Does anyone use a help system besides JavaHelp for on-line help?

[Doogle T]

I've read a lot of posts, documents, and have tested JavaHelp for RCP (and non-RCP) applications. I have learned the advantages of JavaHelp, and come across a few disadvantages. I also searched for a GUI that will automatically modify the map, toc, index, etc. meta (xml) files pertaining to the structure of a particular help set. If one exists, I would be interested in learning about it.

This search has brought up another question -- what are developers actually using out there? Is JavaHelp used with deployed applications, or in actual practice are they accompanied by a traditional pdf or other stand-along document? One advantage I can see to having the documentation separate is that it can be updated without the need to re-deploy the application. For RCP apps, the closest I've come is to have the help set in a separate module, then use update manager/plugins to release updates to the help documentation. This seems to work pretty well, but overall the entire process still seems a little 'klunky'. I am not complaining, just wondering what people are doing in general before choosing a path to take. I would appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

Doug.

[anonymous]

Doogle T schrieb:

I've read a lot of posts, documents, and have tested JavaHelp for RCP (and non-RCP) applications. I have learned the advantages of JavaHelp, and come across a few disadvantages. I also searched for a GUI that will automatically modify the map, toc, index, etc. meta (xml) files pertaining to the structure of a particular help set. If one exists, I would be interested in learning about it.

This search has brought up another question -- what are developers actually using out there? Is JavaHelp used with deployed applications, or in actual practice are they accompanied by a traditional pdf or other stand-along document? One advantage I can see to having the documentation separate is that it can be updated without the need to re-deploy the application. For RCP apps, the closest I've come is to have the help set in a separate module, then use update manager/plugins to release updates to the help documentation. This seems to work pretty well, but overall the entire process still seems a little 'klunky'. I am not complaining, just wondering what people are doing in general before choosing a path to take. I would appreciate any feedback. Thank you.

Doug.

---

View this message in context: Does anyone use a help system besides JavaHelp for on-line help?
Sent from the Netbeans RCP/Platform Users (Open API) mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Hello,
yes, I use the online help and it's implemented in a separate module. With just a little effort, this online help is also available on the web (see http://www.hermannmatthes.de/timekeeper/index.html). It's in german and you have to follow the link "Online Hilfe" to see the content. By now it contains 100 pages with185 screenshots.

Currently I'm migrating to 6.7 and it seems to be very simple. Many thanks to the development team. I really appreciate your work.

Hermann

[bruehlicke]

For me, without any doubt, I see DITA based documentation as the
absolute prime time system for Software documentation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Information_Typing_Architecture)
(it can actually generate JavaHelp as one of its outputs). But - with
the current nice and easy integration of JavaHelp into the NetBeans
platform I do not see any great advantage to switch over.

B-)

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Hermann Matthes<hermann.matthes@...> wrote:

> Doogle T schrieb:
>
> I've read a lot of posts, documents, and have tested JavaHelp for RCP (and
> non-RCP) applications. I have learned the advantages of JavaHelp, and come
> across a few disadvantages. I also searched for a GUI that will
> automatically modify the map, toc, index, etc. meta (xml) files pertaining
> to the structure of a particular help set. If one exists, I would be
> interested in learning about it.
>
> This search has brought up another question -- what are developers actually
> using out there? Is JavaHelp used with deployed applications, or in actual
> practice are they accompanied by a traditional pdf or other stand-along
> document? One advantage I can see to having the documentation separate is
> that it can be updated without the need to re-deploy the application. For
> RCP apps, the closest I've come is to have the help set in a separate
> module, then use update manager/plugins to release updates to the help
> documentation. This seems to work pretty well, but overall the entire
> process still seems a little 'klunky'. I am not complaining, just wondering
> what people are doing in general before choosing a path to take. I would
> appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
>
> Doug.
> ________________________________
> View this message in context: Does anyone use a help system besides JavaHelp
> for on-line help?
> Sent from the Netbeans RCP/Platform Users (Open API) mailing list archive at
> Nabble.com.
>
> Hello,
> yes, I use the online help and it's implemented in a separate module. With
> just a little effort, this online help is also available on the web (see
> http://www.hermannmatthes.de/timekeeper/index.html). It's in german and you
> have to follow the link "Online Hilfe" to see the content. By now it
> contains 100 pages with185 screenshots.
>
> Currently I'm migrating to 6.7 and it seems to be very simple. Many thanks
> to the development team. I really appreciate your work.
>
> Hermann
>

[AntonioV]

Doogle T escribió:
> I've read a lot of posts, documents, and have tested JavaHelp for RCP
> (and non-RCP) applications. I have learned the advantages of JavaHelp,
> and come across a few disadvantages. I also searched for a GUI that will
> automatically modify the map, toc, index, etc. meta (xml) files
> pertaining to the structure of a particular help set. If one exists, I
> would be interested in learning about it.
>

You can use DocBook to generate JavaHelp (and PDF/XHTML/etc). In my
latest projects I've used plain HTML (with some hacking from TexInfo
output) and links to online blogs/resources.

DocBook is widely used out there for Gnome/Gtk (KDE?) documentation. The
latest book about NetBeans Platform has been written in DocBook, as far
as I know. Gnome has quite advanced DocBook templates that produce quite
nice HTML output. I know there's a DocBook plugin for NetBeans, but I
haven't used it. Maybe there's an open-source visual editor out there.

