Solar Fire has comprehensive off-line Help, which can be invoked from anywhere within the program. You do not have to be connected to the Intenet to access off-line Help.

 

>> To invoke help from any window

•Press the F1 key. This will call up a Windows help window containing information about whichever window or control currently has the focus. This is known as context sensitive help.

 

>> To invoke help from the menu

•Select Solar Fire User Guide from the Help Menu.

 

The Help window has four tabbed panels (called "tabs") on the left hand side. These tabs are "Contents", "Index", "Search" and "Favorites". When the Help window opens usually the tab you were last using will be displayed. If you don't see the tabbed panels this means they have been hidden. To display them click the Show button on the top left of the Help window. In the same vein if you wish to hide the tabbed panels to make more room in the window for the Help text itself, click on the Hide button at the top left of the window. (See below for more information about the tabbed Panel.)

 

Getting answers from the off-line User Guide

Contents

In the Contents tab, help information is arranged into a few different categories. The first categories introduce you to Solar Fire and get you started. The next categories cover the everyday use of Solar Fire. The remaining categories cover advanced, technical and reference information.

Each category contains help chapters, like a book, with some chapters having sub-chapters.

To open up a category or chapter, click on "+" sign to the left of the category/chapter, to close a category/chapter click on the "-" sign to the left of it. The categories, and the chapters within them, are arranged so that if those new to Solar Fire start reading from the first chapter in the first category, to the very end of the User Guide, they will progressively gain a full understanding of how Solar Fire works. The topics are grouped according to the tasks you'll need to perform first to get going, as well as the progressive level of skill required to complete the various operations possible in Solar Fire.

To aid in reading through the on-line User Guide from beginning to end you can use the "Next Page", "Previous Page" and "Chapter Overview" red and green arrow buttons to the right of the topic Header (just above the topic text itself).

However you can also simply jump to any point in the Contents tab at any time to navigate through topics and their text as you wish.

Index

Use the Index tab to enter words in the "keyword" box that describe what you want help on.

If the word you are typing exists as an entry in the index it will be jumped to and highlighted as you type. Often an index entry has related sub-entries underneath it which makes the index a powerful tool when looking for help on a specific topic. Once you can see an index entry or sub-entry that you want to look up in the body of the Help text, either double-click on it with the left mouse button, or click on the Display button at the bottom.

The index is the best option to use for quick answers, as it can immediately present to you an ordered list of all the relevant topics in Help containing the information you are searching for. The index is comprehensive and cross-referenced.

TIP: if you have entered a word in the "keyword" box but not found what you're looking for in the Index, check there isn't a similar index entry just above or below the one you are looking for.

Here are some potentially useful index keywords to try: Aspects, Calculations, Chart, Directions, Interpretations, Progressions, Points, Reports, Returns, Search, Settings, Solar Fire, Transits.

If you are reading something in this User Guide and want to know more about it, try entering a word for it in the "keyword" box - it may lead to more information.

Search

Use the Search tab to search for all occurrences of one or more words in the Help text. Enter the word(s) you are looking for, then press the Enter key on the keyboard, or click on the List Topics button. Then double-click on a "Title" or select it by clicking on it once and then click on the Display button.

Generally you would use the Search tab if you have tried the Index but still couldn't find what you were looking for. Using Search will enable you to find any piece of information in Help if it exists, but the results are not organized at all and it is thus more time consuming processing the results. But you can use it to ferret out any last little detail about something, if it exists somewhere in the User Guide.

TIP: If you enter several words in the "Type the word(s) to search for" textbox (e.g. progressed planet) and press the Enter key or click on the List Topics button, all topics with any of those words (whether they occur together or not, and/or in the order you've typed them in or not), in their text will be presented - which can result in a large number of topics which potentially have the information you're looking for.

If however you enclose the words in quote marks (e.g. "progressed planet") then only text that has that same combination of words occurring together in that order will be found, usually resulting in far less topics with much more likelihood of containing the information you're after.

Favorites

Once you have found and displayed the topic you are interested in you can save that topic as a favorite for quick access from that point onwards - use the Favorites tab for this. With the topic text displayed in the right hand viewing pane, click on the Favorites tab, then on the left, down the bottom below the "Current topic" box, click on the Add button. At a later time you can then display any topic in the Favorites tab by either double-clicking on it or by selecting it then clicking on the Display button.

 

Navigating forwards and backwards in Help

To easily get back to previous topics you've read click on the <= Back arrow at the top left of the Help window. You can do this multiple times if you need to, to return to a place you originally were in the Help after having read many topics. Likewise you can click on the Forward => arrow to traverse the Help text in the opposite direction.

TIP: Often in the Help text you will come across a link (like this) to another topic in the Help contents. If you click on this link it will jump you directly to that section. To return to where you were before clicking on the link use the Back & Forward arrows.

You can always tell where you are in Help, relative to the category/chapter hierarchy in the "Contents" tab, by looking at the "breadcrumb" trail above the topic Header (in small text at the very top of the Help text). The breadcrumb trail starts with the word Navigation: followed by Category > Chapter1 > Chapter2 > ... etc where "Chapter" is the name of a chapter or sub-chapter in a Category.

The topic currently displayed on the screen, is either in the last chapter listed in this "breadcrumb trail", or a standalone topic in the Category listed in the trail. It is called a breadcrumb trail because each chapter is a "crumb" or link in the route you have made into the information in that Category. You can also click on any one of the breadcrumbs (e.g. Chapter2) and you will then jump directly to that chapter itself. As you access different parts of the Help contents this breadcrumb navigation trail keeps changing to reflect where you are in the body of the Help text. You'll notice too that as you move around different topics, the entry in the Contents tab for the current topic you are reading is also highlighted.

TIP: Sometimes when you have selected an index entry the context of the displayed topic may not be immediately clear. This is where the breadcrumb trail comes in handy - simply look at the chapters in the trail and you will be able to see not only which chapter you are in (the last chapter in the trail), but also where that chapter fits in the Category hierarchy. If the context still isn't clear click back in the trail (previous chapter), repeatedly if necessary, until you arrive at the Category itself.

Once you have determined the context of the topic you were originally viewing you can return to it by clicking the <= Back arrow until the topic is re-displayed. (If you click the <= Back arrow too many times - overshoot your topic - you can correct this by clicking on the Forward => arrow as many times as necessary.)

 

Sizing the tabbed panels Pane

The Panel on the left of the Help window that contains the Contents / Index / Search / Favorites tabs can be hidden or displayed (see above). It can also be resized.

 

>> To resize the tabbed panels Pane

1.Hover the mouse over the right hand vertical border (side) of the Panel until the cursor turns into a left-right pointing arrow.

2.Click the left mouse button down, and holding it down, drag the mouse either to the left or right until the Panel is the width that you want it.

3.Release the mouse button.