Saving Docs to other places

Ken Norris pixelbird at interisland.net
Wed Mar 6 15:10:01 EST 2002


on 3/6/02 12:58 AM, Geoff Canyon at gcanyon at inspiredlogic.com wrote:

> At 6:06 PM -0800 3/5/02, Ken Norris (dialup) wrote:
>> I want to dedicate one of my ancient Macs (probably an SE or SE 30 because
>> it won't use much desk space) to nothing but reference docs, so I don't have
>> to interrupt what I'm doing in my development environment. For our purposes,
>> let's just say Rev's docs.
>> 
>> The problem is, the machine I want to use will not run RR, but it _will_ run
>> HC and older versions of Claris and MS Word.
>> 
>> Question sets:
>> 
>> 1) Is the stack made with RTF only for the term hilite search capability? I
>> don't think I can implement that (without a heckuvalotuvwork) in that old a
>> machine.
> 
> It was made with RTF because that allows some control over formatting while
> being importable into Word, AppleWorks, and a variety of other applications.
> 
>> 2) Can I transfer (at least) the plain text of the docs into HyperCard
>> fields? How about Claris for RTF? I can "Save Text" from the button, but
>> what does it do, and where is it allowed to go?
> 
> Aren't HyperCard fields limited to 32k of text? (it's been too long since I
> worked with HyperCard) That would mean you'd have to create a ton of cards in
> a HyperCard stack.
> 
> You can open the RTF in Claris/AppleWorks.
> 
> The Save as Text button saves the docs as a text-only document. You can open
> that in Word, AppleWorks, BBEdit, etc.
> 
>> 3) Depending on the answers of (2), may I ask for some suggestions how I
>> might go about it.
> 
> I wouldn't try the HyperCard thing -- too much work to set up, and when the
> docs are updated, a pain to do again.
----------
Nah. Just copy the docs into a word proc as suggested (go eat breakfast,
finish reorganizing office). Then set up an HC stack to import each page to
a card (background field), using the page break as a delimiter (go eat
lunch, get weedeater running). Nothin' to it.
----------
> Besides the text option, you could also
> use the HTML export -- it supports cross-references (mostly), and maintains
> the character formatting (mostly). You could use a low-memory browser like
> iCab. You would have to provide your own global search, though. BBEdit can
> search multiple documents, and other options are available.
----------
Nice to have these options. Thank you.
----------
> The three fields on each
> card are templates for that export. Change the formatting text there to
> produce smaller type, and perhaps not insert a page break for each item. The
> page breaks were for organization; I never expected people would print based
> on the export, since the original purpose was to be able to search all the
> help docs at once.
----------
The very reason for having it in another "reference" computer.
---------- 
> You can open the docs without the development environment; just double-click
> one of the stacks with Revolution closed.
----------
This doesn't work, at least in my version. With Rev closed, I open
"revrtfer.rev ", double-click on a stack in the field, nothing happens. It
only works when Rev is already open.
----------
> It would be about the same
> if you built a standalone.
----------
A standalone should run on the Performa, because the memory requirements
should fall easily within limits.

Geoff, I beleieve one of the reasons people are having problems with RR, and
the one major thing that turns me off, and also the reason the same
questions get asked over and over, is because of difficulties accessing the
docs. Bringing up a particular item takes a while on most people's machines,
the window covers up what you are doing, so you are forced to toggle back
and forth between the stack(s) you're working on and the docs in order to
try out what you've read, make corrections, retry, go back and reopen the
docs, etc. This situation gets maddening after awhile.

Suppose you look up an item, think you've got it, then go back to your
program, try it and it fails, so you may have to reopen the docs, relocate
the item, then reread it. Your program is covered up by the docs, and you
didn't place the place the properties palette quite far enough to the side
to bring it to the front, so you have to try to remember which parameter may
be incorrect or out of sequence, then toggle back to the app window, and see
where your mistake was, correct the script and try it again. Lord, I pray it
works, because if not, you'll have to go through the whole sequence again.

So, my cure, which I know will work for me, and maybe for others, is to set
up another small computer _with the docs_ next to the one I'm developing on.
Just like having a reference book, only better, because you can look up
stuff from the Finder, Sherlock, the search box, even make your own. Since
they are independent, I can have them both available simultaneously. Think
about the quantum leap advantage of this for a minute.

This is why having standalone docs would work so well. You can run them on
another machine. I've tried all the other suggestions, and I remain
convinced this is the best way, so I'm going to forget about scripting my
program and trying to learn anything else in RR, except what I need to focus
on this idea, until I get it working.

How hard could it be to make an editable standalone of the docs? I'm going
to make the attempt, because I see it as a necessity.

Best regards,
Ken N. 




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