Installing the documentation

The documentation is packaged as Eclipse document plug-ins, which are displayed in an information center using a stand-alone help system. Both the help system and the document plug-in format are based on an open-source approach developed by the Eclipse Project.

These instructions guide you through the process of installing and viewing a documentation information center on your computer. The general procedure consists of these steps:

  1. Install the help system.
  2. Install the documentation plug-ins.
  3. Start the help system.

Installing the help system

Install the help system as follows:

Installing the document plug-ins

To view IBM product documentation in the help system, you must install new or updated document plug-ins into the eclipse\plugins folder of the help system. The help system works with any information that has been packaged as an Eclipse document plug-in, including IBM product document plug-ins. IBM product plug-in folders are easily identified because they use a common naming convention (com.ibm.xxx.doc).

To install document plug-ins, follow these steps:

  1. Download the document plug-ins from the IBM product Web page http://www.ibm.com/software/integration/wbiadapters/library/infocenter/. The plug-ins are in a .zip file.
  2. Extract the contents of the downloaded file to the eclipse\plugins folder of the help system. For example, if you installed the help system to C:\ibm_help, extract the .zip file to: C:\ibm_help\eclipse\plugins. Note that this must be the eclipse\plugins folder of the help system; you might have other eclipse\plugins folders on your computer.

Starting the help system

To see the newly-added document plug-ins, start the help system by following the instructions below. If the help system is already running, shut it down by following the instructions in the "Shutting down the help system" section below, and then restart it.

  1. Open the folder where you have installed the help.
  2. Double-click the help_start.bat file.

Note:

It might take a few minutes for the help system to start and the document plug-ins to be displayed the first time you start it.

Shutting down the help system

When you close the help system by simply closing its window, its processes continue to run in the background. This enables a much faster launch during subsequent sessions. However, you must shut down these processes when you install document plug-ins or update the help system with new plug-ins. Shutting down the help system when it is not in use also frees system memory. When you shut down your computer, all help system processes shut down.

To shut down the help system:

  1. Open the folder where you have installed the help system.
  2. Double-click the help_end.bat file.