OFBiz › OFBiz - User

Loading Raw HTML

_‹ Previous Topic Next Topic _›

Classic

List

Threaded

17 messages Options

SkipDever

Loading Raw HTML

I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have lots of
help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag on the page
with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to some
rendering code.

I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the left frame
and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database displayed in
the right frame.

My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to the html
file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?

I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html in a
directory to build the search table.

I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html page (or
even if it is possible).

Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but this way for
me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html standalone.

Skip
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date: 4/4/2008
8:23 AM

Adrian Crum

Re: Loading Raw HTML

Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in a way
similar to what you describe.

-Adrian

skip@thedevers wrote:

> I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have lots of
> help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag on the page
> with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to some
> rendering code.
>
> I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the left frame
> and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database displayed in
> the right frame.
>
> My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to the html
> file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
>
> I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html in a
> directory to build the search table.
>
> I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html page (or
> even if it is possible).
>
> Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but this way for
> me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html standalone.
>
> Skip
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date: 4/4/2008
> 8:23 AM
>
>

Bruno Busco

Re: Loading Raw HTML

I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz application that
could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for private help
pages.
The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a whole in
the help application.
The help application could also integrate an "About..." section that could
present information about the release installed.
In this my contribution attached to
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.

I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
- Bruno

2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:

>
> Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in a way
> similar to what you describe.
>
> -Adrian
>
> skip@thedevers wrote:
>
> > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have lots of
> > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag on the
> > page
> > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to some
> > rendering code.
> >
> > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the left
> > frame
> > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database displayed
> > in
> > the right frame.
> >
> > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to the html
> > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
> >
> > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html in a
> > directory to build the search table.
> >
> > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html page
> > (or
> > even if it is possible).
> >
> > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but this way
> > for
> > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
> > standalone.
> >
> > Skip
> > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > Checked by AVG.
> > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
> > 4/4/2008
> > 8:23 AM
> >
> >
> >

Bruno Busco

Re: Loading Raw HTML

Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle multiple
html files, one for each language.
- Bruno

2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:

>
> I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
> I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz application that
> could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for private help
> pages.
> The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a whole
> in the help application.
> The help application could also integrate an "About..." section that could
> present information about the release installed.
> In this my contribution attached to
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
> could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
>
> I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
> - Bruno
>
> 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
> >
> > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in a way
> > similar to what you describe.
> >
> > -Adrian
> >
> > skip@thedevers wrote:
> >
> > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have lots
> > > of
> > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag on the
> > > page
> > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to
> > > some
> > > rendering code.
> > >
> > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the left
> > > frame
> > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database displayed
> > > in
> > > the right frame.
> > >
> > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to the
> > > html
> > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
> > >
> > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html in a
> > > directory to build the search table.
> > >
> > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html
> > > page (or
> > > even if it is possible).
> > >
> > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but this
> > > way for
> > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
> > > standalone.
> > >
> > > Skip
> > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > > Checked by AVG.
> > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
> > > 4/4/2008
> > > 8:23 AM
> > >
> > >
> > >
>

Jacopo Cappellato-3

Re: Loading Raw HTML

There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you can
use the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition
that just includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest
solution) you can put your html file in a browseable folder (for
example the framework/images) and just create a link to it (you don't
have to create controller's entries for this).
About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content
(e.g. html files organized in folders or with some naming convention
to categorize them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical
point of view it is really easy to implement.
The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online help
in an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
community; our Confluence server could be used for this).

But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve
the machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields
of an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used
by form definitions to create online tips for the user.

