Patent,
Method and System for Providing User Help Information in Network Applications
(1999)
Abstract
A method and system are disclosed for providing help-data in association
with applications launched from a network, such that the applications
are displayed within a window of a graphical user interface. Initially,
an application is selected from among a number of applications, which
are constructed from data generated at a server located within the
network. Next, help-data associated with that application is identified.
Thereafter, the identified help-data is automatically converted to
hypertext data if the identified help-data is derived from a native
format other than hypertext format. Hypertext links associated with
the identified help-data are then automatically displayed within
a window of the graphical user interface. Thereafter, the help-data
is automatically displayed within a window of the graphical user
interface as a hypertext document, in response to an invocation of
the hypertext link by a user of the application. Thus, the hypertext
links associated with the identified help-data can be presented to
the user in the form of a table and in a graphical user interface
window other than the graphical user interface window in which the
application is displayed.
