WebSphere WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus, Version 6.0.1 Operating Systems: AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, Windows

Using an information center offline

You can use the WebSphere ESB information offline (without needing access to the Internet), by using a locally installed Eclipse-based information center with the WebSphere ESB documentation plug-ins. Alternatively, you can use the Adobe Acrobat Reader with the WebSphere ESB PDF documents.

Before you begin

The WebSphere ESB documentation plug-ins and PDF documents are provided on the Web. Therefore, to be able to download these files, you need temporary access to the Internet. After downloading the files that you want, you can use the documentation without staying connected to the access to the Internet.

Why and when to perform this task

If you want to use the WebSphere ESB information offline (without needing access to the Web), download WebSphere ESB documentation plug-ins for use in a local information center, or download the WebSphere ESB PDF documents for use with a local copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader.

This topic describes how to use the IBM Eclipse Help System provided with WebSphere ESB. Otherwise, you can use the WebSphere ESB documentation plug-ins in another Eclipse-based information center, such as to integrate the information within your own existing information center.

If you want to use the WebSphere ESB PDF documents, see WebSphere ESB PDF documents.

Steps for this task

  1. Install the IBM Eclipse Help System.

    For more information about installing the IBM Eclipse Help System, see the readme file provided with the installation package in the directory IEHS on CD2.

    To install the IBM Eclipse Help System, complete the following sub-steps:

    1. Insert CD2 into the drive.
    2. Extract the contents of the installation package to your system, retaining the directory structure. For example; on Windows, use the following command to extract the help system into the C:\ibm_help directory:
      unzip IBM-Help-Win32.zip -d C:\
    The iehs_install\ibm_help directory contains the IBM Eclipse Help System and its embedded JRE, where iehs_install refers to the directory into which you extracted the contents of the help system installation package.
  2. Download the product documentation plug-ins.

    The WebSphere ESB documentation plug-ins are available as a ZIP file from the Web page http://www.ibm.com/software/integration/wsesb/library/infocenter/.

    1. Download the documentation ZIP file to a convenient location. Depending on your connection speed, the file can take more than 20 minutes to download.
    2. Extract the ZIP file contents into the iehs_install\ibm_help\eclipse\plugins directory, retaining the directory structure.
    In the iehs_install\ibm_help\eclipse\plugins directory, you should see a number of plug-in directories for the product documentation, including the following:
    com.ibm.websphere.wesb.doc_6.0.1
    The main WebSphere ESB documentation plug-in. This plug-in should cause the WebSphere ESB entry to appear in the help system navigation.
    com.ibm.websphere.nd.doc_6.0.2
    The documentation plug-in for IBM WebSphere Application Server Network Deployment, which is built into WebSphere ESB.
    com.ibm.websphere.wscc.doc
    The documentation plug-in for IBM Web Services Client for C++.
    com.ibm.websphere.xms.doc
    IBM Message Service Client for C/C++ and Message Service Client for .NET

    If you do not see these directories, check that you have extracted the ZIP file contents correctly.

  3. Start the IBM Eclipse Help System

    You can start the IBM Eclipse Help System by running the script files in the iehs_install\ibm_help directory.

    The script files provided with the help system use the embedded JRE to launch the help system. If you do not want to use the embedded JRE, you must install a JRE version 1.4.2 or higher, then, modify the start and stop scripts to use that JRE.

    You can start the IBM Eclipse Help System in either of two modes:
    Stand-alone mode
    When stand-alone mode is used, the IBM Eclipse Help System automatically launches a Web browser to display the help content. When running in stand-alone mode, the help content is only available to users on that system. The help content and menus are displayed in the system locale.
    Information center mode
    When information center mode is used, the IBM Eclipse Help System starts a Web application on the user-defined port (the default port is 8888) and makes the help content available to any Web browser that has network connectivity to that system. The help pages and menus are displayed in the locale of the user's Web browser.

    Sample scripts are provided to start and stop the help system in each mode. After the IBM Eclipse Help System has been started, it continues to run even after all the active web browsers are closed. You must explicitly stop IBM Eclipse Help System with the appropriate stop script.

    You can tailor the script files with options for your specific needs. For more information about the options available, see the help system readme file.

    Option Description
    Stand-alone mode From iehs_install\ibm_help, run the IC_start.bat or IC_start.sh file. The command line window for the help system appears.

    To view the help content, open a Web browser, then enter the URL http://servername:port/help, where servername is the host name or IP address of the system where IBM Eclipse Help System is installed.

    Information center mode
    1. From iehs_install\ibm_help, run the help_start.bat or help_start.sh file. The command line window for the help system appears.
    2. If the default browser has been set in the operating system, the help system automatically opens a Web browser with the help content.
  4. Verify that the product documentation displays as expected.

    If you extracted the documentation ZIP file correctly, but the help system is still not displayed in the expected national language or does not display the correct help topics, there are a number of checks that you can make. For example, add osgi.checkConfiguration=true to the iehs_install\ibm_help\configuration\config.ini configuration file. This setting causes the system to locate and configure new national language packages.

    For more details about troubleshooting problems with the IBM Eclipse Help System, see the readme file provided with the installation package.

What to do next

You can download additional documentation plug-ins from IBM or third-party vendors and use them in the same help system to build up a more comprehensive information center.

Task topic

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Timestamp iconLast updated: 13 Dec 2005
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/dmndhelp/v6rxmx/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.websphere.wesb.doc\tasks\twesb_docoffline.html

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