Zitat von Michael Schnell : > > > Do you mean the fact that an external browser is started or the fpdoc html > pages > > or the wiki pages? > > The search functions are bad in all three of them. > > > I did not want to start a long winded discussion here :( Yes, noted. But some points you mentioned I don't understand. So I wonder if you spotted a bug. > IMHO the context-sensitive online-help (in Lazarus) is simply not usable > (while the context-sensitive help in (also free of charge) Turbo-Delphi > is not perfect but a lot better). > - You should get a decent result when hitting F1 on any keyword (of the > language, the RTL or the LCL: language-keyword, type, class, function, > procedure, property, public variable, variable, ...) Yes. As I said: pascal keywords are a problem because they are only in latex docs. > - there should be examples for the use of the topic There are already some examples in the docs. So the system is there and _only_ needs to be filled. > - there should be cross references to related and to similar topics For example the LCL docs already have 485 links to related topics. Not counting the automatic and ancestor links. Again: system is there and _only_ needs to be be filled. > - ... :) > > > Yes, Delphi had always a very good help with lots of examples. > > > > Writing a good help is a lot of work. > > FPC and Lazarus have more than 200.000 identifiers in more than 1000 units. > > > With Lazarus it would be best if the Delphi help could be linked in by > the users (of course it can't be shipped :) ). This could be used as a > nice starter and everybody can obtain it legally with Turbo Delphi, > unless he is a legal Delphi owner anyway. Maybe doable. Needs investigation. > > The online help already uses the wiki for the IDE windows and dialogs. You > > are all welcome to help improve the pages with examples that newbies > > understand. > > > If this is not included in the context-sensitive online-help this is no > fun at all ;) . Huh? I'm only talking about the context sensitive online help. The F1 function of lazarus. Maybe you are talking about fpide? > > For the source documentation fpdoc is used and the fpdoc editor is one > > click away. So every user can edit the help ad hoc. The only problem is to create > > a patch and send it. Maybe someone can write a gui tool for creating patches > > to make this easier. > > > Yep. Does the system support multiple languages ? Some parts yes. AFAIK fpdoc has, the wiki too. But the context sensitive help of the IDE does not yet support that. The problem with the wiki is that the IDE does not know, if a page has already a translation. The problem with fpdoc is my free time. > > A wiki for the source documentation is a bad idea, because of the > > update/rename/delete issues. > > > Seems like you are right here. But regarding the translations this might > be not as critical as with the original text. > > What 'context-sensitivity' needs improvement? F1 is context sensitive. > > > Right, but in many (or most) cases it does not work. It seems (much more > than the Delphi help) to try to prevent offering a topic that is not the > correct one, so it seems to analyze the context of the word under the > cursor. That means it only works if the source code already is quite > correct (which the user often only can do after reading the help, so we > have a deadlock, so that is a very bad idea, IMHO). > > In Delphi I simply type a word (i.e. "TForm") in an empty line and press > F1 to get help on TForm. This is the usual way I learn about new > components I'd like to use. This does not seem to work for me in Lazarus. I typed TForm, pressed F1 and got: http://lazarus-ccr.sourceforge.net/docs/lcl/forms/tform.html The help for identifiers only works, if the IDE can find the declaration. It does not yet search in the registered classes, nor in the whole documentation. If you want help for an identifier without proper declaration, then you want a context *insensitive* search and as I said: this is missing. Mattias