Jacopo

On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:

> Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
> multiple
> html files, one for each language.
> - Bruno
>
> 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
>>
>> I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
>> I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
>> application that
>> could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
>> private help
>> pages.
>> The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a
>> whole
>> in the help application.
>> The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
>> that could
>> present information about the release installed.
>> In this my contribution attached to
>> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
>> could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
>>
>> I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
>> - Bruno
>>
>> 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
>>>
>>> Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in
>>> a way
>>> similar to what you describe.
>>>
>>> -Adrian
>>>
>>> skip@thedevers wrote:
>>>
>>>> I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
>>>> lots
>>>> of
>>>> help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag
>>>> on the
>>>> page
>>>> with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to
>>>> some
>>>> rendering code.
>>>>
>>>> I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the
>>>> left
>>>> frame
>>>> and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
>>>> displayed
>>>> in
>>>> the right frame.
>>>>
>>>> My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to the
>>>> html
>>>> file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
>>>>
>>>> I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html
>>>> in a
>>>> directory to build the search table.
>>>>
>>>> I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html
>>>> page (or
>>>> even if it is possible).
>>>>
>>>> Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
>>>> this
>>>> way for
>>>> me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
>>>> standalone.
>>>>
>>>> Skip
>>>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>>> Checked by AVG.
>>>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
>>>> 4/4/2008
>>>> 8:23 AM
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>

Bruno Busco

Re: Loading Raw HTML

This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.

http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html

-Bruno

2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:

>
> There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you can use
> the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition that just
> includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution) you can put
> your html file in a browseable folder (for example the framework/images) and
> just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's entries for
> this).
> About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content (e.g.
> html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to categorize
> them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of view it is
> really easy to implement.
> The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
> That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online help in
> an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
> community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
>
> But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve the
> machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
> For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields of
> an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by form
> definitions to create online tips for the user.
>
> Jacopo
>
> On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>
> > Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle multiple
> > html files, one for each language.
> > - Bruno
> >
> > 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
> >
> > >
> > > I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
> > > I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz application
> > > that
> > > could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for private
> > > help
> > > pages.
> > > The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a
> > > whole
> > > in the help application.
> > > The help application could also integrate an "About..." section that
> > > could
> > > present information about the release installed.
> > > In this my contribution attached to
> > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
> > > could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
> > >
> > > I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
> > > - Bruno
> > >
> > > 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in a
> > > > way
> > > > similar to what you describe.
> > > >
> > > > -Adrian
> > > >
> > > > skip@thedevers wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
> > > > > lots
> > > > > of
> > > > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag on
> > > > > the
> > > > > page
> > > > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to
> > > > > some
> > > > > rendering code.
> > > > >
> > > > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the
> > > > > left
> > > > > frame
> > > > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
> > > > > displayed
> > > > > in
> > > > > the right frame.
> > > > >
> > > > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to
> > > > > the
> > > > > html
> > > > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
> > > > >
> > > > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html
> > > > > in a
> > > > > directory to build the search table.
> > > > >
> > > > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html
> > > > > page (or
> > > > > even if it is possible).
> > > > >
> > > > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
> > > > > this
> > > > > way for
> > > > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
> > > > > standalone.
> > > > >
> > > > > Skip
> > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > > > > Checked by AVG.
> > > > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
> > > > > 4/4/2008
> > > > > 8:23 AM
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
>

SkipDever

RE: Loading Raw HTML

The only problem that I see is that they want 4k U.S. for Confluence.

While the product looks solid, that seems a pretty steep price when you are
just after a help system that could be done another way for free.

Skip

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:38 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML

This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.

http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html

-Bruno

2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:
>
> There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you can use
> the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition that just
> includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution) you can
put
> your html file in a browseable folder (for example the framework/images)
and
> just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's entries
for
> this).
> About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content (e.g.
> html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to
categorize
> them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of view it
is

