[PD] Using "all_about_x" patches as abstractions in help files

Hans-Christoph Steiner hans at at.or.at
Mon Jan 4 06:55:49 CET 2010


Ok, found the bug, it was a quoting issue.  Check tomorrow's build, or  
build pddplink.dll yourself by going to externals/miXed/pddp and  
running "make"  the file will then be in externals/miXed/bin/ 
pddplink.dll

.hc

On Jan 3, 2010, at 10:55 PM, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:

>
>
> --- On Mon, 1/4/10, Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at> wrote:
>
>> From: Hans-Christoph Steiner <hans at at.or.at>
>> Subject: Re: Using "all_about_x" patches as abstractions in help  
>> files
>> To: "Jonathan Wilkes" <jancsika at yahoo.com>
>> Cc: "Pd List" <pd-list at iem.at>
>> Date: Monday, January 4, 2010, 2:03 AM
>>
>> Glad to see you thinking about improving the docs :)
>> We tried the abstraction thing before, but got in trouble
>> because so much stuff got loaded when loading a single help
>> patch, then there were also seemingly endless loops of
>> loading.
>
> Well it wouldn't be a problem if you're only using abstractions in  
> this
> manner in help patches and not in the "all_about_x" patches.  But I  
> guess this restriction means the method doesn't scale well.
>
>>
>> I'd prefer to get pddplink working well and use it
>> throughout.  It seems to be the best approach, provided
>> it works.  Can you describe the problem with pddplink
>> or provide an example patch?
>>
>
> I don't think pddplink likes spaces in the filename.
>
> Ok, in windows xp open the pd browser and in the examples/pddp/,  
> click on
> pddplink-test-01.pd.  All the links should work.  Now go in and change
> the name of the containing folder from "pddp" to "pddp bug".  Now when
> you open that same patch, you'll get a tk error message for every
> [pddplink] object (excluding the ones with the -box flag).
>
> But I don't understand why I don't see the error message in the first
> place, because pd/doc/examples/pddp/ is in the "Program Files" folder.
>
> -Jonathan
>
>> .hc
>>
>> On Jan 3, 2010, at 1:55 PM, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
>>
>>> Currently, the help patches in the reference folder
>> have two ways of
>>> referring to the "all_about_x" patches:
>>>
>>> 1) comments in the form of
>> "docs/reference/all_about_x
>>> 2) pddplink
>>>
>>> The first option requires the user to open the patch
>> manually, which is
>>> klunky because the last patch opened is probably
>> different than the
>>> reference folder (not to mention the fact that the
>> reference folder has
>>> hundreds of patches in it).  The second option
>> currently stinks because
>>> pddplink is buggy (at least on winxp: for example, I
>> can't open the
>>> link listed in ctlin-help.pd).
>>>
>>> But what about using the "all_about_x" patches as
>> abstractions in the
>>> relevant help patches?  So for example: under the
>> "more_info" heading in
>>> float-help.pd, instead of the comment
>> "all_about_data-types.pd", just have
>>> [all_about_data-types], which the user can open with
>> one click.  Those
>>> patches aren't particularly complex, so it shouldn't
>> affect load time of
>>> the help patches very much (I think), but it would
>> greatly improve
>>> navigation.  And unlike pddplink, typos would be
>> obvious because the abstraction wouldn't create.
>>>
>>> What do people think?
>>>
>>> -Jonathan
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>   ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>




----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my  
telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out  
how to use my telephone."  --Bjarne Stroustrup (creator of C++)





More information about the Pd-list mailing list