On Sat, 28 Jul 2012 15:01:36 +0200 Kostas Michalopoulos <[email protected]> wrote:
> I just noticed this (there is a lot of activity in the mailing list and > i only browse it occasionally). > > On 10/7/2012 6:39 μμ, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote: > > Hi, > > My question still stands though. I don't know what is the > > recommendation for "application help" with LCL based applications. eg: > > I create a new project which is a new Programming Editor. I want to > > supply a end-user help file with my binary - like all good software > > does. What help file format do I use (as the developer of that > > product), and how do I create/edit that help file? > > > > Personally i have written a custom help system: > > http://badsector.github.com/lazhelp/ About the name "lazhelp": I'm not a great namer myself, and tend to use technical names as well, so I understand your choice for the name. But I fear the name "lazhelp" has become confusingly ambiguous. To avoid name clashes with third parties the Lazarus developers prefix/postfix all new units, for example with "laz". If third parties use the same prefixes, we have a problem. ;) So I ask anyone kindly to be more innovative when creating new projects. > It is made up of a bunch of components that can either provide the help > content from inside the program (f.e. from a resource or just a string > list) or from an external file. The help can be displayed as a > popup/tooltip, inside a panel using a custom control or a separate > window with back, forward, home and other optional buttons (like > introduction, tutorial, etc). It can also be registered as a help > provider for LCL (so you can use HelpContext etc in controls). Nice. > The viewer is written with LCL so it should be portable (although there > are some inconsistencies, especially regarding scrollbars). There aren't > many things supported by the language (which has a simple syntax) but it > should be enough for simple applications. For larger help sites, it > probably needs more stuff (f.e. there is no table support). > > I have used it for Runtime World, my 3D world editor: > > http://chiselapp.com/user/badsector/repository/rtworld/ > > and for LILCard, a hypercard-like program: > > https://github.com/badsector/lilcard > > (the latter shows how the help system can become part of the executable > itself since lilcard is a single executable in all platforms) > > The reason i made it is, as you have said in other threads, i find > Lazarus current help situation to be inadequate at least. Additionally, > i don't want to distribute a huge executable for viewing CHM files (in > the case the user's computer do not have the ability to view CHM files) > and i find the CHM viewer's user interface to be somewhat complex. Huh? The chm viewer "lhelp" has only "home", "backward", "forward" and a menu to open and close chm files. If I understood your above text correct, this is less than your viewer. The reason for a separate executable is that the help viewer should be usable independent of any modal forms, mdi, hints or docking of the application. Of course it would be nice to have a LCL control to view chm files in applications. It should not be that hard to write. Mattias -- _______________________________________________ Lazarus mailing list [email protected] http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