> really easy to implement.
> The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
> That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online help in
> an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
> community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
>
> But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve the
> machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
> For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields of
> an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by form
> definitions to create online tips for the user.
>
> Jacopo
>
> On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>
> > Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle multiple
> > html files, one for each language.
> > - Bruno
> >
> > 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
> >
> > >
> > > I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
> > > I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz application
> > > that
> > > could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for private
> > > help
> > > pages.
> > > The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a
> > > whole
> > > in the help application.
> > > The help application could also integrate an "About..." section that
> > > could
> > > present information about the release installed.
> > > In this my contribution attached to
> > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
> > > could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
> > >
> > > I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
> > > - Bruno
> > >
> > > 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in a
> > > > way
> > > > similar to what you describe.
> > > >
> > > > -Adrian
> > > >
> > > > skip@thedevers wrote:
> > > >
> > > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
> > > > > lots
> > > > > of
> > > > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag on
> > > > > the
> > > > > page
> > > > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to
> > > > > some
> > > > > rendering code.
> > > > >
> > > > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the
> > > > > left
> > > > > frame
> > > > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
> > > > > displayed
> > > > > in
> > > > > the right frame.
> > > > >
> > > > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to
> > > > > the
> > > > > html
> > > > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
> > > > >
> > > > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html
> > > > > in a
> > > > > directory to build the search table.
> > > > >
> > > > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html
> > > > > page (or
> > > > > even if it is possible).
> > > > >
> > > > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
> > > > > this
> > > > > way for
> > > > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
> > > > > standalone.
> > > > >
> > > > > Skip
> > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > > > > Checked by AVG.
> > > > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
> > > > > 4/4/2008
> > > > > 8:23 AM
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
>

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date: 4/9/2008
4:20 PM

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date: 4/9/2008
4:20 PM

Bruno Busco

Re: Loading Raw HTML

Yes,
the link I proposed was to go after the proposal of using the Ofbiz
Confluence server like was proposed in the community.
In any case I think that a stand-alone help system that could be used even
when no internet connection is available would be preferable.
In addition the help system should contain information about modified or
custom applications.

In the actual Ofbiz I can see a first approach to provide an online help in
the Project Management Application, here in the application menu bar there
is an help button that opens a new browser window on a Ofbiz Confluence
page.

I was investigating on other possibilities to build such an help system and
in particular I like the JIRA help system with the yellow question marks in
the web pages that point to static html pages.

Reading here
http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirahelpand
here
http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/localdocs.html

it seems that there is the possibility to modify and re-build the pages
starting from XML files using Apache Forrest and having the web application
using the local copy of the help.

What do you think of this system? Is too complicated or may we think about
it?

-Bruno

2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:

>
> The only problem that I see is that they want 4k U.S. for Confluence.
>
> While the product looks solid, that seems a pretty steep price when you
> are
> just after a help system that could be done another way for free.
>
> Skip
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:38 AM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
>
>
> This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.
>
> http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html
>
> -Bruno
>
> 2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:
> >
> > There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you can
> use
> > the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition that
> just
> > includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution) you can
> put
> > your html file in a browseable folder (for example the framework/images)
> and
> > just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's entries
> for
> > this).
> > About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content (e.g.
> > html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to
> categorize
> > them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of view it
> is
> > really easy to implement.
> > The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
> > That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online help
> in
> > an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
> > community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
> >
> > But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve the
> > machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
> > For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields
> of
> > an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by
> form
> > definitions to create online tips for the user.
> >
> > Jacopo
> >
> > On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
> >
> > > Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
> multiple
> > > html files, one for each language.
> > > - Bruno
> > >
> > > 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
> > > > I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
> application
> > > > that
> > > > could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
> private
> > > > help
> > > > pages.
> > > > The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a
> > > > whole
> > > > in the help application.
> > > > The help application could also integrate an "About..." section that
> > > > could
> > > > present information about the release installed.
> > > > In this my contribution attached to
> > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
> > > > could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
> > > >
> > > > I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
> > > > - Bruno
> > > >
> > > > 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in
> a
> > > > > way
> > > > > similar to what you describe.
> > > > >
> > > > > -Adrian
> > > > >
> > > > > skip@thedevers wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
> > > > > > lots
> > > > > > of
> > > > > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag
> on
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > page
> > > > > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed
> to
> > > > > > some
> > > > > > rendering code.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in
> the
> > > > > > left
> > > > > > frame
> > > > > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
> > > > > > displayed
> > > > > > in
> > > > > > the right frame.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > html
> > > > > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the
> html
> > > > > > in a
> > > > > > directory to build the search table.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the
> html
> > > > > > page (or
> > > > > > even if it is possible).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
> > > > > > this
> > > > > > way for
> > > > > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
> > > > > > standalone.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Skip
> > > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > > > > > Checked by AVG.
> > > > > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
> > > > > > 4/4/2008
> > > > > > 8:23 AM
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > >
> >
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date: 4/9/2008
> 4:20 PM
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG.
>
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date: 4/9/2008
> 4:20 PM
>
>

