I must admit I'm a big fan of Scribus and Inkscape. I can easily produce professional looking documentation with those two (2) tools, and they are both open source. (They also both run on Linux!)
So this is probably use these two (2) programs to write my help docs and then I will launch the PDF reader to view the help docs via a button on my GUI. I'll place the code to do this in a utility class in a separate JAR so others can use it. It should be a "single-method-call" process. Just pass the method the location of the PDF help file and my code will do the rest. This will change my plans for the Super Select CursorTool a little bit. I will now integrate it into a common "SurveyOS" plug-in that will provide global services to all my plug-ins, such as access to the code to view PDFs. This will probably delay the release a week or two. (If I'm going to do this I might as well try my plug-in dependency code as well.) The Sunburned Surveyor On 9/18/07, Paul Austin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Another (more complex) option is to write the documents in DockBook > (XML) and then you can use stylesheets and Apache FOP to generate HTML > and PDF documents from them. > > Unfortunately it's quite a bit of work to get the stylesheets setup in > the first place. > > Paul > > Sunburned Surveyor wrote: > > I personally prefer PDF format over HTML, but I think this is a matter > > of taste. The main reason for my preference of PDF is the exact > > control I am allowed over layout and appearance. > > > > I'll keep whatever code I write to open PDF "help" files local to my > > plug-ins and out of the core. I will keep the code in a separate JAR > > file, so other plug-in developers will be able to use it if they > > choose to do so. For example, I think Geoff has PDF docs for some of > > his plug-ins, so he might be interested. > > > > I think keeping my PDF help code out of the core would be the best for > > everyone, considering the variety of help formats available. > > > > I just thought I would ask. :] > > > > The Sunburned Surveyor > > > > > > > > On 9/18/07, Stefan Steiniger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> html is my favourit as well > >> (and i think more or less we already support html..? -- see the hello > >> world plugin) > >> > >> stefan > >> > >> Larry Becker schrieb: > >> > >>> It seems like to me that for most kinds of simple help that it would > >>> be better to use html and store the documents in the jar. Java can > >>> display simple html well enough for help. > >>> > >>> Larry > >>> > >>> On 9/17/07, Sunburned Surveyor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>> > >>>> I decided that I would try Peppe's idea of using PDF files as embedded > >>>> help in OpenJUMP. > >>>> > >>>> I'm going to have a "help" button in some of the dialogs in my Super > >>>> Select Tool. The button will open a designated PDF file using a PDF > >>>> viewer/reader. > >>>> > >>>> I would like to know if we can use a common variable to store the > >>>> location of the PDF file the user would like to use to view the help > >>>> files. I can set this up for just my plug-in, but then we might get a > >>>> situation where the user is specifying his PDF viewer for everyone's > >>>> plug-in, and that would stink. > >>>> > >>>> I was thinking that we could use a text file with the path to the PDF > >>>> viewer, or that we might have an entry in the Registry. > >>>> > >>>> What do you guys think? > >>>> > >>>> Is there a way to use the Java runtime to dynamically determine which > >>>> program should be executed for a specific file type? (That would be > >>>> too cool!) > >>>> > >>>> The Sunburned Surveyor > >>>> > >>>> P.S. - I'm going to try to use ProcessBuilder to fire up the PDF > >>>> viewer with the correct help file. I've got the command down using the > >>>> Microsoft Windows terminal, so I think ProcessBuilder will do the > >>>> trick for me. > >>>> > >>>> If others will use this system to present embedded help I will try to > >>>> wrap my code in a simple API that everyone can use. > >>>> > >>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>> This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > >>>> Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > >>>> http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > >>>> _______________________________________________ > >>>> Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > >>>> Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > >>>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > >>>> > >>>> > >>> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >> This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > >> Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > >> http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > >> Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > >> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > >> > >> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > > Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > > _______________________________________________ > > Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > > Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft > Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. > http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ > _______________________________________________ > Jump-pilot-devel mailing list > Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Microsoft Defy all challenges. Microsoft(R) Visual Studio 2005. http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/vse0120000070mrt/direct/01/ _______________________________________________ Jump-pilot-devel mailing list Jump-pilot-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/jump-pilot-devel
