I am trying to implement a contextual help system in a large flex app that's using pureMVC. Has anyone tried this at an enterprise app level?
I am wondering the best way to architect this so help can be contextually available at module level, and even at component level. I have started by creating a helpManager Class that is registered with the Facade that carries a basic XML, holding 'keys' for individual modules and components throughout the site. This XML is loaded in at app init time, and iterated through to create a contextualHelpSet Object. This object is then searched everytime a new location or interaction occurs in the app. If this location/interaction has a key associated with it inside the object, a help button appears to show the user that help is available, and the key also provides the proper path to the corresponding help document. I have a few questions. Iterating through an object on every location/interaction seems pretty expensive. Is there an equivalent of a Hash Map or a fast enough type of search that would make this perform optimally? Or, another approach altogether? Would I be better off creating a property on each location/object for its contextual help information, instead of searching for a key in a centralized object that contains all the help info? Any ideas are welcome! Thanks