David E Jones

Re: Loading Raw HTML

If we're going to have an official set of help files for OFBiz we
would want it to be as easy as possible for people to contribute to.
In other words, preferably not in SVN due to greater difficulty and
formality in qualifying and arranging accounts for people there. That
is the main reason why we are thinking about using pages in Confluence
for this.

If you're doing your own help stuff you might consider using the OFBiz
content infrastructure for it. You don't have to edit any files to add
new pages or link to them, and there is a handy UI in the back end
(Content Manager -> WebSite -> CMS) for editing hierarchies of such
pages. Unfortunately this was recently broken by an i18n change
someone put in... and that hasn't been fixed yet.

Anyway, there are some examples of that in the ofbiz/specialpurpose/
cmssite.

For an official location in the project, right now it's going to be in
Confluence because of administrative issues. I don't think we want to
manage patches and Jira issues for every such contribution, and it
would be difficult for people to participate and collaborate on it.

-David

On Apr 11, 2008, at 4:34 PM, Bruno Busco wrote:

> Yes,
> the link I proposed was to go after the proposal of using the Ofbiz
> Confluence server like was proposed in the community.
> In any case I think that a stand-alone help system that could be
> used even
> when no internet connection is available would be preferable.
> In addition the help system should contain information about
> modified or
> custom applications.
>
> In the actual Ofbiz I can see a first approach to provide an online
> help in
> the Project Management Application, here in the application menu bar
> there
> is an help button that opens a new browser window on a Ofbiz
> Confluence
> page.
>
> I was investigating on other possibilities to build such an help
> system and
> in particular I like the JIRA help system with the yellow question
> marks in
> the web pages that point to static html pages.
>
> Reading here
> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirahelpand
> here
> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/localdocs.html
>
> it seems that there is the possibility to modify and re-build the
> pages
> starting from XML files using Apache Forrest and having the web
> application
> using the local copy of the help.
>
> What do you think of this system? Is too complicated or may we think
> about
> it?
>
> -Bruno
>
>
>
>
> 2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:
>>
>> The only problem that I see is that they want 4k U.S. for Confluence.
>>
>> While the product looks solid, that seems a pretty steep price when
>> you
>> are
>> just after a help system that could be done another way for free.
>>
>> Skip
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
>> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:38 AM
>> To: [hidden email]
>> Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
>>
>>
>> This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.
>>
>> http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html
>>
>> -Bruno
>>
>> 2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:
>>>
>>> There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you
>>> can
>> use
>>> the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition
>>> that
>> just
>>> includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution)
>>> you can
>> put
>>> your html file in a browseable folder (for example the framework/
>>> images)
>> and
>>> just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's
>>> entries
>> for
>>> this).
>>> About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content
>>> (e.g.
>>> html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to
>> categorize
>>> them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of
>>> view it
>> is
>>> really easy to implement.
>>> The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
>>> That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online
>>> help
>> in
>>> an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
>>> community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
>>>
>>> But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to
>>> improve the
>>> machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
>>> For example: it is already possible to add a description to the
>>> fields
>> of
>>> an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by
>> form
>>> definitions to create online tips for the user.
>>>
>>> Jacopo
>>>
>>> On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>>>
>>>> Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
>> multiple
>>>> html files, one for each language.
>>>> - Bruno
>>>>
>>>> 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
>>>>> I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
>> application
>>>>> that
>>>>> could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
>> private
>>>>> help
>>>>> pages.
>>>>> The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented
>>>>> as a
>>>>> whole
>>>>> in the help application.
>>>>> The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
>>>>> that
>>>>> could
>>>>> present information about the release installed.
>>>>> In this my contribution attached to
>>>>> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
>>>>> could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
>>>>>
>>>>> I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
>>>>> - Bruno
>>>>>
>>>>> 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames
>>>>>> in
>> a
>>>>>> way
>>>>>> similar to what you describe.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Adrian
>>>>>>
>>>>>> skip@thedevers wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
>>>>>>> lots
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag
>> on
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> page
>>>>>>> with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed
>> to
>>>>>>> some
>>>>>>> rendering code.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in
>> the
>>>>>>> left
>>>>>>> frame
>>>>>>> and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
>>>>>>> displayed
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> the right frame.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> html
>>>>>>> file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the
>> html
>>>>>>> in a
>>>>>>> directory to build the search table.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the
>> html
>>>>>>> page (or
>>>>>>> even if it is possible).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> way for
>>>>>>> me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
>>>>>>> standalone.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Skip
>>>>>>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>>>>>> Checked by AVG.
>>>>>>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
>>>>>>> 4/4/2008
>>>>>>> 8:23 AM
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
>> 4/9/2008
>> 4:20 PM
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>>
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
>> 4/9/2008
>> 4:20 PM
>>
>>