I think there was a bug report asking for building docs in something
else but JavaHelp. I can't tell what happend to that bug report, though.

I prefer JavaHelp to online documentation because I can then go browse
for help while being offline. This is very handy (and one of the main
requirements for a Help system as well).

Cheers,
Antonio

[David Beer-2]

Hi I have looked at DITA. Very useful tool. Do you create your own
templates for creating your output.

David

On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:08:05 -0500
bruehlicke <bruehlicke@...> wrote:

> For me, without any doubt, I see DITA based documentation as the
> absolute prime time system for Software documentation.
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Information_Typing_Architecture)
> (it can actually generate JavaHelp as one of its outputs). But - with
> the current nice and easy integration of JavaHelp into the NetBeans
> platform I do not see any great advantage to switch over.
>
> B-)
>
> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Hermann
> Matthes<hermann.matthes@...> wrote:
> > Doogle T schrieb:
> >
> > I've read a lot of posts, documents, and have tested JavaHelp for
> > RCP (and non-RCP) applications. I have learned the advantages of
> > JavaHelp, and come across a few disadvantages. I also searched for
> > a GUI that will automatically modify the map, toc, index, etc. meta
> > (xml) files pertaining to the structure of a particular help set.
> > If one exists, I would be interested in learning about it.
> >
> > This search has brought up another question -- what are developers
> > actually using out there? Is JavaHelp used with deployed
> > applications, or in actual practice are they accompanied by a
> > traditional pdf or other stand-along document? One advantage I can
> > see to having the documentation separate is that it can be updated
> > without the need to re-deploy the application. For RCP apps, the
> > closest I've come is to have the help set in a separate module,
> > then use update manager/plugins to release updates to the help
> > documentation. This seems to work pretty well, but overall the
> > entire process still seems a little 'klunky'. I am not complaining,
> > just wondering what people are doing in general before choosing a
> > path to take. I would appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
> >
> > Doug.
> > ________________________________
> > View this message in context: Does anyone use a help system besides
> > JavaHelp for on-line help?
> > Sent from the Netbeans RCP/Platform Users (Open API) mailing list
> > archive at Nabble.com.
> >
> > Hello,
> > yes, I use the online help and it's implemented in a separate
> > module. With just a little effort, this online help is also
> > available on the web (see
> > http://www.hermannmatthes.de/timekeeper/index.html). It's in german
> > and you have to follow the link "Online Hilfe" to see the content.
> > By now it contains 100 pages with185 screenshots.
> >
> > Currently I'm migrating to 6.7 and it seems to be very simple. Many
> > thanks to the development team. I really appreciate your work.
> >
> > Hermann
> >

[Doogle T]

Thank you all for your input.  This has given me more ideas/avenues to
pursue.

Doug.

-----Original Message-----
From: David Beer [mailto:david.m.beer@...]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 6:11 AM
To: dev@...
Subject: Re: [openide-dev] Does anyone use a help system besides
JavaHelp for on-line help?

Hi I have looked at DITA. Very useful tool. Do you create your own
templates for creating your output.

David

On Wed, 1 Jul 2009 13:08:05 -0500
bruehlicke <bruehlicke@...> wrote:

> For me, without any doubt, I see DITA based documentation as the
> absolute prime time system for Software documentation.
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Information_Typing_Architecture)
> (it can actually generate JavaHelp as one of its outputs). But - with
> the current nice and easy integration of JavaHelp into the NetBeans
> platform I do not see any great advantage to switch over.
>
> B-)
>
> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Hermann
> Matthes<hermann.matthes@...> wrote:
> > Doogle T schrieb:
> >
> > I've read a lot of posts, documents, and have tested JavaHelp for
> > RCP (and non-RCP) applications. I have learned the advantages of
> > JavaHelp, and come across a few disadvantages. I also searched for
> > a GUI that will automatically modify the map, toc, index, etc. meta
> > (xml) files pertaining to the structure of a particular help set.
> > If one exists, I would be interested in learning about it.
> >
> > This search has brought up another question -- what are developers
> > actually using out there? Is JavaHelp used with deployed
> > applications, or in actual practice are they accompanied by a
> > traditional pdf or other stand-along document? One advantage I can
> > see to having the documentation separate is that it can be updated
> > without the need to re-deploy the application. For RCP apps, the
> > closest I've come is to have the help set in a separate module,
> > then use update manager/plugins to release updates to the help
> > documentation. This seems to work pretty well, but overall the
> > entire process still seems a little 'klunky'. I am not complaining,
> > just wondering what people are doing in general before choosing a
> > path to take. I would appreciate any feedback. Thank you.
> >
> > Doug.
> > ________________________________
> > View this message in context: Does anyone use a help system besides
> > JavaHelp for on-line help?
> > Sent from the Netbeans RCP/Platform Users (Open API) mailing list
> > archive at Nabble.com.
> >
> > Hello,
> > yes, I use the online help and it's implemented in a separate
> > module. With just a little effort, this online help is also
> > available on the web (see
> > http://www.hermannmatthes.de/timekeeper/index.html). It's in german
> > and you have to follow the link "Online Hilfe" to see the content.
> > By now it contains 100 pages with185 screenshots.
> >
> > Currently I'm migrating to 6.7 and it seems to be very simple. Many
> > thanks to the development team. I really appreciate your work.
> >
> > Hermann
> >