Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 7:14 AM, Gour g...@atmarama.net wrote: Mehmet Erol Sanliturk m.e.sanlit...@gmail.com writes: First , forget Delphi , OK. and start directly from Free Pascal and Lazarus . What about other GUI options likes fpGUI MSEide+MSEgui? I am not a user of fpGUI or MSEide+MSEgui . Therefore I can not make any expert comment . If you study their web sites , you will get much information from them , and then you may ask your questions to them . I think you will get good advice from them . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk Delphi programs are NOT multi-platform but only for Windows . That’s clear. The Free Pascal and Lazarus documentations are excellent , but I suggest to obtain the above two books also . OK. Thanks. Sincerely, Gour -- From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self. -- ___ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
On 2015-08-03 15:08, Gour wrote: Now I wonder which one is recommended and if there are some helpers assisting manual authors See this message from July, and the attached example application. http://free-pascal-lazarus.989080.n3.nabble.com/Lazarus-Help-for-your-applications-tp4043078p4043079.html I use the INF format because it is very simple to author and extremely compact (10+ times smaller than CHM of the same content). The markup language is much shorter that HTML, less complicated than LaTeX, and not very verbose. The IPF tags are mnemonic, making it easy to associate them with their functions. In my eyes DocView is also a superior help viewer compared to any CHM or HLP help viewer I have seen, with built in support for Contents, Index (auto-generated in none exists), full-text search with advanced filtering, search highlighting, in-line annotation support, custom font configuration and is lightning fast etc. Regards, - Graeme - -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Gour I think you just need one book for beginning and I don't used any one but that one linked in the forum maybe is good enough. Also about GUI,they are good but for you just install Lazarus and go with it and when you fill comfortable than you can research and ask here but Lazarus on it default GUI are well enough for most of the usages. When you want to choose take fpGUI seriously,its good and author is kind and will help you,about others I dont know much. Regards, Ara -- http://www.fastmail.com - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an unladen european swallow -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On 2015-08-03 15:15, Gour wrote: Btw, how does one author *.inf files today? You author your help using plain text IPF file. Then compile that with a utility called WIPFC (IPF Compiler) to generate a very compact binary INF file. The WIPFC compiler and DocView are available from the fpGUI project. Some technical info: INF is very compact and fast because the INF file itself contains a dictionary of words, built from the help text, and each help topic simply references the words from the dictionary. This also enables full-text search support as standard. I use a text editor called EditPad Pro (my favourite text editor), which I improved the syntax highlighting and file navigation to make IPF file authoring even easier. But any text editor will do. No special tools or applications are required. IPF, as explained by WikiPedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Presentation_Facility I also see that you’re the man behind fpGUI, but that’s for another thread how to chooes the ’right’ GUI for FPC. ;) When you are ready, you are welcome to email me in private to ask more questions. Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On 2015-08-03 18:37, Gour wrote: Is there any Editor support for the markup? You could always download Editpad Pro (trial) and I can send you the syntax highlighting files and file navigation support for it. MSEide itself also supports syntax highlighting of IPF files. I don't know of any editor with auto-complete or similar functionality built-in for IPF but then it isn't really needed, because the IPF syntax is very simple and easy to learn. Much easier and less than say HTML or CSS. Now I see that it’s the old OS2’s format and I was die-hard OS2 user. :-) Correct. :) DocView is a newer and more user friendly INF help viewer that the original IBM view.exe program. WIPFC is a open source IPF Compiler created by the OpenWatcom developers. I'm still working on a Object Pascal based IPF Compiler, but it isn't complete yet. Do you know about possible vim/Emacs support? I downloaded VIM for OS/2 to see if they might include an IPF syntax file, but they unfortunately don't. At least not the copy I found. If you are familiar with VIM syntax files, it should be pretty easy to create your own highlighter. I managed to create one for EditPad Pro in about 30 minutes. The IPF syntax is much simpler than say HTML. I’ve sent a post to FPC list asking about GUI options form FPC, but it did not went through (yet). :-( I haven't seen that email. I'll check again. Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