Jacopo Cappellato-3

Re: Loading Raw HTML

In reply to this post by Bruno Busco

As a side note, I don't think it would be difficult to export pages
out of Confluence and provide a mechanism (using a config file
property) to specify an alternative base URL for the help content in
OFBiz (for example another URL, or a path in the file system)

Jacopo

On Apr 12, 2008, at 12:34 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:

SkipDever

RE: Loading Raw HTML

In reply to this post by David E Jones

David

I agree with all this, but I need offline help, i.e. help when there is no
internet access. My users do not have internet access, so using an Ofbiz
confluence thing doesn't work and I am not buying Confluence for a local
installation just for help.

I'll check into the content manager and see what services are there, but it
seems to me like static html is the easiest and just store the file names
with the helpnames.

There is some small flexibility using CMS, but I don't see a huge benefit
for all the extra work.

Skip

-----Original Message-----
From: David E Jones [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 9:12 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML

If we're going to have an official set of help files for OFBiz we
would want it to be as easy as possible for people to contribute to.
In other words, preferably not in SVN due to greater difficulty and
formality in qualifying and arranging accounts for people there. That
is the main reason why we are thinking about using pages in Confluence
for this.

If you're doing your own help stuff you might consider using the OFBiz
content infrastructure for it. You don't have to edit any files to add
new pages or link to them, and there is a handy UI in the back end
(Content Manager -> WebSite -> CMS) for editing hierarchies of such
pages. Unfortunately this was recently broken by an i18n change
someone put in... and that hasn't been fixed yet.

Anyway, there are some examples of that in the ofbiz/specialpurpose/
cmssite.

For an official location in the project, right now it's going to be in
Confluence because of administrative issues. I don't think we want to
manage patches and Jira issues for every such contribution, and it
would be difficult for people to participate and collaborate on it.

-David

On Apr 11, 2008, at 4:34 PM, Bruno Busco wrote:

