Have you ever had a look at the d7indy.hlp? This automatically
created documentation looks great but is virtually useless.
But it was sufficient for Borland to build Indy into Delphi, and it thus
has far more users than ICS. It is very easy to add extra comments into
the interface section, which are then automatically added to the help
file by decent help generators, like F1 Help which I uses for my RAS
components.
In order to get just a function and property table it's much easier
to have a look at the source.
Since all the VCL source is supplied, I guess Borland could skip help
completely.
Yes, because it is a huge effort to write and maintain a good
documentation, probably a lifetime job for a single person.
A lot of the documentation already exists, the trouble is it's split
between an old help file, web pages and some wiki thing. It's probably
three months work for someone to build decent help from that, in the ICS
source, developers can then easily keep it up to date as new features
are added.
I've said this several times before over the years, but other people
have 'better' ideas, none of which seem to actually seem to produce
anything. So the result is people ignoring ICS because of the
difficulty of learning to use it.
Angus

Angus Robertson - Magenta Systems Ltd wrote:
Since all the VCL source is supplied, I guess Borland could skip help
completely.

Borlands online help is far more than a nicely designed, colored table
of function and property names.

>Yes, because it is a huge effort to write and maintain a good
>documentation, probably a lifetime job for a single person.

I've said this several times before over the years, but other people
have 'better' ideas, none of which seem to actually seem to produce
anything.

Correct, it's not moving forward.

It's probably
three months work for someone to build decent help from that

Not anybody likes plenty of comments in the source units,
and even 3 months is a long time, however we should think
about that again since the Wiki seems to be dead.
Also note that it is extremly difficult to write documentations
in a non native language.

So the result is people ignoring ICS because of the
difficulty of learning to use it.

When I started programming, my first application was a SMTP
client, I tried Indy over 3 days than I moved to ICS and got it
working at once :)

Angus

Arno Garrels wrote:
Angus Robertson - Magenta Systems Ltd wrote:

>Since all the VCL source is supplied, I guess Borland could skip help
>completely.
>
>
Borlands online help is far more than a nicely designed, colored table
of function and property names.

Yes, because it is a huge effort to write and maintain a good
documentation, probably a lifetime job for a single person.

>I've said this several times before over the years, but other people
>have 'better' ideas, none of which seem to actually seem to produce
>anything.
>
>
Correct, it's not moving forward.


>It's probably
>three months work for someone to build decent help from that
>
>
Not anybody likes plenty of comments in the source units,
and even 3 months is a long time, however we should think
about that again since the Wiki seems to be dead.
Also note that it is extremly difficult to write documentations
in a non native language.

As regards this point, I will be happy to help out with fixing the
English in any ICS documentation that is done. I have previously worked
with people who have written documentation in their language, then used
a web translator to convert that into English. This English is funny at
best and wrong at worst. But, since I have no problems with English and
a computer engineer, I am often able to 'fix' this to what a native
speaker would write.

So, if someone does start to write in not-so-good English or in a
foreign language (that is supported by a web translator), we can work it
out!

Cheers
Mohit.

Francois Piette wrote:
>As regards this point, I will be happy to help out with fixing the
>English in any ICS documentation that is done. I have previously worked
>with people who have written documentation in their language, then used
>a web translator to convert that into English. This English is funny at
>best and wrong at worst. But, since I have no problems with English and
>a computer engineer, I am often able to 'fix' this to what a native
>speaker would write.
>>
>So, if someone does start to write in not-so-good English or in a
>foreign language (that is supported by a web translator), we can work it
>out!
>
>
Maybe you could also directly write the help text in
http://wiki.overbyte.be. You can write whatever part you feel confortable
with. people will complete. For example - do not take this as an
offence but an example - you can read Delphi source code but don't know
anything about ICS, then you can enter all the methods, properties and
events and someone else will enter the exact description.
--

I shall start on it as soon as I have the time I am rushing for
something that needs doing by the middle of next week But I have
bookmarked the wiki for exactly that reason.

Cheers
Mohit.

As regards this point, I will be happy to help out with fixing the
English in any ICS documentation that is done. I have previously worked
with people who have written documentation in their language, then used
a web translator to convert that into English. This English is funny at
best and wrong at worst. But, since I have no problems with English and
a computer engineer, I am often able to 'fix' this to what a native
speaker would write.

So, if someone does start to write in not-so-good English or in a
foreign language (that is supported by a web translator), we can work it
out!

Maybe you could also directly write the help text in
http://wiki.overbyte.be. You can write whatever part you feel confortable
with. people will complete. For example - do not take this as an
offence but an example - you can read Delphi source code but don't know
anything about ICS, then you can enter all the methods, properties and
events and someone else will enter the exact description.

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Maybe you could also directly write the help text in
http://wiki.overbyte.be. You can write whatever part you feel
confortable
with. people will complete. For example - do not take this as an
offence but an example - you can read Delphi source code but don't know
anything about ICS, then you can enter all the methods, properties and
events and someone else will enter the exact description.

I shall start on it as soon as I have the time I am rushing for
something that needs doing by the middle of next week But I have
bookmarked the wiki for exactly that reason.

Good !
Create your account on the wiki and tell me who you are. I'll give you edit
permission.

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