boa-constructor-users

[Boa Constr] I give up, where are the docs?

[Andy R. <an...@re...>]

I am new to Boa.  Running Python 2.2.1, wxPython 2.3.3,
Boa from CVS today.  Boa.py starts up fine and it looks
extremely cool.  But I cannot figure out how to create
or edit anything visually.  Some docco would REALLY help...

Sourceforge mentions a tutorial which isn't there in CVS.
The attic for boa\docs has stuff last edited 14 months
ago but I presume it was deleted for a reason. Google
has no ideas.  There is a 3Mb 'docs' download (0.1.0) on
sourceforge which contains full manuals for CVS,
python and wxPython but nothing for Boa itself. And
the help on the toolbar raises an error 
  c:\projects\wx\src\common\file.cpp(311) assert "wxFalse" failed
then kills the program.

Any hints most welcome....


Andy Robinson
ReportLab

(sincerely hoping this is a viable alternative to Delphi)

Re: [Boa Constr] I give up, where are the docs?

[Riaan B. <riaan@e.co.za>]

Hi Andy,

Andy Robinson wrote:
> 
> I am new to Boa.  Running Python 2.2.1, wxPython 2.3.3,
> Boa from CVS today.  Boa.py starts up fine and it looks
> extremely cool.  But I cannot figure out how to create
> or edit anything visually.  

Open/create a frame type module from the filesystem or the Palette, 
and press F12 (like Delphi ;)
Also available from the toolbar and File->Show designer.

> Some docco would REALLY help...

I trust you have found the docs by now in the source download, sorry.

As this is a major FAQ since the last release, I obviously got it wrong, 
yet I'm still not sure what the west way to distribute the docs would be
:(

I still see the bundled Python/wxPython/Zope help as optional
and the Boa app/tutorial help as part of the core.

I suppose what I'll do next time is to move the the core docs out
of the source distro as a seperate docs download. 
(unless some has a better suggestion!)

Moving the core docs back into CVS would probably also help a lot.

> Andy Robinson
> ReportLab
> 
> (sincerely hoping this is a viable alternative to Delphi)

That's the goal. 

Cheers,
Riaan.

RE: [Boa Constr] I give up, where are the docs?

[Andy R. <an...@re...>]

> As this is a major FAQ since the last release, I obviously got it wrong, 
> yet I'm still not sure what the west way to distribute the docs would be
> :(

As a total boa newbie starting from Sourceforge, I guess the 
mistakes I made may be repeated but are very easy to fix. 
Here's the false trail I followed, and some small steps 
which might help...

1. I saw that the last download on SF was 9 months old. 
So I got a CVS copy.

2. I quickly found a 'docs' directory which was empty. There
was 14-month olds stuff in the CVS attic but I presumed it
was deleted for a reason.

3. I looked again at SF which had three 0.1.0 downloads:
   boa-constructor-0.1.0-alpha.docs.exe
Sounded like a good place to get docs...  it contains Python, 
wxPython and CVS docs but no Boa docs.

Now someone told me they were in the 'src' distro from January,
and hey presto I have a manual - and a really nice one too!  
well done!  

> I still see the bundled Python/wxPython/Zope help as optional
> and the Boa app/tutorial help as part of the core.
Yup, I'd go with that.  Just explain on the project web page
thaty the 'docs' one is really "additional docs for other stuff
but in wx-friendly format"

> 
> I suppose what I'll do next time is to move the the core docs out
> of the source distro as a seperate docs download. 
> (unless some has a better suggestion!)

No, don't do that!   

> Moving the core docs back into CVS would probably also help a lot.

Yup :-)  Or at the very least insert a file 00readme.txt in the 'docs'
directory telling people where they can get them.  This should be
in every "distribution".  My naive expectation is that a 'source'
distro is exactly like a CVS snapshot, only without CVS subdirectories
and at a 'good' point in time.  



Now I can see the tutorial I have to say it looks like an
amazing package - well done!  I will enjoy playing with it.

- Andy

Re: [Boa Constr] I give up, where are the docs?

[Steve N. <yah...@yo...>]

On Thu, 10 Oct 2002 23:59:23 +0100 Andy Robinson wrote:

I made the same mistake, I read about Boa on different lists and the advice was to get the CVS version.  So I basically ignored everything else on the site expecting the relevant docs to be in /Docs CVS then got really confused as to which ones would be the most up to date.

This was also the first time I had ever tried something from CVS as I normally avoid extra problems caused by using bleeding edge but I had read Boa CVS should be ok and the most up to date thing to use.  If I had found the Docs quicker getting started might not have been so troublesome.

Thanks again Riaan for your replies to the list and helping to get things going for everyone with problems.  I know how time consuming this can be.

Steve.


> As a total boa newbie starting from Sourceforge, I guess the 
> mistakes I made may be repeated but are very easy to fix. 
> Here's the false trail I followed, and some small steps 
> which might help...
> 
> 1. I saw that the last download on SF was 9 months old. 
> So I got a CVS copy.
> 
> 2. I quickly found a 'docs' directory which was empty. There
> was 14-month olds stuff in the CVS attic but I presumed it
> was deleted for a reason.
> 
> 3. I looked again at SF which had three 0.1.0 downloads:
>    boa-constructor-0.1.0-alpha.docs.exe
> Sounded like a good place to get docs...  it contains Python, 
> wxPython and CVS docs but no Boa docs.
> 
> Now someone told me they were in the 'src' distro from January,
> and hey presto I have a manual - and a really nice one too!  
> well done!  
> 
> > I still see the bundled Python/wxPython/Zope help as optional
> > and the Boa app/tutorial help as part of the core.
> Yup, I'd go with that.  Just explain on the project web page
> thaty the 'docs' one is really "additional docs for other stuff
> but in wx-friendly format"
> 
> > 
> > I suppose what I'll do next time is to move the the core docs out
> > of the source distro as a seperate docs download. 
> > (unless some has a better suggestion!)
> 
> No, don't do that!   
> 
> > Moving the core docs back into CVS would probably also help a lot.
> 
> Yup :-)  Or at the very least insert a file 00readme.txt in the 'docs'
> directory telling people where they can get them.  This should be
> in every "distribution".  My naive expectation is that a 'source'
> distro is exactly like a CVS snapshot, only without CVS subdirectories
> and at a 'good' point in time.