[Lazarus] Lazarus helpfiles

[Reinier Olislagers]

On 10-7-2012 12:03, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:
> Hi Mark,
> 
> On 10 July 2012 09:59, Mark Morgan Lloyd
> <markMLl.lazarus at telemetry.co.uk> wrote:

>> I note that the final link from the IDE goes straight to installing help for
>> fpgui. Is this really appropriate, and if it is why aren't there links there
>> to comparable instructions for GTK etc.?
> 
> Feel free to add GTK help instructions to that page, if you think it
> would be useful.
I think the current focus on the CHM help files primarily - as the lhelp
viewer is now included in the Lazarus bigide build - makes sense.


>> I suggest that the Kylix-related stuff in
>> http://wiki.freepascal.org/Installing_Help_in_the_IDE would actually be
>> better on a page of its own, or moved right to the bottom of that one.
> 
> I think you are confusing the topic of that wiki page. It doesn't say
> FPC or LCL specific help, it says installing "help in the IDE" - thus
> any help files that the developer would find useful.
While that may be true, a focus in the page on installing FPC+LCL help
does make sense as that is the help for the Lazarus IDE and programming
language.

Yes, sections on how to install additional help packages could add value
but should not be as prominently displayed, IMO.

> Some developers prefer Kylix help files, because they are actually a
> lot more detailed and useful than LCL help, plus they cover the Object
> Pascal Language Reference help too. Some find the INF help files much
> more convenient and faster. Some like CHM, and others like HTML. That
> wiki page is meant to describe how to install any such help file
> support in the Lazarus IDE.

IIRC, you asked Lazarus developers a good question some months ago: is
there a standard help format and help viewer?
Again, IIRC, at that time the answer was: no, you can choose whichever
viewer you want.
Meanwhile, lhelp has been included in the bigide build - tacitly
answering your question now with "the default help is lhelp/chm".

Obviously, now Lazarus should be set up to take advantage of the
inclusion of lhelp and provide chm help set up out of the box (as I'm
sure people are working on).

I agree with your sentiments on different users wanting different
things.... but:

Until we have built in working help (i.e. lhelp+CHM content), I think
this page should be kept as straightforward as possible in order not to
confuse new users. This means that getting CHM help content working with
the default Lazarus help viewer, lhelp, should be the primary objective.

Besides that, it can mention how to get other forms of help going, but
less prominently.

My 2 cents...