| Re: Is PDF the only help option in 5.6? [message #33971] |
Wed, 12 February 2003 03:06  |
Robert S. Hill
Messages: 11
Registered: January 1998
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Junior Member |
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> Eric Williams wrote:
>
>> I really dislike using Acrobat Reader to browse help in IDL now. Is
>> there an option to get the old hyperlinked help back(last version
>> before this I used was 5.3)?
On Tue, 11 Feb 2003, Wayne Landsman wrote:
> I never used the PDF help until I was forced to in V5.6, but now I must
> admit that I like it better.
I have always preferred the PDF help. My only (small) complaint about the
current version is that the link to the reference manual is on the second
page of the overall doc.
Usually when I'm developing I have an Acrobat started in background in one
of my spare X desktops sitting there all day just for the IDL docs.
-Bob Hill
--
--------------------------------------------
Robert S. Hill 301-286-3577
Robert.S.Hill.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
Code 681, NASA GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771
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| Re: Is PDF the only help option in 5.6? [message #33975 is a reply to message #33971] |
Wed, 12 February 2003 01:58  |
hcp
Messages: 41
Registered: August 1995
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Member |
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In article <Pine.LNX.4.33.0302120816270.16377-100000@moriarty.atm.ox.ac.uk>, Randall Skelton <rhskelto@atm.ox.ac.uk> writes:
|> > ObFreeSoftwareZealotry: Yet another reason to try R.
|>
|> Does R have an indexed help system yet?
Off topic here, but yes, sort of. The command-line search works, the
javascript search engine built into the html help files doesn't. But that
may be my version of Mozilla messing up, rather than R.
Really, I meant that RSI's attitude was a reason to look elsewhere, rather
than the specifics of what the old and new help systems do and don't have.
Hugh
--
============================================================ ==============
Hugh C. Pumphrey | Telephone 0131-650-6026
Department of Meteorology | FAX 0131-650-5780
The University of Edinburgh | Replace 0131 with +44-131 if outside U.K.
EDINBURGH EH9 3JZ, Scotland | Email hcp@met.ed.ac.uk
OBDisclaimer: The views expressed herein are mine, not those of UofE.
============================================================ ==============
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| Re: Is PDF the only help option in 5.6? [message #33985 is a reply to message #33984] |
Tue, 11 February 2003 11:52 |
JD Smith
Messages: 850
Registered: December 1999
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Senior Member |
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On Tue, 11 Feb 2003 10:57:29 -0700, Wayne Landsman wrote:
> Eric Williams wrote:
>
>> I really dislike using Acrobat Reader to browse help in IDL now. Is
>> there an option to get the old hyperlinked help back(last version
>> before this I used was 5.3)?
>
> I never used the PDF help until I was forced to in V5.6, but now I must
> admit that I like it better. One of the nice features for me is
> being able to type
> ?procedure_name
> at the iDL prompt, to quickly view the documentation, e.g.
>
> IDL> ?congrid
> IDL> ?replicate
>
> (This would sort of work in the old IDL help, but it would open a new
> window each
> time, and wouldn't take you directly to the documentation.)
>
> Tastes differ but there are lot of options the user can set in their
> PDF preferences.
>
> --Wayne Landsman
>
> P.S. Though I don't miss the old help format, I still would like an
> HTML version of the documentation (which stopped appearing after V5.1),
> since this is the only type of online help available for user
> procedures.
Well, I might as well let the cat out of the bag, since it will escape
sooner or later. I'm working on a radical new documentation system for
IDLWAVE which makes use of an HTML version of IDL's help. Where did I get
said version? Well, the new help format for Windows is Microsoft
HTMLHelp. While this isn't exactly HTML, it can easily be decompiled into
pretty decent HTML using the (free) Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. This
produces around 20MB of html+images in >2000 files.
Look for it "real soon now".
JD
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| Re: Is PDF the only help option in 5.6? [message #34268 is a reply to message #33998] |
Thu, 27 February 2003 02:10 |
Alexander Rauscher
Messages: 9
Registered: August 2001
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Junior Member |
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On Tue, 11 Feb 2003, Eric wrote:
*
*We are running on both Solaris and MacOS X and the help is PDF on both
*of those.
*
*I would also comment to David that sometimes users are loathe to change
*for a good reason. User interface is a big deal to some of us and this
*really appears to be a step backwards. Unfortunate. It seems things
*like this should improve with time, users should not have to "just get
*used to it". That is a real Microsoft type mentality.
*
*--
*Eric
*
funny, we just said the same thing: That is a real Microsoft type
mentality. it was about both the help and about the non existing backwards
compatibility of atan (and probably many other functions) . one wouldn't
expect a change in such a fundamental function. so now atan(z, /phase)
gives the same result as atan(z), where z is (re,im)... this is more than
stupid. this is dangerous.
alex
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