Y.txt (e.g. ~/houdini9.1/help/nodes/obj/mynode.txt) should work, including being able to link to it with .

This is somewhat “experimental” in the current version (as in, try it, see if it works, and if not, I'll try to fix it), but we're committed to solidifying it in the next version.

The “old” way of displaying node help in the embedded browser was to use a Mozilla API call to “inject” a string (pulled out of the node's help field) into the browser. That was always problematic, including not being able to link to the content (because it's not “really” in the help).

The “new” way is for the help server to notice requests to “/nodes/X/Y” and pull the help out of assets on the fly using HOM and serve it.

HDK nodes currently use the “old” way of displaying help. I'm not sure if HOM supports getting help from HDK nodes, but if it does, it should be easy for us to switch HDK nodes to the “new” way.

I basically know nothing about the HDK; if anyone wants to postulate their ideal method for associating help with HDK nodes here, go right ahead.

Well, learn something new every day…

“Mozilla browsers refuse to follow file: links on a page that it has fetched with the HTTP protocol, so that the page's own URL is an http: URL. When you click on such a link, nothing happens. The purpose is presumably security: to prevent a remote page from executing a program on the visitor's computer. The file: links work on Mozilla on pages that are local files on the user's disk.”

Houdini's embedded Mozilla browser gets the help from a mini web server running inside Houdini (it might sound convoluted, but it makes some important things easier/possible).

(For what it's worth, either or <img src=“file//cfoo.jpg” /> would have worked if not for this.)

To refer to images on disk, try this:

Create a $HOME/houdiniX.X/help directory, and inside create a myimages (or whatever name) folder for your images. Then reference them using .

Houdini now overlays the contents of any HOUDINIPATH/help directories over the standard help. This is a fairly recent change, so if you're using an older build it might not work.

Hope this helps!

Actually, turns out they don't print anything.

As I mentioned, it's down to a lack of infinite time, and PDF versions of the help would probably be more of a PIY option anyway. Houdini's model of “download versions as they become available” is not very compatible with printing and shipping manuals, which requires huge lead times and huge costs.

AFAIK, Maya does not come with printed manuals, other than possibly a small getting started guide.