[Lazarus] Building help files: the nitty-gritty

[Mattias Gaertner]

On Sat, 28 Jul 2012 10:20:32 -0300
William Oliveira Ferreira <bdexterholland at gmail.com> wrote:

> Seems to be a good project.
> 
> Could someone from LazCore make a test on it?
> 
> I think it should be a step foward to a Lazarus' Embedded Help System

Yes, it should definitely be mentioned on

http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Add_Help_to_Your_Application

I recommend to put the package and the examples into separate
directories.

Mattias


> 
> 2012/7/28 Kostas Michalopoulos <badsectoracula at gmail.com>
> 
> > 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/<http://badsector.github.com/lazhelp/>
> >
> > 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).
> >
> > 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/<http://chiselapp.com/user/badsector/repository/rtworld/>
> >
> > and for LILCard, a hypercard-like program:
> >
> > https://github.com/badsector/**lilcard<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.
> >
> > Kostas "Bad Sector" Michalopoulos
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> 
> 
>