<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Actually, it doesn't. I mean, I read both of those, and it explained very little. It presumes you already know about how drawing stuff works in general...and I don't. I've not done much in the area of graphics before, so it is all new. I have scoured the reference manual, but still don't understand how it all comes together. The Companion doesn't offer much information at all. > > Ryan > - Eron
In general, I would have to agree with Ryan on this issue. I believe most of Palm's/PalmSource's reference manuals for developers are pretty good as far as references go... I get them about a B-. <ranting on> However there are quite a few points in the reference manuals where they assume you know what they are talking about or assume you know that they are referencing something in another document, but do not tell you where exactly to refer. I constantly find myself saying, "wow, this is great, so now where do I find the info on X or Y," and it time to go fishing through all the manuals again. They do this in the conduit SDK also (however I think that the conduit SDK is better and would give it an "A"). One example that comes to mind is when I was trying to decipher the PDB file format for a palm DB creator desktop app (couple years back). As I remember the file format document did not comes with the SDK at first, so when I went asking, and the forum rang back "it's in the file format spec doc, Duh! Go fish." So, I had to go find them. After finding the File format reference the part that really confused me at the time was in the DB Header section talking about the "GAP of anysize." Then in the following section on the Record List format they talk about "Place Holder Bytes," which their side note confusingly states that they exist wherther or not the Record List exits. So are they talking about the same thing or not? It's like two different techs worked on these two sections of the manaul and did not tie them together. Another good example is in the same reference. The file format specs never even discuss what you should set the Record IDs to in the records header when adding new records. So what would you do? Is there some record ID scheme that palm wants you to follow... I am sure there is, but they don't tell you what it is. Another one: how should we use DmGetRecord, DmResizeRecord and DmReleaseRecord? It is not very clear that you should not call DmResizeRecord, then DmReleaseRecord, or is it the other way around? Why not just give us an example of how to use it? I believe that the palm developer community, while full of great programmers and super nice people, generally hold back information for fear of ??... (oh I have to assume again) competition? (that's a whole other discussion). I am left with a general feeling of "hey, I figured that out on my own, so you have to figure it out for yourself also, now leave me alone." And the problem with this is now I kinda feel the same way when someone asks me for help... "hell, I had to go digging for it, so why should I tell you?" There are a few expections on this, no names, but they know who they are...and I thank them for the help over the years! The palm developer community does not like to share information (unless you bug the crap out of them). I believe the root of this stems from Palm themselves. And I believe this "non-sharing" attitude is partly to blame for all the damn OS versions and SDKs we have to support. <ranting off> Part of the solution?: Newer/Updated and better code examples with good step-buy-step documentation (and well commented code with spell checking) would be great. But most of palm examples have not changed in years. The best sample code I have seen yet is the CollapseSample! Great code comments, clean and neatly format code, easy to read and follow, plus it actually delivers more than you expect from a palm example! They show you how to support plamOne DIA SDK and the Sony SilkScreen stuff. More of these kind of samples would be great. -=Ryan Andersen FPS -- For information on using the Palm Developer Forums, or to unsubscribe, please see http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/forums/