On 2015-08-03 18:27, Gour wrote: FPC/INF means I have to forger about Emacs which I use a lot… You can write software and help using Emacs, no problem. There is no requirement to drop your editor of choice. Some prefer using Lazarus IDE for everything, but equally I know of many that use Geany or Eclipse (or some other text editor) to write Object Pascal software (compiled using FPC). Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
On 2015-08-03 21:09, Mark Morgan Lloyd wrote: Lazarus mailing list and the principal format used by Lazarus is .chm. No, the official help format for lazarus is there is none! Some parts are HTML (and then repackaged as CHM), the wiki, the mailing list etc. There is also NO rule that says if you use LCL for your application that you must use CHM for your application help. That is absolute nonsense. Many use raw HTML in a directory as application help. Equally so, I showed that they could also use DocView+INF for LCL based application help. Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On 2015-08-04 00:26, waldo kitty wrote: this could be added to Lazarus, though... right? Yes, somebody with the available time could easily add IPF syntax highlighting support to SynEdit. EditPad Pro goes one step further. With each syntax highlighting, you can specify a custom help command. So when I'm editing IPF files, pressing F1 will launch DocView with the IPF reference doc loaded for that tag. A similar things for HTML, CSS etc. Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Hi Gour, I've been programming for 53 years, learning everything from machine and assembler languages to various OOPs. When Delphi first came out I used it for four or five years and liked it. After retiring I was hired to write a program to run on multiple platforms. I settled on FPC and elected to use the Lazarus GUI before trying anything else in order to learn Lazarus's limitations. I purchased the Lazarus, the Complete Guide and Learn to Program Using Pascal package. I refer to the guide when exploring methods, but find myself reaching most often for Howard Page-Smith's Learn to Program Using Lazarus. It has excellent examples and got me going in a hurry. Like any language where you can get to the guts of things, the learning curve can be long, maybe even continuous. The forum is also an excellent resource when you need a question answered. I do Google searches starting with Pascal Lazarus and usually end up finding the answer in the forum. I got The Blaise Pascal Magazine going back a bunch of issues as a bonus when I ordered the package and found many excellent articles in them. Gary On 8/3/2015 3:58 AM, Gour wrote: Hello, after (too) much time exploring/evaluating different languages, I’ve finally decided to use use FPC/Lazarus to write open-source multi-platform desktop GUI app… It would be kind of semi-hobby project and the reason why I took so long to decide about Pascal is that I was using it long ago (20yrs) while studying software engineering on the University (we had to write some compiler using TP, so I thought that some better language did evolve. :-) Of course, there are some interesting *languages*, but I simply do not buy what web+JS is the only way to go to write app these days, and that’s where FPC/Lazarus are shining very brightly!! However, in the meantime, programming did not become my bread’n’butter, so although programming is not strange/new thing to me, I need some refreshment and looking for adequate literature/docs to equip myself to use FPC/Lazarus for my GUI project… I there is a ’bundle’ http://www.blaisepascal.eu/index.php?actie=./subscribers/lazarusbookinfoEnglish offering to buy Lazarus Complete Guide and get Learn to Program Using Lazarus as downloadable PDF, so I wonder if it is good-enough for learning FPC and start with Lazarus? I’m aware there are lot of online docs available, but I am simply accustomed to use/hold concrete books (if possible) and reduce my time of starring at computer screens to save my eyes a bit. Another option which I’ve found is: “Getting Started with Lazarus and Free Pascal: A beginners and intermediate guide to Free Pascal using Lazarus IDE” (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1507632525/ref=rdr_ext_tmb) but it seems it’s more into web development than writign desktop