Another Area For Document Development

[Dave Calkins]

On Sunday, April 4, 2004, at 03:30  PM, 
use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com wrote:

> Subject: Re: How do I use a Tabbed Button???
> To: "How to use Revolution" <use-revolution at lists.runrev.com>
> Message-ID: <000e01c41a75$281977b0$0101a8c0 at PJG>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Hi,
>
> I can send you an attachment off list  coverng all the areas that you 
> cover
> in .  Let me know if you  want me to know by sending me an email 
> offlist at
> pgilmartin at ermventures.net
>
>

Hi Guys,

The above question is one other example of areas where the 
documentation is kind of lacking.
The documentation is excellent when it comes to the textual aspects of 
the individual elements of RR. There is not much information on how to 
put the elements together into useable programs.

Let me give examples of what I mean.

When you enter "Tab Button" into the Document Search Engine, no such 
entry is found. This shows a basic problem. Why is a very common data 
selection method like this not even mentioned. A simple discussion 
about how to implement "Tab Buttons" should be addressed in the 
documents.

There are many broad topics that are common to most programs. How to 
implement them with RR should be something that is addressed in the 
documents. Using simple tutorials for the most common usages of program 
interfaces as well as for the most common types of programs RR is aimed 
at  is a must. The documents should give step by step examples with 
screen shots, etc. for these most basic elements; elements RR can able 
to run circles around other programing tools.

Topics that should be in the documents:
Using tap buttons, developing a simple database, developing simple web 
management / browser, using images, etc.

Doing a search on these topics will reveal "nothing found" in many 
instances, to simple one card definitions in others. There is very 
little information that will help beginners to begin developing 
programs that deal with these common interfaces / application. The 
tools are there in Rev to create these interfaces and applications 
fairly simply. Part of the problem is that there is so much highly 
detailed information in the documents about the elements of the engine, 
the tools that we use to make it work, but there is not nearly as much 
information about how to put those elements together to make it do 
something that we want. (develop a database, access / transmit data 
over the web, etc.) That is why so many people are asking these same 
questions over and over again on this forum. (By the way, you guys are 
great about sharing information with folks and attempting to answer / 
solve peoples questions.) Giving examples on how to do these common 
things with Rev will do several things.

1. It will helps people to help themselves. They will have samples 
which they can work through and experiment with. It gives them terms 
that they then can look up in the dictionary, etc. How many questions 
do you see on how to build a menu? Not many.

2. It would help keep the old pros from burning out here on the this 
forum. They don't have to keep answering the same type of question over 
and over again. This can become frustrating because new folks are 
always come in. I am truly amazed by how hard you guys work at helping 
others solve their code issues. This is rare and is an example of how 
dedicated people are to seeing RR succeed.

3. It would free up a great deal of time and energy toward being able 
to explore more complex issues of getting Rev to work in other areas. 
It would allow more thought to go into wanted / needed features. It 
would also help develop working solutions, not only for problem areas 
within the rev environment, but for new market areas for which RR 
applications could be the ideal solution. Having to spend less time 
helping users figure out how to do the typical things that programs and 
interfaces do would help this forum delve a lot deeper into RR. That's 
good for all of us.

The documentation as it is right now is like having an excellent 
dictionary that defines all of the words. There are descriptions of 
nouns, verbs, and pronouns, and how they work, and you can find a bit 
of information on how to put the sentences together, but there is very 
little is information provided on how to actually write the story. What 
are the common elements that every story writer needs in order to be 
able to develop his ideas? I'm not asking the write my story, but I do 
need to see examples of the most common elements that every writer uses 
to create a masterpiece.

If you give examples / tutorials in these broadly used areas you will 
give people the tools to use Revolution to solve their own problems. By 
the examples you give, they can see their own programs. Then they can 
apply those techniques to their own applications. By reading the 
documents, I can see that the tools are there to create and my 
database, I just don't see how to put them together. Having the 
documentation deal with these common elements will make them much 
stronger as well as will make using them much easier to do. The 
documents still will need to add to the visual, and kinesthetic aspects 
in order to be truly powerful.

I am not asking the documentation to get into advanced levels and 
details which apply to these areas. Advanced design issues can and 
should be addressed in books like Dans ebooks, and on various web sites.

I have listed several areas that I feel would be beneficial to most new 
users as they are learning how to apply RR to there projects. Adding 
these to the documentation would give most people a starting place, 
which they can then adapt their specific applications.

Using tap buttons, developing a simple database, developing simple web 
management / browser, using images... These are topics that I think 
need to be addressed in the documents. People should not have to ask 
the forum about how to add and work with tab buttons.

Thoughts?

What other areas / topics should be addressed in the documents?

I'll post this to both lists, because I think it is relevant to both 
groups.
Dave Calkins