http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirah
elpand

> here
> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/localdocs.html
>
> it seems that there is the possibility to modify and re-build the
> pages
> starting from XML files using Apache Forrest and having the web
> application
> using the local copy of the help.
>
> What do you think of this system? Is too complicated or may we think
> about
> it?
>
> -Bruno
>
>
>
>
> 2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:
>>
>> The only problem that I see is that they want 4k U.S. for Confluence.
>>
>> While the product looks solid, that seems a pretty steep price when
>> you
>> are
>> just after a help system that could be done another way for free.
>>
>> Skip
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
>> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:38 AM
>> To: [hidden email]
>> Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
>>
>>
>> This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.
>>
>> http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html
>>
>> -Bruno
>>
>> 2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:
>>>
>>> There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you
>>> can
>> use
>>> the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition
>>> that
>> just
>>> includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution)
>>> you can
>> put
>>> your html file in a browseable folder (for example the framework/
>>> images)
>> and
>>> just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's
>>> entries
>> for
>>> this).
>>> About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content
>>> (e.g.
>>> html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to
>> categorize
>>> them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of
>>> view it
>> is
>>> really easy to implement.
>>> The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
>>> That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online
>>> help
>> in
>>> an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
>>> community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
>>>
>>> But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to
>>> improve the
>>> machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
>>> For example: it is already possible to add a description to the
>>> fields
>> of
>>> an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by
>> form
>>> definitions to create online tips for the user.
>>>
>>> Jacopo
>>>
>>> On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>>>
>>>> Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
>> multiple
>>>> html files, one for each language.
>>>> - Bruno
>>>>
>>>> 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
>>>>> I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
>> application
>>>>> that
>>>>> could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
>> private
>>>>> help
>>>>> pages.
>>>>> The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented
>>>>> as a
>>>>> whole
>>>>> in the help application.
>>>>> The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
>>>>> that
>>>>> could
>>>>> present information about the release installed.
>>>>> In this my contribution attached to
>>>>> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
>>>>> could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
>>>>>
>>>>> I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
>>>>> - Bruno
>>>>>
>>>>> 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames
>>>>>> in
>> a
>>>>>> way
>>>>>> similar to what you describe.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -Adrian
>>>>>>
>>>>>> skip@thedevers wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
>>>>>>> lots
>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>> help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag
>> on
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> page
>>>>>>> with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed
>> to
>>>>>>> some
>>>>>>> rendering code.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in
>> the
>>>>>>> left
>>>>>>> frame
>>>>>>> and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
>>>>>>> displayed
>>>>>>> in
>>>>>>> the right frame.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to
>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> html
>>>>>>> file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the
>> html
>>>>>>> in a
>>>>>>> directory to build the search table.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the
>> html
>>>>>>> page (or
>>>>>>> even if it is possible).
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
>>>>>>> this
>>>>>>> way for
>>>>>>> me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
>>>>>>> standalone.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Skip
>>>>>>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>>>>>> Checked by AVG.
>>>>>>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
>>>>>>> 4/4/2008
>>>>>>> 8:23 AM
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
>> 4/9/2008
>> 4:20 PM
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>>
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
>> 4/9/2008
>> 4:20 PM
>>
>>

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date: 4/11/2008
4:59 PM

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date: 4/11/2008
4:59 PM

SkipDever

RE: Loading Raw HTML

In reply to this post by Jacopo Cappellato-3

Jacopo

That is exactly what I was thinking of, a properties entry with a base url
and using the locale to add the language to the path using the passed locale
for a sub-path and then lookup the html file itself in the db from the
passed help name to form the full path name.

Then, go and steal the basic content from the Ofbiz help system and just
stuff it in the directory you point to.
Not clever I know, but simple.

Skip

-----Original Message-----
From: Jacopo Cappellato [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 10:55 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML

As a side note, I don't think it would be difficult to export pages
out of Confluence and provide a mechanism (using a config file
property) to specify an alternative base URL for the help content in
OFBiz (for example another URL, or a path in the file system)

Jacopo

On Apr 12, 2008, at 12:34 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:

http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirah
elpand

SkipDever

RE: Loading Raw HTML

In reply to this post by Bruno Busco

For me at the outset, I am just gonna put out some static html so I don't
spend a huge amount of time answering easy questions from my users.

However, longer term, XML is fine.

Thanks to the links below, this turns out to be really easy and I'll put a
jira up in case anyone else wants some simpleton thing like this.

It's just a matter of modifying the main decorator and if a help topic is
set by a screen widget, I'll display a help button. Not real fine grained,
but fine for something quick and dirty.

Skip

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 3:34 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML

Yes,
the link I proposed was to go after the proposal of using the Ofbiz
Confluence server like was proposed in the community.
In any case I think that a stand-alone help system that could be used even
when no internet connection is available would be preferable.
In addition the help system should contain information about modified or
custom applications.

In the actual Ofbiz I can see a first approach to provide an online help in
the Project Management Application, here in the application menu bar there
is an help button that opens a new browser window on a Ofbiz Confluence
page.

