About Delphi Help System
Daniel Luyo
ToDo on Delphi is the Help System.
The problem could be seen from different sides:
1. Content
2. Help authoring.
3. Help system.
The first, Content, is somethng CG is apparently working on, if you take the
Delphi Survey there was also a question about participating in a Help Wiki.
The second is Help authoring, and this is done using Doc-O-Matic, nice
tools BTW.
The third is the Help system. It's made using MS Help 2.x the format (.hxs)
is a bunch of html-like files and other supporting files (TOC and index)
bundled in a compressed file (to uncompress the .hxs file use 7zip).
I guess that the community can help CG with the Help Wiki (for VCL-API help
and examples) and provide some Help viewer to a start (and reduce the .Net
dependencies in the process).
My 2c and sorry for my anglitch.
Daniel Luyo
Roger Lascelles
"Daniel Luyo" <dl...@ubikus.com> wrote in message
news:47b9...@newsgroups.borland.com...
> The next is a post about how MS VS'ers look to at their own help:
>
> http://blogs.msdn.com/aprilr/archive/2008/01/28/help-is-getting-help-the-long-overdue-makeover-for-visual-studio-and-msdn-help.aspx
I cannot use Delphi without good F1 help - my memory is poor.
Help must be:
- fast
- relevant : the keyword or function name under the cursor
- offer "drill down" where links allow related topics to be explored
- Delphi-biased, so that Delphi gets priority over WinAPI etc. WinAPI can
even be absent since I run MS SDK help separately.
D7 help was the right idea.
From the blog link above, it looks as though the existing MS help system was
off track - possibly the underlying "machinery" was inappropriate, not just
the contents. Its difficult for CodeGear to access MS supplied material and
Delphi material without using the MS help machinery. Quite a dilemma for
them.
Roger Lascelles
Kryvich
> From the blog link above, it looks as though the existing MS help system was
> off track - possibly the underlying "machinery" was inappropriate, not just
> the contents. Its difficult for CodeGear to access MS supplied material and
> Delphi material without using the MS help machinery. Quite a dilemma for
> them.
1. CodeGear can separate the Delphi help from the platform API help
files, and deliver the Delphi help file in (say) a chm format.
2. They can bind the Delphi help to F1 key, and the platform API
help to Alt-F1 shortcut. A developer knows in what help file he
wishes to find the information, and he will press a corresponding
key.
Rick Carter
> files, and deliver the Delphi help file in (say) a chm format.
Already done, and available for download:
http://cc.codegear.com/results.aspx?keywords=chm&prod=1&cat=9
Rick Carter
cart...@despammed.com
Chair, Delphi/Paradox SIG, Cincinnati PC Users Group
--- posted by geoForum on http://delphi.newswhat.com
Keith Latham
Whatever.
I don't care whether the platform help is there or not. What I do care
about is that a product I payed for has a documentation system that is
appropriate to it.
This is the Eleventh incarnation of Delphi. There is absolutely no
excuse to have this worthless system in Delphi 2007. None. Nada. Zero.
I don't care if CodeGear thinks the new Microsoft system is the greatest
think since sliced bread. It may well be.
BUT WHERE IS THE F*****G DELPHI CONTENT?
I mean the description content for at least 80% of the builtin functions
I have looked up lately read "This is the XYZ function". And if I just
need a quick refresher on a keyword, it simply does not exist.
Worthless beyond words.
Even the Menu Captions under Help read: CodeGear Help, CodeGear Home
Page, CodeGear Develpment Support Page, CodeGear Development Network,
Delphi Home Page. Where is 'Delphi Help'?
CodeGear Help goes to a RAD Studio Help page with stuff about all of
CodeGear's RAD Studio members. Go to the content tab and filter for
'Language Delphi' and all you get is "RAD Studio VCL Reference". Where
is the "Delphi Language" content? Got me stumped.
10 Previous releases of help content intellectual property, completely
lost? Borland has had Help content problem in every single release, but
improved it greatly over time up to Delphi 7, the last release I used
before switching to Delphi 2007.
Delphi 2007 documentation is the worst it has ever been and is
completely unsearchable for Delphi content. Isn't there anyone on the
CodeGear release management team responsible for quality control? How do
they just lose more than 10 years of intellectual capital? CodeGear is a
tool making company with some of the best programmers on the planet. How
hard is it to build a tool to export content from the old system and
import it into the new system, even if they don't take advantage of all
the bells and whistles right away?
If you have read this far, you will gather that I don't appreciate the
D2007 help system.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Keith Latham
I have downloaded that. How do you hook it into the IDE?
Keith Latham
Sorry, these files do NOT have Delphi content ONLY.
Example: search for keyword 'for' in
==> devwin32.chm = C++ syntax.
==> devcommon.chm = Pascal Syntax
==> delphivclwin32.chm = not found (as expected)
Roger Lascelles
news:47ba...@newsgroups.borland.com...
>> 1. CodeGear can separate the Delphi help from the platform API help
>> files, and deliver the Delphi help file in (say) a chm format.
>
> Already done, and available for download:
> http://cc.codegear.com/results.aspx?keywords=chm&prod=1&cat=9
>
up to the Delphi F1 key?
Roger Lascelles
Marc Rohloff [TeamB]
> It says, "can be viewed in the HTML Help viewer". Does that mean it hooks
> up to the Delphi F1 key?
I would assume that it is possible for some enterprising developer to
write a wizard to redirect the help in the IDE.
--
Marc Rohloff [TeamB]
marc -at- marc rohloff -dot- com
Rick Carter
>
>> It says, "can be viewed in the HTML Help viewer". Does that mean it hooks
>> up to the Delphi F1 key?
Marc Rohloff [TeamB]
>I would assume that it is possible for some enterprising developer to
>write a wizard to redirect the help in the IDE.
And maybe it's already been done. Not tested, but I think this should work:
http://cc.codegear.com/Item/23948