Help on Documentation

[lohill]

I have an application for which I would like to be able to offer a way for the user to get 'help' information. Right now if they go to the Help Menu they just get a message that it is not yet available. Is there any documentation on typical ways that user documentation is provided in the LiveCode environment?
Any references or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Larry

[Dixie]

Hi Larry,

I have posted a stack, that has a sub stack called 'Help'... When you open the main stack, select 'help' and the 'help' stack will appear. I set it up with the menu builder from the 'tools' menu... Look at the script for the 'help' menu when you open the menu builder...

be well

Dixie

[lohill]

Thanks Dixie,

That makes good sense. The help that I envision would be enhanced if screenshots could be shown along with text of explanation. As a stack wouldn't I be limited to text in fields? I don't know how I could incorporate screen shots. Any suggestions along those lines?

Regards,
Larry

[Dixie]

Hey Larry...

Not knowing exactly how much info you wish to give your users, it is a little difficult to suggest which way you should go about setting up your help... I have attached another 'silly' liitle stack, just to show that you are not restricted to showing just text...

In the sub-stack 'help' I have imported 3 images, which get shown depending of which line you click in the 'index' field... in the same way you could also put text into a field below the image, enhancing the description... it might be better if the images were from an external source and then just use 1 image object in which to show them... anyway, I hope it helps...

If you would like to tell me a little more of how much help you need to give your users, I could maybe help (no pun) you a little more..
john@ihouse.on-rev.com

be well

Dixie

[lohill]

Very nice Dixie,

I'm afraid I know very little about images in my cards but you have given me much to think about. I was thinking in terms of 20 to 30 screen shots with text explaining them. And since it looks a little different on a PC as compared to a Mac, I would have to have a version for each.

... it might be better if the images were from an external source and then just use 1 image object in which to show them...

I'm guessing this is the approach I will need to take. I need to go back to the User Guide and the Dictionary to see what I can learn. Any further suggestions for study?

Thanks again,
Larry

[lohill]

Dixie,

Can I do something as simple as create a .rtf document and then, when the user asks for Help, a program can be called to open the document. Is there a command that 'runs' an application with a specific document chosen? Something like 'OpenWith'.

Larry

[Dixie]

Hey Larry...

If you want to go down that route have a look at 'launch document' in the dictionary...

be well

Dixie

[lohill]

Oh thank you. That was the magic word I needed - launch. That is my main problem with the Dictionary and the User Guide. Unless I know the key word, I have a hard time finding what I want.

Thanks again,
Larry