Rev Documentation [WAS: Launch another app from my standalone]

[Bernard Devlin]

I downloaded an OS X utility (chmox) that can open Windows-only help
files (.chm) files.  So now I can read the documentation you linked
to.  You say you can use this FM documentation in a browser, but
surely that is only on Windows?  Or does FM on OS X install something
that enables you to view it in Safari?

It's not clear me why you think that FM help is better than the
documentation that comes with Revolution.  Maybe the OS X utility does
not render the chm file the way you see it on Windows, so I could be
missing something.

Revolution has:
a) the User Guide in PDF and hard copy formats
b) the Dictionary for reference purposes (also in hard copy format)
c) the introductory and tutorial material in the Resource Center
(which have downloadable stacks, demo vidoes, and the tutorial can be
viewed in PDF format).

The FM help documentation seems to me to offer only 1 thing that the
Rev docs don't: everything is in one place and can be reached by
drilling-down using the disclosure triangles.  I can see why someone
might think that is useful, as there is only one place to look.  But
it could also be a hinderance once one no longer needs the bulk of
that material, but one still has to d

But as far as a new user learning what a tool is all about, I think
the RunRev way is better:
i) a simple book that takes one on a tour of the environment and the
paradigm behind Revolution
ii) individual tutorials that include the material necessary to
complete each tutorial, AND a video

The Rev User Guide and tutorials are far more visiual than the FM
help.  I'm surprised to look through that .chm file and see how
un-visual it is.

And once one is past the learning stage, then as a user the Reference
component of the FM help would also really annoy me and get in my way.
  Rev's dictionary is separate from the rest of the help because once
one is over the initial learning stage, one needs it to be ready to
hand but not obstructive.

Also, when one bears in mind that Rev is a tool with which one could
actually build something like FM, one might expect that the
documentation for FM would be easier to write.  FM has a much more
delimited field of operation: the tutorial material can be focussed on
a smaller area and can be exhaustive.

Please tell me why you think there is something for RunRev to learn
from the way FM has done it.  Is it just that having the User Guide,
the tutorials/videos, and the Dictionary in different places is the
problem?

Maybe there are other components to the FM documentation that would
cover some of the failings I've mentioned.


Bernard

On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 8:21 PM, William Moseid<modelmasters1 at cox.net> wrote:
> The D/L link is a compressed Help File (fmpro_help) that one can use in a
> browser. What Help?  Well, in this case it is Filemaker. The reason for including it
> is to illustrate a reasonable approach for new to expert Revolution developers
> as another way to present Help for Revolution.
>
> This is a compiled html file visable in a browser:
> http://www.fmpsolutions.com/fmpro_help.zip