Help Filters (Windows CE 5.0)

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Help filters are a feature of the Microsoft® Windows® CE Help browser, Document Explorer, that allow you to use Help more efficiently. Based on filters you choose or create, you limit the number of Help topics available for viewing and for navigating through Search, the Index, and Contents. For example, if you are interested in learning about testing techniques for network support, you can reduce the number of topics that appear in search results by first applying the Debugging and Testing filter, and then searching for keywords related to networking.

Document Explorer includes filters that you can use without modification. For more information, see Using Existing Filters.

You can also build custom filters. For example, if you are developing an OS component, you might want to create a filter that exposes only the reference topics for the core OS. For more information, see Creating a Custom Filter.

Excluded Topics

Topics that meet the filter criteria are called included topics, and topics that do not meet the criteria are called excluded topics. Although a Help filter temporarily removes excluded topics from view in Contents, excluding them does not remove them from the Help collection.

From an excluded topic you can follow links to included topics, but you cannot locate excluded topics in Contents or find them in Search or Index results. Because Contents is the fundamental organizational structure for Help, Search and Index results are controlled by what appears in Contents.

The following list summarizes the behavior of excluded topics:.

  • Excluded topics are not exposed in Contents or in Search and Index results.
  • Excluded topics can be the target of links from included topics.
  • Excluded topics can link to other excluded topics or to included topics, with these results:
    • If you follow a link from an excluded topic to another excluded topic, you can read that topic and follow its links, but you will not be able to locate either excluded topic in Contents.

    • If you follow a link from an excluded topic to an included topic, you can read that topic, follow its links, and locate the included topic in Contents.

      You won't be able to locate the excluded topic in Contents, however.

Note   Topics that otherwise would be excluded are included if they are the parent of an included topic.

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