GUI apps? Besides that, one Delphi/Lazarus user suggested to get some of the “Marco Cantu's mastering.. series of older versions”, but not having *any* experience with neither Delphi nor FPC/Lazarus, I’m looking for some helpful hints which path to go? Sincerely, Gour p.s. I sent the same message from Gmane-subscribed group, but never received its authorization message and it seems that the message went to /dev/null, so, please, if anyone can check whether the information at http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.ide.lazarus.general is correct since the “requires subscription to mailing list to post” status usually means it should be possible to post for subscribed users, while my experience is more like “posting isn't allowed”? -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On 2015-08-03 18:17, Gour wrote: Any ’selling points’ in regard to fpGUI? See my reply off the mailing list. Regards, - Graeme - -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On 08/03/2015 06:38 PM, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote: I don't know of any editor with auto-complete or similar functionality built-in for IPF but then it isn't really needed, because the IPF syntax is very simple and easy to learn. Much easier and less than say HTML or CSS. this could be added to Lazarus, though... right? -- NOTE: No off-list assistance is given without prior approval. *Please keep mailing list traffic on the list* unless private contact is specifically requested and granted. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Just a comment - with the requirement to produce a User Manual in HTML and PDF for a new Linux OS, we settled on Lyx as the primary editor. Gordon Tauranga N.Z. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Mark Morgan Lloyd markmll.laza...@telemetry.co.uk writes: Focussing on help files, in the past I've experimentally generated text for these as an appendix in a PDF file using Lyx etc., then post-processed it into a .chm. Heh, I was using Lyx for authoring real books in the past.. Speaking as somebody who is neither a core developer nor a list manager, this is the Lazarus mailing list and the principal format used by Lazarus is .chm. It's all very well for an advocate of an alternative documentation format and an alternative UI toolkit to be enthusiastic about them, but I'm not sure that they're something which should be promoted too vocally to somebody who hasn't been active in the field for an extended period. Hmm, I’m very new here, but in my original message I posted a link from *Lazarus* wiki (http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Add_Help_to_Your_Application) which mentions CHM, HTML and INF as possible help formats and that was the reason to ask “which one?” ;) Sincerely, Gour -- There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogī, O Arjuna, if one eats too much or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Gordon Cooper hughgord...@gmail.com writes: Just a comment - with the requirement to produce a User Manual in HTML and PDF for a new Linux OS, we settled on Lyx as the primary editor. Thanks. I was using LyX and I like it…although in a recent time I’m considering some markup (rst/AsciiDoc) so I can use ’single’ markup for web content writing (static-site generator), study-notes etc. Sincerely, Gour -- Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
[Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Hello, after (too) much time exploring/evaluating different languages, I’ve finally decided to use use FPC/Lazarus to write open-source multi-platform desktop GUI app… It would be kind of semi-hobby project and the reason why I took so long to decide about Pascal is that I was using it long ago (20yrs) while studying software engineering on the University (we had to write some compiler using TP, so I thought that some better language did evolve. :-) Of course, there are some interesting *languages*, but I simply do not buy what web+JS is the only way to go to write app these days, and that’s where FPC/Lazarus are shining very brightly!! However, in the meantime, programming did not become my bread’n’butter, so although programming is not strange/new thing to me, I need some refreshment and looking for adequate literature/docs to equip myself to use FPC/Lazarus for my GUI project… I there is a ’bundle’ http://www.blaisepascal.eu/index.php?actie=./subscribers/lazarusbookinfoEnglish offering to buy Lazarus Complete Guide and get Learn to Program Using Lazarus as downloadable PDF, so I wonder if it is good-enough for learning FPC and start with Lazarus? I’m aware there are lot of online docs available, but I am simply accustomed to use/hold concrete books (if