GimpHelpFunc ()

void                (*GimpHelpFunc)                     (const gchar *help_id,
                                                         gpointer help_data);

This is the prototype for all functions you pass as help_func to the various GIMP dialog constructors like gimp_dialog_new(), gimp_query_int_box() etc.

Help IDs are textual identifiers the help system uses to figure which page to display.

All these dialog constructors functions call gimp_help_connect().

In most cases it will be ok to use gimp_standard_help_func() which does nothing but passing the help_id string to gimp_help(). If your plug-in needs some more sophisticated help handling you can provide your own help_func which has to call gimp_help() to actually display the help.

GIMP_HELP_ID

#define GIMP_HELP_ID (gimp_help_id_quark ())

The GQuark used to attach GIMP help IDs to widgets.

Since GIMP 2.2

gimp_help_enable_tooltips ()

void                gimp_help_enable_tooltips           (void);

Enable tooltips to be shown in the GIMP user interface.

As a plug-in author, you don't need to care about this as this function is called for you from gimp_ui_init(). This ensures that the user setting from the GIMP preferences dialog is respected in all plug-in dialogs.

gimp_help_disable_tooltips ()

void                gimp_help_disable_tooltips          (void);

Disable tooltips to be shown in the GIMP user interface.

As a plug-in author, you don't need to care about this as this function is called for you from gimp_ui_init(). This ensures that the user setting from the GIMP preferences dialog is respected in all plug-in dialogs.

gimp_standard_help_func ()

void                gimp_standard_help_func             (const gchar *help_id,
                                                         gpointer help_data);

This is the standard GIMP help function which does nothing but calling gimp_help(). It is the right function to use in almost all cases.

gimp_help_connect ()

void                gimp_help_connect                   (GtkWidget *widget,
                                                         GimpHelpFunc help_func,
                                                         const gchar *help_id,
                                                         gpointer help_data);

Note that this function is automatically called by all libgimp dialog constructors. You only have to call it for windows/dialogs you created "manually".

gimp_help_set_help_data ()

void                gimp_help_set_help_data             (GtkWidget *widget,
                                                         const gchar *tooltip,
                                                         const gchar *help_id);

The reason why we don't use gtk_widget_set_tooltip_text() is that elements in the GIMP user interface should, if possible, also have a help_id set for context-sensitive help.

This function can be called with NULL for tooltip. Use this feature if you want to set a help link for a widget which shouldn't have a visible tooltip.

gimp_help_set_help_data_with_markup ()

void                gimp_help_set_help_data_with_markup (GtkWidget *widget,
                                                         const gchar *tooltip,
                                                         const gchar *help_id);

Just like gimp_help_set_help_data(), but it allows to pass text which is marked up with Pango text markup language.

Since GIMP 2.6

gimp_context_help ()

void                gimp_context_help                   (GtkWidget *widget);

This function invokes the context help inspector.

The mouse cursor will turn turn into a question mark and the user can click on any widget of the application which started the inspector.

If the widget the user clicked on has a help_id string attached (see gimp_help_set_help_data()), the corresponding help page will be displayed. Otherwise the help system will ascend the widget hierarchy until it finds an attached help_id string (which should be the case at least for every window/dialog).