English > Feature Suggestions

In Line Help

<< < (2/3) > >>

CAD:

--- Quote ---How are you capturing the wiki topics?
--- End quote ---

I edit  each page and copy /paste wiki text into pmwiki.
It needs some modification as the markup language it not exactly the same.


--- Quote ---Do you know if it's possible to download the wiki topics as HTML files?
--- End quote ---
Yes - each page is its own html file and can be linked to.
I guess you could use - download website type software.

The file I posted is all the individual pages pulled together and dynamically "published" as one large html file.
This can then be saved/downloaded - converted to a PDF etc.

Unfortunately I don't have hosting facilities. I'll have a hunt around and see if I can find something.

nostra:

--- Quote ---Is this intended to be different than what I suggested here? If so, why would this be preferable?
--- End quote ---

No, it's pretty much the same thing.


--- Quote ---If the program can be changed to simply handle any call for context-sensitive help, then nostra can just give us a list of valid objects and well can add whatever we like to a help file with the same topic ID. With full-featured and easy-to-use help authoring software available for free, that would be a more versatile approach—and probably easier for users to implement and maintain.
--- End quote ---

It is in fact very easy to implement context sensitive help with keywords or IDs, but I need to know which help format will be used (HTML, HLP) to execute help in the right way.

rick.ca:

--- Quote ---It is in fact very easy to implement context sensitive help with keywords or IDs, but I need to know which help format will be used (HTML, HLP) to execute help in the right way.
--- End quote ---

HTML is clearly preferable. I had better explain fully, as I could easily be making some incorrect assumptions. Attached is a "proof of concept" I'm working on. This is an HTML compiled help file (.CHM) created with HelpNDoc. It includes hyperlink topics for all existing wiki topics, organized by the PVD menu layout. The idea here is simply to provide access points into the wiki. Once a hyperlink topic is selected, the wiki topic appears in the window, just as it would in a browser. The user can then use wiki hyperlinks or the TOC for navigation. The beauty of this, of course, it all of the content is provided by the wiki. And the links, of course, can be to anything on the web.

Unfortunately, hyperlink topics don't have a Topic ID, and therefore cannot be used directly for context sensitive help. Regular topics, however, presumably can be accessed by referring to their Topic ID. The hyperlink topics can then be added as child topics. I've illustrated how this might be done by adding two topics to the help file—"New Movie Master" with the Topic ID TMovieMaster, and "Preferences" with Topic ID TPrefsForm. These topic ID's are what I believe are called the Window Class of the respective program dialogs. So this is my biggest assumption—that context sensitive help can be implemented simply by using the Window Class of the source as the Topic ID in the help file. Have I got this right?

A significant problem with this approach is the Window Class may not provide a specific enough reference for a help topic. The Preferences dialog, for example, has the same Window Class regardless of what part of it is being used. So I don't know how we might provide different context sensitive help topics for the many different things handled within that window. Is there another more specific reference that might be used—without making the whole thing too complicated? It is, of course, not so difficult to navigate to a specific sub-topic in the help file.


--- Quote ---No, it's pretty much the same thing.
--- End quote ---

But wouldn't the hover help topics have to be created and maintained separately from the wiki and any help documentation? I assume it would be similar to a language file—where text is associated with specific objects in the program. That would be nice too, but (if my imaginings are correct) doesn't really have the same functionality as a help system.

[attachment deleted by admin]

nostra:
In this chm file you have an Index (a list of keywords). I can assign these keywords to a specific control, so that when a user presses F1 when a control is focused he will get help according to this control. It is also not too difficult to add some additional logic to generate keywords dynamically.


--- Quote ---Quote
No, it's pretty much the same thing.

But wouldn't the hover help topics have to be created and maintained separately from the wiki and any help documentation? I assume it would be similar to a language file—where text is associated with specific objects in the program. That would be nice too, but (if my imaginings are correct) doesn't really have the same functionality as a help system.
--- End quote ---

I meant context sensitive help. Hover help is really a bit different and in fact I am not sure if its really needed at this point.

CAD:
It doesn't really matter what sort of help system there is (IMO)
But users (especially new users) suffer from a lack of a help system.

A single large html file or PDF is simplest to implement.
F1 opens the file.

An context sensitive help file could simply reference the relevant wiki page. Just need to make sure page names dont change.

also note .chm files are becoming more and more frowned upon due to securty risks the pose. A lot of systems block execution by default.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page