I was investigating on other possibilities to build such an help system and
in particular I like the JIRA help system with the yellow question marks in
the web pages that point to static html pages.

Reading here
http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirah
elpand
here
http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/localdocs.html

it seems that there is the possibility to modify and re-build the pages
starting from XML files using Apache Forrest and having the web application
using the local copy of the help.

What do you think of this system? Is too complicated or may we think about
it?

-Bruno

2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:

Bruno Busco

Re: Loading Raw HTML

A further information that could help to find the best solution:
Confluence, normally, let users export a whole space (or selected pages
whithin it) has static html. A zip file is generated on the fly and
downloaded from the space browse page itself.
We use this functionality where I work to have periodic snapshots of a
Confluence space describing a project. The snapshots can be unzipped and
generate a complete folder treee that can be navigated as static html.

The space export permission is something that an user must be granted of and
as far as I can see this is not the case for a standard user of the Ofbiz
Confluence. In any case the export could be periodically done by admin
people and provided on the Confluence End User documentation Confluence to
be downloaded.

This could then be used locally changing a property that define the help
main URL and integrated with additional custom help.
The custom help, since there is no requirements to be collaborative, can
then be developed as a CMS (if it starts working again) or as an XML/HTML.

- Could someone with Confluence administration right please look in the html
space export functionality?

- Could we think to a system based on an help widget that uses a property to
define the main help page URL and renders whenever it is located a little
icon with a question mark (I propose something similar to the one JIRA uses)
to point to an help page?

-Bruno

2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:

>
> For me at the outset, I am just gonna put out some static html so I don't
> spend a huge amount of time answering easy questions from my users.
>
> However, longer term, XML is fine.
>
> Thanks to the links below, this turns out to be really easy and I'll put a
> jira up in case anyone else wants some simpleton thing like this.
>
> It's just a matter of modifying the main decorator and if a help topic is
> set by a screen widget, I'll display a help button. Not real fine
> grained,
> but fine for something quick and dirty.
>
>
> Skip
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
>
> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 3:34 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
>
>
>
> Yes,
> the link I proposed was to go after the proposal of using the Ofbiz
> Confluence server like was proposed in the community.
> In any case I think that a stand-alone help system that could be used even
> when no internet connection is available would be preferable.
> In addition the help system should contain information about modified or
> custom applications.
>
> In the actual Ofbiz I can see a first approach to provide an online help
> in
> the Project Management Application, here in the application menu bar there
> is an help button that opens a new browser window on a Ofbiz Confluence
> page.
>
> I was investigating on other possibilities to build such an help system
> and
> in particular I like the JIRA help system with the yellow question marks
> in
> the web pages that point to static html pages.
>
> Reading here
>
> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirah
> elpand
> here
> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/localdocs.html
>
> it seems that there is the possibility to modify and re-build the pages
> starting from XML files using Apache Forrest and having the web
> application
> using the local copy of the help.
>
> What do you think of this system? Is too complicated or may we think about
> it?
>
> -Bruno
>
>
>
>
> 2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:
> >
> > The only problem that I see is that they want 4k U.S. for Confluence.
> >
> > While the product looks solid, that seems a pretty steep price when you
> > are
> > just after a help system that could be done another way for free.
> >
> > Skip
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
> > Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:38 AM
> > To: [hidden email]
> > Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
> >
> >
> > This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.
> >
> > http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html
> >
> > -Bruno
> >
> > 2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:
> > >
> > > There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you can
> > use
> > > the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition that
> > just
> > > includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution) you
> can
> > put
> > > your html file in a browseable folder (for example the
> framework/images)
> > and
> > > just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's
> entries
> > for
> > > this).
> > > About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content
> (e.g.
> > > html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to
> > categorize
> > > them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of view
> it
> > is
> > > really easy to implement.
> > > The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
> > > That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online help
> > in
> > > an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
> > > community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
> > >
> > > But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve
> the
> > > machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
> > > For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields
> > of
> > > an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by
> > form
> > > definitions to create online tips for the user.
> > >
> > > Jacopo
> > >
> > > On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
> > >
> > > > Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
> > multiple
> > > > html files, one for each language.
> > > > - Bruno
> > > >
> > > > 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
> > > > > I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
> > application
> > > > > that
> > > > > could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
> > private
> > > > > help
> > > > > pages.
> > > > > The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as
> a
> > > > > whole
> > > > > in the help application.
> > > > > The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
> that
> > > > > could
> > > > > present information about the release installed.
> > > > > In this my contribution attached to
> > > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
> > > > > could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
> > > > >
> > > > > I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
> > > > > - Bruno
> > > > >
> > > > > 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
> > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames
> in
> > a
> > > > > > way
> > > > > > similar to what you describe.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > -Adrian
> > > > > >
> > > > > > skip@thedevers wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I
> have
> > > > > > > lots
> > > > > > > of
> > > > > > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden
> tag
> > on
> > > > > > > the
> > > > > > > page
> > > > > > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and
> passed
> > to
> > > > > > > some
> > > > > > > rendering code.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in
> > the
> > > > > > > left
> > > > > > > frame
> > > > > > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
> > > > > > > displayed
> > > > > > > in
> > > > > > > the right frame.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path
> to
> > > > > > > the
> > > > > > > html
> > > > > > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with
> ftl?
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the
> > html
> > > > > > > in a
> > > > > > > directory to build the search table.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the
> > html
> > > > > > > page (or
> > > > > > > even if it is possible).
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table,
> but
> > > > > > > this
> > > > > > > way for
> > > > > > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the
> html
> > > > > > > standalone.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Skip
> > > > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > > > > > > Checked by AVG.
> > > > > > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release
> Date:
> > > > > > > 4/4/2008
> > > > > > > 8:23 AM
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > No virus found in this incoming message.
> > Checked by AVG.
> > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
> 4/9/2008
> > 4:20 PM
> >
> >
> > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > Checked by AVG.
> >
> > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
> 4/9/2008
> > 4:20 PM
> >
> >
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
>
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date:
> 4/11/2008
>
> 4:59 PM
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG.
>
> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date:
> 4/11/2008
> 4:59 PM
>
>