possible) and reduce my time of starring at computer screens to save my eyes a bit. Another option which I’ve found is: “Getting Started with Lazarus and Free Pascal: A beginners and intermediate guide to Free Pascal using Lazarus IDE” (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1507632525/ref=rdr_ext_tmb) but it seems it’s more into web development than writign desktop GUI apps? Besides that, one Delphi/Lazarus user suggested to get some of the “Marco Cantu's mastering.. series of older versions”, but not having *any* experience with neither Delphi nor FPC/Lazarus, I’m looking for some helpful hints which path to go? Sincerely, Gour p.s. I sent the same message from Gmane-subscribed group, but never received its authorization message and it seems that the message went to /dev/null, so, please, if anyone can check whether the information at http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.ide.lazarus.general is correct since the “requires subscription to mailing list to post” status usually means it should be possible to post for subscribed users, while my experience is more like “posting isn't allowed”? -- As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 12:58 AM, Gour g...@atmarama.net wrote: Hello, after (too) much time exploring/evaluating different languages, I’ve finally decided to use use FPC/Lazarus to write open-source multi-platform desktop GUI app… It would be kind of semi-hobby project and the reason why I took so long to decide about Pascal is that I was using it long ago (20yrs) while studying software engineering on the University (we had to write some compiler using TP, so I thought that some better language did evolve. :-) Of course, there are some interesting *languages*, but I simply do not buy what web+JS is the only way to go to write app these days, and that’s where FPC/Lazarus are shining very brightly!! However, in the meantime, programming did not become my bread’n’butter, so although programming is not strange/new thing to me, I need some refreshment and looking for adequate literature/docs to equip myself to use FPC/Lazarus for my GUI project… I there is a ’bundle’ http://www.blaisepascal.eu/index.php?actie=./subscribers/lazarusbookinfoEnglish offering to buy Lazarus Complete Guide and get Learn to Program Using Lazarus as downloadable PDF, so I wonder if it is good-enough for learning FPC and start with Lazarus? I’m aware there are lot of online docs available, but I am simply accustomed to use/hold concrete books (if possible) and reduce my time of starring at computer screens to save my eyes a bit. Another option which I’ve found is: “Getting Started with Lazarus and Free Pascal: A beginners and intermediate guide to Free Pascal using Lazarus IDE” (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1507632525/ref=rdr_ext_tmb) but it seems it’s more into web development than writign desktop GUI apps? Besides that, one Delphi/Lazarus user suggested to get some of the “Marco Cantu's mastering.. series of older versions”, but not having *any* experience with neither Delphi nor FPC/Lazarus, I’m looking for some helpful hints which path to go? Sincerely, Gour p.s. I sent the same message from Gmane-subscribed group, but never received its authorization message and it seems that the message went to /dev/null, so, please, if anyone can check whether the information at http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.ide.lazarus.general is correct since the “requires subscription to mailing list to post” status usually means it should be possible to post for subscribed users, while my experience is more like “posting isn't allowed”? -- As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path. -- ___ First , forget Delphi , and start directly from Free Pascal and Lazarus . Delphi programs are NOT multi-platform but only for Windows . If you want to write multi-platform Pascal programs , instead of wasting time on Delphi programs , use your time for directly on Free Pascal and Lazarus programs . You may compile the same program on all supported platforms listed in Free Pascal and Lazarus package lists for installation . If you use a NFS server , then from the same server , you can compile the same programs in different platform clients , ( even from Windows , if you use a Samba server in your NFS server exporting the same source directories ) ( you may even use cross compilation ) . This means that , if you use Free Pascal and Lazarus your choices are as you want . The Free Pascal and Lazarus documentations are excellent , but I suggest to obtain the above two books also . I have Lazarus book , but not other book . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] OOP - where do you start?
