| Should we use a Wiki approach to documentation |
| Yes |
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85% |
[ 6 ] |
| No |
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14% |
[ 1 ] |
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| Total Votes : 7 |
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| Mike King |
 Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:22 pm Post subject: To Wiki or not to Wiki |
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Site Admin
Joined: 26 Jul 2007
Posts: 43
Location: Unionville, Ontario, Canada
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We have put the majority of the language reference manual for MS up on line at http://manual.bbsysco.com and are in the process of working through the rest of the descriptive text and should have that posted soon.
One question that has been asked is whether we should consider a Wiki style approach to the documentation, allowing the community to correct, edit add examples, etc to the documentation.
Thoughts anyone...  |
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| sdevouard |
| Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:47 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Aug 2007
Posts: 12
Location: Evry, France
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Wiki is the way to go IMO, this allows the community of developers to correct the manuals and document the actual unexpected features (did I say bugs ? <g>), but even more useful for new users of the language, add "real-life" examples and not the non-sense code samples usually found in reference language manuals.
And think about the translation of the documentations into foreign languages. I would gladly offer my help to produce manuals usable everywhere in Canada, even Quebec  .
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Stéphane
aka PvxGuru |
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| John |
| Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:04 am Post subject: Re: To Wiki or not to Wiki |
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Joined: 05 Aug 2007
Posts: 18
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| Mike King wrote: |
We have put the majority of the language reference manual for MS up on line at http://manual.bbsysco.com and are in the process of working through the rest of the descriptive text and should have that posted soon.
One question that has been asked is whether we should consider a Wiki style approach to the documentation, allowing the community to correct, edit add examples, etc to the documentation.
Thoughts anyone... |
I have used Mediawiki since 2004 for the PanoTools site I manage. Mediawiki is what the Wikipedia uses and can scale to whatever needs this group grows to. I would be happy to help in this area.
Is there going to be a www.BBSysco.org for the open source effort?
John |
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| andreu |
| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 7:34 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 3
Location: catalunya
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There are "system paremeters" and "mnemonic" in MSB?
Thank you. |
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| sdevouard |
| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:20 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 03 Aug 2007
Posts: 12
Location: Evry, France
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Andreu,
There are no "System Parameters" as in ProvideX (two-char codes similar to mnemonics manipulated via the SET_PARAM directive and PRM() function), but there are options/flags for the operating environment that are handled thru the SETOPTS directive, which I think is similar to BBx (although I've never used BBx myself)
There are mnemonics as in any other BB flavour, but they are not documented yet in the on-line manual. The text-mode mnemonics are the same as what is available in Pvx, BBx or Tbred, most of the differences are in the colors and windowing management.
Regards
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Stéphane
aka PvxGuru |
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| Mike King |
| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:55 am Post subject: |
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Site Admin
Joined: 26 Jul 2007
Posts: 43
Location: Unionville, Ontario, Canada
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| andreu wrote: |
| There are "system paremeters" and "mnemonic" in MSB? |
System parameters currently are done through a SETOPTs string like BBx however I will be enhancing that to provide a "Name=Value" capability where you will be able to set / read parameters using names.
This will allow us to easily expand plus by using long names (such as "UseReadLock") it will be easier to follow.
In addition my thoughts are to allow the users to create a ".msbasic" file in their home directory where we will keep a number of options/parameters in text format. We will also include a param file in the /usr/lib/msbasic library somewhere as the default settings.
I haven't worked all the details yet but have a good idea as to how I want it to work.
Mike |
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| andreu |
| Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:55 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 3
Location: catalunya
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Thank Ste.. and Mike
I think that it is important for multi user that 'XI'=1 (or equivalent)
by default. |
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| Mike King |
| Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 3:00 pm Post subject: |
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Site Admin
Joined: 26 Jul 2007
Posts: 43
Location: Unionville, Ontario, Canada
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| andreu wrote: |
| I think that it is important for multi user that 'XI'=1 (or equivalent) by default. |
Definitely - you really want to be able to read a locked record.
That and a number of other file related enhancements such as tracking who has what locked are high on our list of features to add. |
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| Mike King |
| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject: Using WIKI |
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Site Admin
Joined: 26 Jul 2007
Posts: 43
Location: Unionville, Ontario, Canada
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Okay -- Seems like most people like the idea of a Wiki input for the manual. So I guess my job now is to figure out how to structure the Wiki and pre-load with the documentation I currently have.
Anybody got any ideas on preloading?? |
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| John |
| Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 05 Aug 2007
Posts: 18
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Mike,
If I were doing it, I would write a parser to convert your current docs to wiki formatted text. Make sure your parser converters your links as well. You could then copy/paste each page into the wiki editor, review and save. You could try and take the automation one step further and create XML imports in Mediawiki format.
Hint: Before you do anything, make sure everyone understands the format your going to use and provide templates for new page additions. Otherwise your wiki is going to look like a cork post-it board. You should also look at the Wikipedia Books for format ideas.
John |
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| John |
| Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:05 am Post subject: |
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| jhendrickx |
| Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 5:55 am Post subject: Ready to help here |
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Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 4
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Hi Mike and folks, I'm new to this forums, and I think the GPL Business BASIC would be one of the biggest and most important steps in Business BASIC community.
I'll be happy to help to this community, please feel free to contact me whatever task you need help or thing I can contribute with.
Particularly I like the Wiki approach for the documentation, if you open the posibility of have several languages, I can find enough volunteers to keep the spanish version (almost) up to date.
Best regards and good luck with this great and wonderful project!!
Jean H// |
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