BvG Docu and home stack in Metacard

[Björnke von Gierke]

On 08 Jun 2007, at 12:44, Wilhelm Sanke wrote:

> On Thu, 07 Jun 2007, Ken Ray wrote:
>
>> 3) Add a substack to your main stack window called something like
>> "BVGExternals" and a custom property to your main stack window to hold
>> a path to the revXML external. When you launch check to see if you're
>> in MC. If you are, check the custom property to see if it has a value.
>> If it doesn't, ask the user to locate the revXML external and store 
>> the
>> path in the custom property. If it *does* have a value, verify there's
>> a file at that path. Once you're sure you have the external available,
>> dynamically "set the externals" of stack "BVGExternals" to the revXML
>> external path, and then bring the BVGExternals stack into use with
>> "start using stack 'BVGExternals'". This will load the revXML external
>> on the fly and make it available to your main stack window.
>
>
> Another way to do this:
>
> put "revxml.dll" and the Rev folder "documentation" into your MC 
> folder (you can delete most of it afterwards).
>
> Open "BvG_docu" stack and add "revxml.dll" under "components, 
> externals". Do the same for substack "docsLib" after topleveling it.
>
> Save "BvG_docu" and quit Metacard.

Sounds nice, but i don't have Metacard (yet). I'll think about the 
merits of both approaches, and will choose one (right now I think that 
Ken's let's me distribute the file for rev and mc simultaneously, 
whereas yours would need 2 different files).

> Folder "documents" now contains an additional subfolder "BvG_docu". 
> This is the only thing you need to run the dictionary, You can throw 
> out folders and files "packaged_XML", "rev", "pdf" (unless you intend 
> to use these special rev-files or the PDF user documentation), 
> "glos.index", "glos.rsindex", and "dict.index".

Alternatively you can point my stack to the documentation folder within 
rev itself, and then let it make the "bvg docu" folder within your mc 
folder (the wizard allows that, though it's not the default). The only 
files the stack then needs after that, are those in the folder it 
created.

> - Björnke concentrates on the dictionary, and is more or less forced 
> to do this because the former "Topics" as XML-files have now been 
> replaced by a PDF "User Guide".
> My searchstack could search through all XML help stacks at once (if 
> selected) as the former Rev documentation was less fragmented.

I could have implemented that, but have chosen not to, mainly because 
it'd need more files and indexes to work efficiently, of which there 
are enough already.

> - Björnke searches on a one-word basis and filters out the relevant 
> dictionary entries, the first one as the full article, the others with 
> their listed names which can then bring up the respective entries.
> My searchstack allows to search with any string length and number of 
> words, and then lists all found lines (with the searchstring colored) 
> along with their entry addresses, of which the first is displayed as a 
> complete help entry. Thus cross-references could be detected that 
> possibly were not envisaged by the authors of the help files.

Actually I do not search at all, but take a list of all entries names 
and then filter that (so you can use * the same as within the filter 
command). Additionally I made some custom rules, especially regarding 
"/*" as well as "*/" and the square brackets ("[" and  "]"). Also I 
always add a * at the end.

> I mention this only to point out different possible search approaches. 
> I think Björnke's stack is a long-needed and valuable contribution 
> especially for the MC community.

Thanks, I am very happy with the praises my stack has gathered up to 
now, if a bit surprised that no one has changed it around yet, to add 
features like those you mentioned in your mail.

Of note regarding that is, that I'll be glad to include any additional 
features anyone makes, and would of course mention their 
names/pages/aliases properly.
This only applies as long as it's not too much additional work for me 
(the definition of "additional work" depends on current mood, weather, 
planet alignment, and so on).
Alternatively anyone can host their changed stack themselves, in which 
case I'd offer a link to their version.

I have a similar offer regarding to ChatRev, but there you'd need to do 
all the work on the client as well as the server, and I'd need to like 
the way you did it, basically I'm more restrictive if you want me to 
host your changed server (Of note is, that everyone is free to change 
it all around (or not change it at all) and host it themselves).

have fun
Björnke


-- 

official ChatRev page:
http://chatrev.bjoernke.com

Chat with other RunRev developers:
go stack URL "http://homepage.mac.com/bvg/chatrev1.3.rev"