[Lazarus] Building help files: the nitty-gritty

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Graeme Geldenhuys schrieb:
> The reasoning for recommending Kylix Help to Lazarus users was simple.
> Only in the last year or so did the Lazarus LCL actually start getting
> help. Not to mention that Lazarus didn't even have a offline help
> system to compete with anything out there.  I still feel to this day,
> the Kylix Help is still a lot more complete, detailed and useful, with
> working example code too.

Isn't Kylix Help free now, with openKylix?

> As for the x86 Linux only comment.... Well, tough sh*t to the Windows
> and Mac users. I paid for Kylix Enterprise, so why the hell may I not
> reuse what I paid a fortune for!

You are allowed to use it, but not to distribute it.

>  In any case, LCL is supposed to be a
> VCL clone (just like CLX), so the Delphi/Kylix help should be very
> appropriate to LCL - if not, then the Lazarus project didn't do a very
> good job cloning Delphi VCL.

In fact the LCL should have been based on the CLX, where many 
cross-platform issues have been removed - but the CLX was published only 
much later. Then FPC and Lazarus were extended with every new Delphi 
version, and some homebrew features have been added, but the really hard 
problems never have been solved properly.

I already suggested an native Win32 widgetset, fully VCL compatible, 
with limited availability on other platforms. This would make all those 
happy which want to move from Delphi to Lazarus, because all their 
projects would work almost immediately. And it could have been 
implemented in a fraction of the time spent with the LCL. 
Cross-plattform projects never have been covered by Delphi/VCL, so that 
it's not hard to tell people that such projects require a different 
GUI/widgetset (CLX, LCL...).


Furthermore I'm convinced that a portable GUI, based on a mix of native 
controls, is a beast and a waste of time. Either the controls should 
have native look and feel (skins!...), or the exact look and feel of 
some (Win32...) platform. I had preferred to use fpGUI or mseGUI instead 
of the LCL, but the according frameworks (IDE...) didn't match my 
expectations. Now I'm using a Lazarus IDE, tweaked to fit my needs, and 
stay away from projects with a sophisticated GUI or cross-platform 
ambitions.

DoDi