Re: GtkTextView for help files?

[Brian <dol-sen telus net>]

On Tue, 2004-09-28 at 10:41, William Dest wrote:
> I'm creating an external help file for my program,
> invoked from the Help menu.
> I'd like to keep the file simple so a tech writer can
> update it from time to time, but I would also like it
> to have bold headings, bookmarks, etc.
> Is GtkTextView the right tool for this?  It's not
> going to be edited by the user, so I don't need all
> the editing features, but I would like a viewer to
> recognize tags - in fact html would be ideal.
>
> Ideas?
>
> Thanks,
> William

In our python/pygtk program we just spawn a browser call in a threaded
function so it does not tie up the gui in the other windows.  dprint()
is our internal debug enabled print statements to stderr.

# if using gnome, see if we can import it
try:
    import gnome
    import gnome.vfs
except ImportError:
    # no gnome module, use the standard webbrowser module
    try:
        import webbrowser
    except ImportError:
        print >>stderr, ('Module "webbrowser" not found. '
                     'You will not be able to open web pages.')

def load_web_page(name):
    """Try to load a web page in the default browser"""
    dprint("UTILS: load_web_page()")
    browser = web_page(name)
    browser.start()
    return

class web_page(threading.Thread):
    """Try to load a web page in the default browser"""
    def __init__(self, name):
        dprint("UTILS: web_page.__init__()")
        threading.Thread.__init__(self)
        self.name = name
        self.setDaemon(1)  # quit even if this thread is still running
        
    def run(self):
        dprint("UTILS: web_page.run()")
        if self.name == '' or self.name == None:
            return
        try:
            gnome.url_show(self.name)
        except:
            dprint("Gnome failed trying to open: %s" %self.name)
            try:
                webbrowser.open(self.name)
            except:
                dprint("webbrowser failed trying to open: %s  -- giving
up" %self.name)
                pass
        dprint("Browser call_completed for: %s" %self.name)


-- 
Brian <dol-sen telus net>