On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 12:30:49PM +0100, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote: So here is my question: When faced with a new database related project, where do you start? Do you first design the database schema, then build the BOM (Business Objects) accordingly? Or, do you first design the BOM, then design the database schema to fit. If you want to do ORM per se, define how objects are mapped, and then BOM and schema are fairly equivalent, and are designed in step. But in production circumstances make sure you always can override the mapping so that you can also use existing tables with some custom code. If you have too many preexisting tables, forget about ORM. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
On 2015-08-03 08:58, Gour wrote: but it seems it’s more into web development than writign desktop GUI apps? You spoke of using Turbo Pascal some 20+ years ago. So you probably need a language update as well. Here are a couple of ebooks: http://geldenhuys.co.uk/~graemeg/inf_books/ Start with tutorial.inf which gets you up to speed with the Object Pascal language. If you understand German, you can take a look at the objref.inf and oop_refg.inf too. INF files are viewable with DocView help file viewer. You can download a binary ( 500KB download) from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/fpgui/files/fpGUI/1.4/ Regards, - Graeme - -- fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/ -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] *** GMX Spamverdacht *** Re: TEdit: Find character at caret position
Am 2015-08-02 um 20:32 schrieb Howard Page-Clark: On 02/08/2015 18:33, Jürgen Hestermann wrote: In a TEdit component, how do I find out which character is at the caret/cursor position? Or in other words: At which (string) position will the next typed character be inserted? I want to insert text at just that position myself but cannot find out where this (character) position would be. Edit1.SelStart gives the character position of the caret/cursor. The next typed character is inserted at Succ(Edit1.SelStart). Sure? I thought SelStart gives the start of the selected text, not of the cursor. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Aradeonas aradeo...@operamail.com writes: So begin with one of mentioned books,its easy and when you begin all other problems will be solved with others helps in here or forum. OK, will start with one of those Pascal tutorials… Sincerely, Gour -- What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Marco van de Voort mar...@stack.nl writes: For unit documentation a tool called fpdoc is used that is basically generate with XML + source scanning as input. there are various outputs. Yeah, that’s for code, that I did see. The preferences vary. The IPF proponents are very vocal as I'm sure you noticed. I prefer CHM, if only because you can open it on e.g. Windows without telling people how to install a viewer. I like that it’s nicely supported and not vendor lock-in. So far, I do not see about conversion capabilities for IPF, iow. whether there are tools convert to/from it. Sincerely, Gour -- The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Graeme Geldenhuys mailingli...@geldenhuys.co.uk writes: See this message from July, and the attached example application. Ahh…I apologize for not spotting this recent thread. :-( I use the INF format because it is very simple to author and extremely compact (10+ times smaller than CHM of the same content). The markup language is much shorter that HTML, less complicated than LaTeX, and not very verbose. The IPF tags are mnemonic, making it easy to associate them with their functions. Hmm…sound good and I have to check it out - I just wonder if it’s rich enough and/or how its markup compares with e.g. rst/Asciidoc. In my eyes DocView is also a superior help viewer compared to any CHM or HLP help viewer I have seen, with built in support for Contents, Index (auto-generated in none exists), full-text search with advanced filtering, search highlighting, in-line annotation support, custom font configuration and is lightning fast etc. I like what I’ve seen in DocView…now have to find out if using FPC/INF means I have to forger about Emacs which I use a lot… Sincerely, Gour -- A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego — he alone can attain real peace. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
On Mon, Aug 03, 2015 at 04:08:46PM +0200, Gour wrote: by looking at http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Add_Help_to_Your_Application page it seems there are several options to provide help (aka user manual) for one???s app - CHM, HTML INF. For unit documentation a tool called fpdoc is used that is basically generate with XML + source scanning as input. there are various outputs. The preferences vary. The IPF proponents are very vocal as I'm sure you noticed. I prefer CHM, if only because you can open it on e.g. Windows without telling people how to install a viewer. And frankly I don't care about size, at least not till it gets too weird. Now I wonder which one is recommended and if there are some helpers assisting manual authors to use some higher-level markup like markdown/AsciiDoc/rst? No, it was more meant to be edited from the GUI using editors. The original gui tool was part of fpgui's precursor fpgtk. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Aradeonas aradeo...