If you don't want to code all of your help document pages by hand, this tool might be handy: http://www.omnigroup.com/blog/entry/Helpify_1.5_Help_Us_Help_You_Help_Users/
I've seen others out there that worked by editing in a special app and styled it like Apple's old help docs, but can't find them off-hand. This Omni tool requires OmniOutliner, but it generates everything you need automagically. - Jason Terhorst On May 29, 2010, at 11:50 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > Message: 9 > Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 07:22:16 -0400 > From: Bill Cheeseman <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Help w/ first step of creating Help Book for app > To: Shane <[email protected]> > Cc: Cocoa-Dev Mail Cocoa-Dev <[email protected]> > Message-ID: <[email protected]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > The problem with the current version of Apple's document is that it attempts > to cover the new kind of Help book that works only in Snow Leopard, as well > as the old kind of Help book that works in Leopard and Tiger as well as Snow > Leopard. However, from section to section and even sentence to sentence it > doesn't explain which kind of Help book it is talking about. You therefore > cannot create a valid, working Help book by reading the Apple document alone. > > For example, the folder structure of an application bundle that you > reproduced in your post is for the new kind of Help book that works only on > Snow Leopard. The new kind of Help book is a full-scale bundle of its own, > with its own Contents folder, Resources folder, Info-plist file, and so on. > In the Finder, it belongs at the root level of your application bundle's > Resources folder. This is a plus for developers, because it allows them to > manage their Help books completely separately from the Xcode project until > its done, when it can easily be added to the Xcode project with a simple menu > command (Add > Existing Files, or something like that). For example, with > new-style Help books, developers can put all of their language-specific > localization folders (English.lproj, etc.) in the one Help book, which they > can then send out to localization contractors as a single folder. To create a > Help book the old way, that works on Leopard and older as well as Snow > Leopard, you have to pu > t a non-bundled Help folder in your application bundle's English.lproj > folder, another non-bundled Help folder in the German language .lproj folder, > and so on, scattering the language-specific Help folders all over your > application bundle's Resources folder in separate language-specific folders. > > So if your application is supposed to run on Leopard or older as well as Snow > Leopard, do it the way Matt Neuburg's movie does it, and read Apple's > document with a grain of salt. The direct URL for the movie is > <http://www.apeth.com/writersua/implementAppleHelp.mov>. > > As far as I know, the only writeup available at this time that specifically > addresses the new Snow Leopard Help book format is Recipe 11 of my new book, > "Cocoa Recipes for Mac OS X: The Vermont Recipes," (second ed., Peachpit, > 2010), which devotes about 35 pages to the topic. At the end of that Recipe, > I also show how to convert a new-style Help book to an old-style Help book. > There are some internal differences as well as the structural differences I > mentioned above. > > Apart from all that, I think you have misunderstood the role of the Groups & > Files pane in an Xcode project window. The structure of groups (they aren't > really folders, although that's what they look like) and files in the project > window is for the most part a matter of convenience to help you keep your > project conceptually organized within Xcode. It does not necessarily (and > usually does not) mirror the folder structure on disk. On disk, almost all of > the files in your project are at the root level of your project folder. The > major exception is language-specific files and folders, which go in their own > language-specific folders in the project folder in the Finder. For old-style > Help books, you would create a Surfwriter Help folder inside the > English.lproj subfolder in your project folder, and you would put all your > English Help pages and subfolders, and the index file that is generated by > Help Indexer, inside that English-language Surfwriter Help folder. You would > put a Germ > an-language Help folder inside the German.lproj (de.lproj?) folder with its > own help pages, subfolders, and index file, and so on. For new-style Help > books, the Finder folder structure is different. You would put a Surfwriter > Help folder at the root level of your project folder on disk, and you would > make it a bundle all by itself by giving it its own Contents folder, > Resources subfolder, Info.plist file, individual language-specific .lproj > folders, and so on. > > When writing your Help file text, you typically would not use Xcode, although > it does have a perfectly good text editor in which you can write raw HTML by > hand if you like. But it's easier to write HTML by hand using BBEdit or > TextWrangler, or any other text editor that understands HTML. And if you > don't want to write raw HTML in a text editor, follow Matt's advice and use > iWeb or a graphical Web page editor. Either way, you might find it a little > less confusing to work out of the Help book in the Finder, not the Help book > in the Groups & Files pane. Even when not using an outside localization > contractor, I find it easier to keep my Help book development completely > separate from the Xcode project until the end. However, you can do it out of > the Groups & Files pane if you like, because the internal structure of each > language-specific Help book in the Groups & Files pane should mirror its > structure in the Finder, notwithstanding what I said above about the > differences between t > he Groups & Files pane and the Finder folders. That's because (and this is > crucially important) when you "Add" the Help folder to your Xcode project, > you must be sure to select the radio button in the sheet that tells you to > "Create Folder References for any added folders" in order to preserve the > Help Book's internal folder structure when you bring it into Xcode. > > Is that clear? :) > > On May 29, 2010, at 12:29 AM, Shane wrote: > >> I'm trying to create a help book for my app using the "Apple Help >> Programming Guide", which is not easy for me to follow > > -- > > Bill Cheeseman - [email protected] > _______________________________________________ Cocoa-dev mailing list ([email protected]) Please do not post admin requests or moderator comments to the list. Contact the moderators at cocoa-dev-admins(at)lists.apple.com Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/cocoa-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com This email sent to [email protected]
