[PD] help files was: Re: call for testing on the nightly builds!

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

On May 18, 2008, at 11:39 AM, Enrique Erne wrote:

> Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>> On May 17, 2008, at 5:50 PM, Enrique Erne wrote:
>>> Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
>>>> There is much that can and should be done.  Here's some ideas  
>>>> ranked into of difficulty:
>>>> - file a bug report when a help patch is not working
>>>> - write and improve help patches, and submit them to the patch  
>>>> tracker
>>>
>>> is there a convention about how to make it work? i.e. should one  
>>> use declare, import or namespace prefix?
>>>
>>> i guess all help-files that are not loaded on default would need  
>>> a declare/import/or-namespace in order to work...
>>>
>>> i want to contribute and help to make "all"/more helpfiles work.  
>>> i know there is pddp but afaik it does not solve the declare/ 
>>> import/or-namespace problem.
>>>
>>> could all developers express their opinion and agree on how to  
>>> make all helpfiles work? :)
>> Starting with the PDDP template is a good place to start:
>> http://pure-data.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/pure-data/trunk/doc/ 
>> pddp/templates/
>>> i'm not a developer but i would vote for declare
>>> i.e. [declare -stdlib mrpeach] to packOSC-help.pd
>>> then it would work with pd vanilla too.
>> The declare/namespace/import stuff is still very undefined, so I  
>> think some experiementation would be good.  I think you should go  
>> ahead and try it using what you propose.  That will be a good test  
>> case.  Then we'll figure out what works best.
>> Personally, I would use namespace prefixes:   [mrpeach/packOSC].   
>> This will make more sense when there are libraries organized  
>> around concepts rather than authors.  So something like [osc/packOSC]
>
> from a user point of view organizing libraries around concepts  
> would be a huge gain. but let's face it: will that every be the case?
> (rhetorical, but still i would be very happy if somebody has an  
> answer:) )

It will be the case if we make it happen.  I have already started the  
tkwidgets library, which you might guess from the title, is a set of  
Tk widgets. ;)  I also wrote the "pan" library, which is some  
techniques for stereo panning.

.hc

>
> i just found that:
> http://puredata.info/dev/PdLibraries
> http://puredata.info/dev/PdNamespaces
>
>
> for now i don't know how to help and make the helpfiles work. :(
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>>> - add a search pane to the help panel
>>>
>>> is this done in tcl/tk? is there any documentation about that on  
>>> puredata.info?
>> It is done however you want to, more or less, but I think a pure  
>> Tcl solution would be possible, and perhaps easiest.
>> .hc
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> - help design and code a library format that bundles  
>>>> objectclasses, helpfiles, manuals, examples, etc then write code  
>>>> to index it all, and create a GUI to navigate that content
>>>> At this point, I think it is mostly a waste of time to do  
>>>> constant little workarounds like moving around objects.  We  
>>>> should be putting our scarce resources towards real  
>>>> improvements, not temporary fixes, IMHO.
>>>> .hc
>>>>
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