@operamail.com writes: Gour I think you just need one book for beginning and I don't used any one but that one linked in the forum maybe is good enough. OK. Also about GUI,they are good but for you just install Lazarus and go with it and when you fill comfortable than you can research and ask here but Lazarus on it default GUI are well enough for most of the usages. Good. When you want to choose take fpGUI seriously,its good and author is kind and will help you,about others I dont know much. Any ’selling points’ in regard to fpGUI? Sincerely, Gour -- From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Graeme Geldenhuys mailingli...@geldenhuys.co.uk writes: You author your help using plain text IPF file. Is there any Editor support for the markup? Now I see that it’s the old OS2’s format and I was die-hard OS2 user. :-) Then compile that with a utility called WIPFC (IPF Compiler) to generate a very compact binary INF file. The WIPFC compiler and DocView are available from the fpGUI project. Nice. Some technical info: INF is very compact and fast because the INF file itself contains a dictionary of words, built from the help text, and each help topic simply references the words from the dictionary. This also enables full-text search support as standard. That’s cool. I use a text editor called EditPad Pro (my favourite text editor), which I improved the syntax highlighting and file navigation to make IPF file authoring even easier. But any text editor will do. No special tools or applications are required. Do you know about possible vim/Emacs support? When you are ready, you are welcome to email me in private to ask more questions. I’ve sent a post to FPC list asking about GUI options form FPC, but it did not went through (yet). :-( Sincerely, Gour -- The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Aradeonas aradeo...@operamail.com writes: Dear Gour I think you make things complicated for your self. Just install and go and default GUI option is very good at least for starting. When you learned what you want then you can ask about GUI here or talk to Graeme. Well, here I’m asking about the method/markup to document help files and/or manuals, iow. it’s in one sense separated from the GUI option one uses… Sincerely, Gour -- Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Any ’selling points’ in regard to fpGUI? For now dont think about these,just start working,when you will on the road you will fin that out. Regards, Ara -- http://www.fastmail.com - Does exactly what it says on the tin -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Dear Gour I think you make things complicated for your self. Just install and go and default GUI option is very good at least for starting. When you learned what you want then you can ask about GUI here or talk to Graeme. Regards, Ara -- http://www.fastmail.com - Choose from over 50 domains or use your own -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
So begin with one of mentioned books,its easy and when you begin all other problems will be solved with others helps in here or forum. Or wait for others help,they know about books better because I didnt used any one. Regards, Ara -- http://www.fastmail.com - mmm... Fastmail... -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Am 03.08.2015 11:21 schrieb Mehmet Erol Sanliturk m.e.sanlit...@gmail.com : First , forget Delphi , and start directly from Free Pascal and Lazarus . Delphi programs are NOT multi-platform but only for Windows . If you want to write multi-platform Pascal programs , instead of wasting time on Delphi programs , use your time for directly on Free Pascal and Lazarus programs . That doesn't mean however that tips and information provided in books about Delphi aren't valid at all for FPC/Lazarus. And since the thread starter had stated that he isn't fit with programming that are viable hints. Regards, Sven -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Mehmet Erol Sanliturk m.e.sanlit...@gmail.com writes: First , forget Delphi , OK. and start directly from Free Pascal and Lazarus . What about other GUI options likes fpGUI MSEide+MSEgui? Delphi programs are NOT multi-platform but only for Windows . That’s clear. The Free Pascal and Lazarus documentations are excellent , but I suggest to obtain the above two books also . OK. Thanks. Sincerely, Gour -- From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the self. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] Error buiding Lazarus
On Mon, 03 Aug 2015 15:25:24 +0200 Santiago A. s...@ciberpiula.net wrote: I have upgraded Lazarus in my Linux mint from 12.6 to 1.4.2, (the deb package from sourceforge). When I start Lazarus I get a message with two buttons: How do you start Lazarus? Maybe you are starting an old binary? Start my custom or start system default. Well, I had just one version of Lazarus. I suppose that the custom version is because a I had compiled the IDE to add some packages. Yes. That is your custom version. Since you installed a newer version as 'system default', the system default is newer. In that case the startlazarus asks which one to start. If I click my custom I get something like Downgrade configuration... well, a little scaring, I don't want to downgrade anything, I want to upgrade, so I abort. Good. I try the other option. I click start system default. Ok it starts fine. Now I try to build Lazarus from IDE (clean + build) and after compiling a lot I get the following error cmdlinedebugger.pp(161,31) Fatal: Can't find unit CmdLineDebugger used by LazDebuggerGdbmi Can't find file /usr/share/lazarus/1.4.2/ide/cmdlinedebugger.pp. Any idea? Check that the IDE is using the correct Lazarus directory (Tools / Options / Environment / Files / Lazarus source directory). It should be /usr/share/lazarus/1.4.2. If this does not help: Close the IDE, delete ~/lazarus/bin, start IDE, build normally (you don't need clean). Note: By default /usr/share/lazarus/1.4.2 should be readonly for users and only root can write. This is debian policy. Don't change that unless you have a special case. Mattias -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
[Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Hello, by looking at http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Add_Help_to_Your_Application page it seems there are several options to provide help (aka user manual) for one’s app - CHM, HTML INF. Now I wonder which one is recommended and if there are some helpers assisting manual authors to use some higher-level markup like markdown/AsciiDoc/rst? Sincerely, Gour -- A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] learning advice for FPC/Lazarus noob
Graeme Geldenhuys mailingli...@geldenhuys.co.uk writes: You spoke of using Turbo Pascal some 20+ years ago. So you probably need a language update as well. Indeed. :-) Here are a couple of ebooks: Thanks. Start with tutorial.inf which gets you up to speed with the Object Pascal language. It looks good. INF files are viewable with DocView help file viewer. You can download a binary ( 500KB download) from here: Btw, how does one author *.inf files today? I also see that you’re the man behind fpGUI, but that’s for another thread how to chooes the ’right’ GUI for FPC. ;) Sincerely, Gour -- Even if you are considered to be the most sinful of all sinners, when you are situated in the boat of transcendental knowledge you will be able to cross over the ocean of miseries. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
[Lazarus] Error buiding Lazarus
I have upgraded Lazarus in my Linux mint from 12.6 to 1.4.2, (the deb package from sourceforge). When I start Lazarus I get a message with two buttons: Start my custom or start system default. Well, I had just one version of Lazarus. I suppose that the custom version is because a I had compiled the IDE to add some packages. If I click my custom I get something like Downgrade configuration... well, a little scaring, I don't want to downgrade anything, I want to upgrade, so I abort. I try the other option. I click start system default. Ok it starts fine. Now I try to build Lazarus from IDE (clean + build) and after compiling a lot I get the following error cmdlinedebugger.pp(161,31) Fatal: Can't find unit CmdLineDebugger used by LazDebuggerGdbmi Can't find file /usr/share/lazarus/1.4.2/ide/cmdlinedebugger.pp. Any idea? -- Santiago A. -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] Bug in TListView custom draw item ?
Now I test project with Last Trunk version but nothing solved. How can I use the path or get a working version? Regards, Ara -- http://www.fastmail.com - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] Bug in TListView custom draw item ?
Here is the bug link : http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=27816 Regards, Ara -- http://www.fastmail.com - Access your email from home and the web -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
Gour wrote: In my eyes DocView is also a superior help viewer compared to any CHM or HLP help viewer I have seen, with built in support for Contents, Index (auto-generated in none exists), full-text search with advanced filtering, search highlighting, in-line annotation support, custom font configuration and is lightning fast etc. I like what I’ve seen in DocView…now have to find out if using FPC/INFmeans I have to forger about Emacs which I use a lot… Focussing on help files, in the past I've experimentally generated text for these as an appendix in a PDF file using Lyx etc., then post-processed it into a .chm. This has the obvious advantage that printed and online documentation remains in step, however I'm not sure how practical this would be if a substantial amount of internationalisation were required. Speaking as somebody who is neither a core developer nor a list manager, this is the Lazarus mailing list and the principal format used by Lazarus is .chm. It's all very well for an advocate of an alternative documentation format and an alternative UI toolkit to be enthusiastic about them, but I'm not sure that they're something which should be promoted too vocally to somebody who hasn't been active in the field for an extended period. -- Mark Morgan Lloyd markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk [Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues] -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
Re: [Lazarus] authoring user manuals
2015-08-03 20:47 GMT+02:00 Gour g...@atmarama.net: Marco van de Voort mar...@stack.nl writes: For unit documentation a tool called fpdoc is used that is basically generate with XML + source scanning as input. there are various outputs. Yeah, that’s for code, that I did see. If you want to use fpdoc without writing XML, you can try Txt2FPDoc ( http://yann.merignac.free.fr/txt2fpdoc.html). -- ___ Lazarus mailing list Lazarus@lists.lazarus.freepascal.org http://lists.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailman/listinfo/lazarus
