Class Library Reference help file

Yesterday, I startup up Dolphin again to create a small
file renaming utility. (I'm an infrequent Dolphin user)
In this utility, some string manipulation, number formatting
and directory traversal was needed.

The utility was done in a few hours, but still I thought
it could have been done faster *if* I'd had a good
search mechanism for the class library.

I ended up coding some simple things by hand that I'm
sure are somewhere in the library (padding with zero's,
counting digits). Also, the directory traversal method in
the File class was found more by luck then by method.

So I'm wondering: Is there a nice searchable help
file that contains all class and method names with their
help comments? Maybe a *.chm file that is generated
from the Dolphin image by reflection, with some overview
pages added?

If there is not something like this yet, would more people
be interested? Maybe I'll start a little project.

Regards,
Richard

I'm using some way to search the image--class library of Smalltalk--.

1) Browse your goal class. If you want to manipulate file or directory,

use should browse File and Directory class. You may use method
category.

2) In CHB, [Method - Browse - Containing Source].
Enter some word like this: format

3) If you have found same facility from the image, you should inspect
and browse
that class. If you'd like to know how to drag and drop, you may browse
that class.

I didn't nee any help file about class library, but the image source is
best.
Of course, the [framework documents] is needed to know the framework.

Cheer up!

Richard,

> Yesterday, I startup up Dolphin again to create a small
> file renaming utility. (I'm an infrequent Dolphin user)
> In this utility, some string manipulation, number formatting
> and directory traversal was needed.
>
> The utility was done in a few hours, but still I thought
> it could have been done faster *if* I'd had a good
> search mechanism for the class library.

Dolphin could certainly do with better documentation.  However, with the
usual teams of writers spilling out books (on "mainstream languages")
that collect dust on shelves, I'm not convinced the situation is much
better.

The Dolphin IDE is a great source of documentation, and learning how to
use the various browsers is very important.  Get DSDN and download Ian's
archives; searching them will frequently help.  Google is useful too.
Some users appear to use it for searching the clsd too, but Ian's
archives go back farther, and will not go away if Google goes the way of
Deja News (seems unlikely given their stock value, but who knows??  Ever
heard of Eastern Airlines?).  Google is useful beyond DSDN though,
because it indexes the various goodies available on the web.


> So I'm wondering: Is there a nice searchable help
> file that contains all class and method names with their
> help comments? Maybe a *.chm file that is generated
> from the Dolphin image by reflection, with some overview
> pages added?
>
> If there is not something like this yet, would more people
> be interested? Maybe I'll start a little project.

In my goodies you will find an html help generator.  It is shamelessly
stolen from early versions of Dolphin, with permission of course.  For
my code, I frequently add an html formatted package comment that carries
most of the how-to information, and it works quite well.  I am skeptical
as to whether such a thing would be helpful for the base system classes,
because it would be HUGE.

The single best source of help on Dolphin is lots of your own packages
in the image.  After a while, some browsing will turn up hits in various
packages, and you will begin to recognize where you have solved certain
problems in the past.  DSDN and Google, not to mention this group (no
flame wars here) will help with the ones not yet in your bag of tricks.

Have a good one,

Bill

--
Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
[hidden email]

Hi Riuchard,

Richard wrote:
On the web, documentation similar to the one you are searching for is
available for Squeak, on http://www.oldenbuettel.de

Maybe the creator of this website is willing to share his code with you ;-)

--

Met vriendelijke groet / with kind regards,
    Arie van Wingerden

> On the web, documentation similar to the one you are searching for is
> available for Squeak, on http://www.oldenbuettel.de
>
> Maybe the creator of this website is willing to share his code with you ;-)

Interesting.  I would recommend leaving out the links (list the name but
not as a link) and selector/comment entries for methods w/o comments.
Maybe I should take my own advice :)  I still question how helpful it
would be for the base, but it's worth a try.

Have a good one,

Bill

--
Wilhelm K. Schwab, Ph.D.
[hidden email]

"Bill Schwab" <[hidden email]> wrote in message news:6Ueve.11351
>  Get DSDN and download Ian's archives; searching them will frequently
> help.

Great tip! With this, you can search through the class and method comments

> In my goodies you will find an html help generator.  It is shamelessly
> stolen from early versions of Dolphin, with permission of course.  For my
> code, I frequently add an html formatted package comment that carries most
> of the how-to information, and it works quite well.  I am skeptical as to
> whether such a thing would be helpful for the base system classes, because
> it would be HUGE.

I'll check it out. The idea was to generate help files ony for public
methods
and classes, but it'll still be big.

> The single best source of help on Dolphin is lots of your own packages in
> the image.  After a while, some browsing will turn up hits in various
> packages, and you will begin to recognize where you have solved certain
> problems in the past.

This is true, of course. Some old code helped me in this little project.
But the issue is how to quickly find (standard) classes for problems
_not_ solved before. I'll use your previous two tips for that. DSDN
is great!

Thanks,
Richard

On Sat, 25 Jun 2005 14:03:32 +0200, Richard <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I ended up coding some simple things by hand that I'm
> sure are somewhere in the library (padding with zero's,
> counting digits). Also, the directory traversal method in
> the File class was found more by luck then by method.

Squeak has a browser for this, but I can't recall it's name...

you provide the arguments
you provide the result
Squeak calls all (appropriate) methods and reports those which fit.

s.

Method Finder. Probably someone could port the code if they are
interested. But maybe its just me, I've never found it that much
useful. In particular, the Dolphin library is quite compact and should
be relatively easier to get the geist of it compared to most other
languages. At that point it is just a matter of which class or methods
to browse for and explore.

--
HweeBoon