Most of the interactive features of this manual are provided by the viewer application (including full text search, index, favorites list), but we extended this list with PHP Manual specific tools. All these can be adjusted to your needs using a simple desktop application named php_manual_prefs.exe. If you run this program you can see three groups of settings: Online Functions, Context Menu, and Skin. All your settings are stored in php_manual_prefs.js.
Online functions enable you to have elements connected to websites. The two ones you can see on all manual pages are "This page online" and "Report a bug". As you can figure out the first one shows you the same page in the online manual, the second one opens a page from » http://bugs.php.net/ and prefills some bug data for you. You need to select a mirror site to use for "php.net sensitive" online functions. We recommend choosing a close mirror site to get the best speed. Other components that may be limited by this online functions setting include context menu items opening new websites ("Google search selection" for example). Custom designs may also include elements restricted by this setting.
The context menu settings enables you to choose which context menu you prefer. This application provides you with an option to define your own context menu adding elements to it from a predefined set. You can have this custom context menu for the right click of your mouse, and have the original menu for CTRL+right click, or the opposite way. Three special types of custom context menu items exist:
| Type | Examples | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Page Jump | Function Reference, Function Index | These items jump to a specific page in the CHM. Page Jump options are not restricted to point inside the CHM though. They can point to websites or other resources. Page jump options with a protocol part in the URL open in new window. |
| Function Call | Print page, Select all, Copy selection to clipboard, Google Search Selection | These are "function calls" for internally defined context menu functions. The last two examples have the speciality that they only show up in the menu if you rightclicked on a selection. Currently there is no way to extend the context menu with skin defined functions. |
| Special display | Google SearchBox, AlltheWeb SearchBox | These are displayed as HTML forms, where you can enter search keywords, press ENTER, and receive a new window with the search issued in the appropriate search engine. Currently there is no way to extend the set of specially displayed context menu items. |
Possible context menu elements and their "abstract implementations" are stored in context.ini. You have the ability to add possible page jump options there, but there is no way currently to extend the context menu system with user (skin) defined functions. The possible mirror sites are listed in mirrors.ini. Feel free to suggest more bundled context menu items to us at » php-doc-chm@lists.php.net.
The skins setting enables you to choose from the two bundled default skins, or from any user defined skins. The Low skin is optimized to display correctly at any small size, the High skin is optimized for your viewing pleasure. Other skins may be developed according to our skins development guide. The recommended place for skins on the file system is the skins/SKINNAME subfolder of the PHP Manual directory. Though this is not required, some skins may define other rules (not recommended). We included sample skins for you to see examples of how to develop skins for the PHP Manual.
You have three buttons to choose from at the bottom. The Apply button applies your changes without exiting, the OK button applies and closes the application, the Cancel button does not modify your settings and closes the program.