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 .context context string
 
The .context command is used to separate portions of the database into
topics. The topic is referenced by the context string specified in
the .context command. Any number of .context commands can precede the first
occurrence of text for a topic. Any of these context strings can be used to
access the same text. The text for a topic follows its .context command(s)
and continues to the next .context command (or the end of the file).
 
Example
 
In the following example, you can use either of two context strings,
"printf" or "Printing" to access the text that follows the .context
commands.
 
    .context printf
    .context Printing
    This topic describes the \bprintf\p function...
 
The context string can contain any character except the ! and line break
characters and may consist of more then one word. The maximum length of a
context string is 250 characters. In the absence of a .topic line in the
topic, the context string will be displayed as the title of the topic.
QuickHelp ignores case when searching for a context string.
 
Helpmake will warn you if you have more then one identical topic in the same
database. However, the user will be able to get to all identical topics
either in the same database or multiple databases by using the Continue
Search or Duplciate Search commands.
 
The context string "List Categories" has a special meaning to QuickHelp.
This topic should contain a list of categories that are to be placed in
QuickHelp's Categories menu. When QuickHelp opens a database, it searches
for the "List Categories" topic name. If found, the topic names listed below
it will be merged with any topic names already in the menu, up to a maximum
of 23 categories. If there are too many categories, QuickHelp will display a
warning box with the message "Too many categories". A "List Categories"
topic usually contains one or two topics which typically point to lists of
topic names.
 
Local context strings
 
If the first character of a context string is the at sign (@), the context
string is a local context string. A local context string is known only
within a single help database. Linking to a local context string is faster
than linking to a global context string and, because a local context string
is stored as a number instead of as characters, it takes up less space in
the database.
 
You can specify any number of global context strings, and at most one local
context string per topic. (A topic must contain at least one topic string,
either global or local.) If you do not specify a global context string, then
the user will be able to get to the topic only through a hyperlink or by
stepping through the database.
 
The following example shows a topic with both a global context string and a
local context string. In this example, the user would be able to find the
topic by searching for the string "Closing Files" but would NOT be able to
find the topic by searching for "close" or "@close", because the string
"@close" is converted into a number.
 
    .context Closing Files
    .context @close
 
The following example shows how you might link to the above topic:
 
    For more information, see \i◄\pHow to close files\i►\p.
 
.category, .freeze, .list, .paste, .popup, .ref, .topic
 
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