I do see one VERY SPIFFY thing: Search Scope. This supports user-defined subsets by name, which are saved and usable later. I know people have pointed out scope before, but until now I didn’t know it was this cool. (happy smile)
So, Lotus. Do one, consistent, repeatable, unchanging thing. Load the browser-like help window all the time, every time, without exception, and fix search so it works with the ENTER key. Then several GOOD things happen:
First, it’s consistent. I can’t say enough about how inconsistent DDE is, and having a consistent help interface would certainly be a plus.
Second, it would work similar to previous versions. The developer presses F1, wants to search … no sweat … enter a FT query in the search bar and press ENTER. Done. If they want to limit scope, they have their user-defined lists, built up over time using Help, to narrow the search. Easy. Intuitive. Win-win.
Third, help would no longer cover up the editor, or squash it without good reason. The developer could position it where they wanted it, and it even re-opens where it was left.
I fail to see negatives, and see only positives, to the above approach. The pieces are already in place. They only have to be reassembled.
Below here is the yucky stuff. If you’d like to end this post on a good note, simply stop reading now. You probably have all the information you really need, anyway. (grin)
- Here’s an example. Create a new shared Action and make sure it’s set to Client & Formula. Click the Reference tab and select “Formula @Commands”. Scroll down to “OpenDocument”. Press F1. Several things happen, none of them positive.
First, an uselessly thin slice of a pane pops open on the right, squishing the edit pane by that amount. Literally five words wide of “help” appear in this goofy thing. Five words. It’s like a newspaper column gone bad.
Second, the content of that uselessly thin slice of a pain is a mere summary of the actual help available for the OpenDocument @Command. It has a list of parameters and what they mean. Nothing on Usage or any of the significantly useful information one gets if this “same” page is opened using the Designer Help database icon.
Third, the “See also” links at the bottom contain what appears to be a link to this very content: “OpenDocument @Command”. In fact this loads the “full” version of help, as seen in the Designer Help database, into the uselessly narrow pane. It’s like there are two help database, one DDE uses that’s a summary, and the Designer Help database, but the link doesn’t bother to indicate it’s going to show the real help content instead of the stripped-down version, so it until one knows what it’s actually doing it looks like a cross-reference error. It still looks like a cross-reference error, really, but now I know. Had I not been typing this in it would have never occurred to me to click a link that looks like it leads to the exact page I’m viewing already.
Fourth, if I undock the uselessly thin slice of pane, it MUST be the topmost window. That means I’m either forced to have a equally uselessly thin floating pane, or I’m forced to hide the very content I’m attempting to get help for, and wanting to read at more than five words wide. When I’m done reading help at more than five words wide I have two choices: resize the window so it’s uselessly narrow or close the “help” pane entirely.
Fifth, if I close the help pane entirely, the next time I call up help I enter Bizzaro Land. Not only do I get the floating “help” pane that must cover what I’m editing, but I also get a huge “tooltip” hanging off the OpenDocument entry under the Reference tab on the left. This huge tool tip hides even more of the content I’d like to edit, plus it utterly and completely duplicates the content in the floating “help” pane, sans the “Dynamic Help” stuff I never asked for to begin with.
Sixth, because I’m in Bizzaro Land with this huge tooltip, if I click the link that says “OpenDocument @Command”, which looks identical to the one in the (now) floating help pane that hides everything, I get the “full” help content for OpenDocument, but it is NOT by opening the Designer Help database. It’s some weirdo microsoft-looking help browser-like thing that appears out of left field.
Now we have THREE INDEPENDENT help systems: the goofy uselessly narrow pane, the microsoft-esque browser-like thing, and the Real McCoy Designer Help database. Ah. It looks like the Bizzaro Land browser-like help window is repacking the Real McCoy content under the “Lotus Domino Designer Basic User Guide and Reference” label. That’s a relief.
So, why doesn’t the system do one thing and one thing only? What’s the matter with the help database? Simply link DDE to that and be done with it, just like Designer used to do. That lets THE DEVELOPER HAVE CONTROL. The developer can index the database if they feel like it, and they can control what that index contains. That lets the developer do a standard FT search on help after pressing F1, just like has always been possible.
Seventh, search is an equally inconsistent travesty. If one clicks “Help → Help Content”, types something in the “Search:” and presses ENTER, nothing one. One MUST take their hand off the keyboard and click “Go”. Then it searchs. At least it appears to support fulltext queries to some degree.
Thanks for your time…