Help on Help
This section includes information about the:
Delphi 2005 Help
The Delphi 2005 Help includes conceptual overviews, procedural how-to's, and reference information, allowing you to navigate from general to more specific information as needed. Additionally, the persistent navigation panes in the Help window make it easier to locate and filter information. By default, no filter is set, allowing you to view all of the installed Help. However, to narrow the focus when searching the Help or using the index, use the Filter by: drop-down list on the Content, Search, and Index panes. To display the navigation panes, use the View Navigation menu command.
Conceptual Overviews
The conceptual overviews provide information about product architecture, components, and tools that simplify development. If you are new to a particular area of development, such as modeling or ADO.NET, see the overview topic at the beginning of each section in the online Help. At the end of most of the overviews, you will find links to related, more detailed information. Icons are used to indicate that a link leads to the .NET SDK, partner Help, or to a web site. The icons are explained later in this topic.
How-To Procedures
The how-to procedures provide step-by-step instructions. For development tasks that include several subtasks, there are core procedures, which include the subtasks required to accomplish a larger task. If you are beginning a development project and want to know what steps are involved, see the core procedure for the area you are working on. In addition to the core procedures, there are several single-task procedures. All of the procedures are located under Procedures in the Content pane of the Help window. Additionally, most of the conceptual overviews provide links to the pertinent procedures.
Reference Topics
The reference topics provides detailed information on subjects such as API elements, the Delphi language, and compiler directives. All of the reference topics are located under Reference in the Content pane of the Help window. Additionally, most API references are underlined and link directly to the appropriate reference topic.
Context Sensitive F1 Help
Context sensitive Help is available throughout the IDE by selecting an item and pressing F1:
Note: Pressing F1 on an element that is part of the VCL.NET framework displays the Delphi 2005 Help. Pressing F1 on an element that is part of the .NET framework displays the Microsoft .NET Help.
Microsoft SDK Help
Delphi 2005 is distributed with the both the Microsoft .NET Framework SDK and the Microsoft Platform SDK, which include extensive online Help. Where appropriate, the Delphi 2005 Help provides links to the SDK online Help. Alternatively, you can access the SDK Help directly from the Content pane of this Help system.
Borland Developer Support Services and Web Site
Borland offers a variety of support options to meet the needs of its diverse developer community. To find out about support, refer to www.borland.com/devsupport [url=ms-help://borland.bds3/bds3guide/images/Link_WEB.jpg]. From the web site, you can access many newsgroups where developers exchange information, tips, and techniques. The site also includes a list of books, technical documents, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Additionally, you can access the Borland Developer Network.
Delphi 2005 Quick Start Guide
The Delphi 2005 Quick Start guide provides an overview of the Delphi 2005 development environment to help you install and start using the product right away. The Quick Start guide is shipped along with your product.
Typographic Conventions Used in the Help
The following typographic conventions are used throughout the Delphi 2005 online Help. Typographic conventions
Convention
Used to indicate
Monospace type
Source code and text that you must type.
Boldface
Reserved language keywords or compiler options, references to dialog boxes and tools.
Italics
Delphi 2005 identifiers, such as variables or type names. Italicized text is also used for book titles and to emphasize new terms.
KEYCAPS
Keyboard keys, for example, the CTRL or ENTER key.
A link to Web resources.
An external link to Microsoft SDK documentation.
An external link to documentation provided by Borland partners.
