Re: [documancer] Re: [documancer-users] a few bugs?

[Vaclav S. <vac...@ma...>]

Hi,

arn...@we... wrote:
>   The documancer files were put in
>     ${HOME}/PYTHON_TST/lib/documancer
>   where I would have expected them to be in
>     ${HOME}/PYTHON_TST/lib/python2.3/site-packages/documancer

Sorry, why? Documancer is *not* a Python package, it's an application,=20
so why install it into the place where Python libraries are=20
installed? Also, you can currently run single Documancer installation=20
using both 2.2 and 2.3 interpreter, but you'd have to have two=20
installations=20

>   (Actually, a setup.py file might be nice).

While setup.py may be useful for installing multi-platform Python=20
packages, I don't find it terribly useful for installation of=20
applications. In fact I consider autoconf's checks much more useful=20
=2D- is there some way to seemlessly integrate autoconf and setup.py?=20
Also, note that Documancer is mixed-language code (C and Python).

> - Books manager:
>   starting afresh (i.e. no books added yet)
>   I first entered a Book title, selected Html
>   but did not get the URL field.
>   Only then I realized that I have to press "New" first
>   and only then one can add the book.
>   Ok, this is user stupidity ;-), but maybe one should either
>     a) disable the entry fields first
>     b) or allow for adding a book
>       by just typing the information
>       and accept this by pressing
>       an "Add" button.
>
>   Also by pressing "New" a "book's name"
>   entry box opens even though there
>   is entry field for this
>   (Named "Book title" vs. "book's name").
>   To summarize: I think it would be more intuitive
>   to go for variant b).

I agree completely, but it will take a little more time to do this.

> - after adding the first book and returning from the Books manager
>   the index page of this document is not shown.
>   (One has to press "Return to homepage" explicitly).

Thanks, will fix.

> - when doing a search the first hit could be shown
>   automatically (maybe as option)

Done now. I'll make it an option if somebody complains about it;)

>   (also the width of "Score" and "Document" is not
>    well adapted and changing the width of the Search/Bookmarks
>    part the widths of "Score"/"Documents" is not changed
> accordingly)=20

What do you mean? Score column has fixed width here and the Document=20
one has width of the widest page title, is there something wrong with=20
that or does it behave differently for you?

> - clicking on a result after a search opens
>   the page of that document, but does not jump to
>   the position of the first hit in that document

=46ixed as well.

> - after a search: buttons (and key shortcuts)
>   to move to the next/previous hit in the document

Will do shortly, it's been planned, but I had to fix some problems=20
with the highlighter first (now done).

> - searches across several books would be useful as well
>   (e.g. with a tick-list to specify which
>    books should be included in the search)

Yes. I want it to be even better: I want it to let you define=20
collections of books and bind them to specific directories or source=20
files on your disk, so that you can invoke Documancer from text=20
editor and it will know which books are relevant to the file you're=20
editing.

> - it would be nice if updating/generating an index is
>   done in a separate thread (+ a busy indicator maybe ...).
>   (Then one could at least continue browsing in the meantime ...)

Planned (see the TODO file in CVS). I also want it to automatically=20
detect that the content changed and reindex it.

> - When clicking on a link to a ps or pdf document
>   there is always a kind of download window,
>   titled wxmozilla. It contains a list of all the
>   previous .ps/.pdf.
>   Is there a way to (optionally)
>   prevent this window from showing up at all?

I don't know. But I'm [almost] sure it can't be done on wxMozilla=20
level.

>   (even though it might be sometimes nice as it allows to inspect
>    the settings for wxmozilla with about:config)

This inspired me to add "Configure Mozilla" menu item that opens=20
about:config, but it doesn't work well (read-only, doesn't workd &=20
even crashes when you try to edit the prefs).

> - "About": you could include a link to the web-page
>   (so interested users can get straight to all further information,
>    e.g. mailing list, updates etc. ...)

It's been there, but well-hidden, now fixed.

> Wish-List points:
> - Support for a tree view of Table of Contents for the books
>   a la wxHtmlHelper, like e.g. for the wxpython doku.

Definitely planned (and not only for .hhp, but for gtk-doc and others=20
as well), but I didn't have time to do it yet.

>   ((Actually, I think that will be the last open point
>   to make me switch from helpviewer.py to documancer ;-))

Nice to hear :)

> Some meta stuff (not thought to an end ;-):
> - I am thinking of using documancer as _the_ documentation
>   center for our course on computational physics next summer term.
>   So there will be several users accessing the same base of
> documents (python documentation, dive-into-python tutorial, Numeric
> manual, scipy documentation, wxPython manual, ...).
>   Therefore it would be nice to have the search indices
>   for these documents just generated once (by "root")
>   so that the users to not have to create and store
>   their own copy of this.

Yes... It opens some problems, though:
* How do you edit global vs. root-user-only books?
* Provided Documancer can update index if it detects its out of date=20
(it will support it, eventually), how can it update shared books if=20
it is not run as root?

> - In addition to html files there might be also pdf files.
>   Would it be possible to include these into the search
>   when they are referenced from a html file?

Not easily -- I can't index PDF files currently, I can only display=20
them if Acrobat Reader is installed, I can't highlight search results=20
in them, have bookmarks, i.e. they cannot be first class citizens in=20
Documancer yet. But I'd like to be able to fully use them at some=20
point (by means of xpdf or something similar).

> - Thinking of having a documancer session open all the time
>   it would be nice if there is a way to
>   direct queries from an interactive (I)python session
>   (or pycrust, or emacs, or ...)
>   to documancer.

Also planned... But the TODO with my plans is way too big, so I could=20
definitely use some help, as usual ;)

Regards,
Vaclav

=2D-=20
PGP key: 0x465264C9, available from http://pgp.mit.edu/