[APBeta] Help system

[Allan Gould]

Paul
I have to say that the current AP manual is one of the best around. Well
implemented and I'm sure that its concise explanations etc help make
people purchase your product.
Allan

-----Original Message-----
From: apbeta-bounces at lists.astroplanner.net
[mailto:apbeta-bounces at lists.astroplanner.net] On Behalf Of Paul Rodman
Sent: Wednesday, 27 January 2010 3:40 AM
To: AstroPlanner Beta Testers
Subject: [APBeta] Help system

Just when you thought it was safe to assume V2 was feature complete...

After a lot of soul-searching I have decided to create a Help system for
AP V2. This will work in a similar fashion to a typical Help system
(i.e. Help->AstroPlanner Help produces a table of contents, index and
pages of help info). I'm using a commercial product to do this, so it
didn't take long to add it to the app. Other advantages of this over
just a PDF manual:

a. It will also allow context sensitive help. e.g. if you have a dialog
open and select help, then the help system will open to the correct
page. This might take a bit of time to get right, but isn't rocket
science.
b. I can produce a PDF manual directly from the help file, so those who
like dead trees will remain at peace.
c. I can add active links into the help that will perform functions
within the app. i.e. Rather than describing how to open a dialog, or add
a new object, a click on a help link will do it for you. This might, or
might not get implemented for V2.0. We'll see.
d. I really hate writing manuals, and updating them when features
change. This should make my life easier.
e. The help is integrated into the app, so I won't have the common
support request from users who didn't download the manual in the first
place.

That being said, I will have to have a Getting Started manual as a PDF,
since the Help system is only accessible from within the app.

As usual, feel free to tell me I'm an
idiot/saviour/procrastinator/hero/moron.

Paul R.



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