Jacques Le Roux

Re: Loading Raw HTML

Administrator

This look like very promising...

Jacques

From: "Bruno Busco" <[hidden email]>

>A further information that could help to find the best solution:
> Confluence, normally, let users export a whole space (or selected pages
> whithin it) has static html. A zip file is generated on the fly and
> downloaded from the space browse page itself.
> We use this functionality where I work to have periodic snapshots of a
> Confluence space describing a project. The snapshots can be unzipped and
> generate a complete folder treee that can be navigated as static html.
>
> The space export permission is something that an user must be granted of and
> as far as I can see this is not the case for a standard user of the Ofbiz
> Confluence. In any case the export could be periodically done by admin
> people and provided on the Confluence End User documentation Confluence to
> be downloaded.
>
> This could then be used locally changing a property that define the help
> main URL and integrated with additional custom help.
> The custom help, since there is no requirements to be collaborative, can
> then be developed as a CMS (if it starts working again) or as an XML/HTML.
>
> - Could someone with Confluence administration right please look in the html
> space export functionality?
>
> - Could we think to a system based on an help widget that uses a property to
> define the main help page URL and renders whenever it is located a little
> icon with a question mark (I propose something similar to the one JIRA uses)
> to point to an help page?
>
> -Bruno
>
> 2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:
>>
>> For me at the outset, I am just gonna put out some static html so I don't
>> spend a huge amount of time answering easy questions from my users.
>>
>> However, longer term, XML is fine.
>>
>> Thanks to the links below, this turns out to be really easy and I'll put a
>> jira up in case anyone else wants some simpleton thing like this.
>>
>> It's just a matter of modifying the main decorator and if a help topic is
>> set by a screen widget, I'll display a help button. Not real fine
>> grained,
>> but fine for something quick and dirty.
>>
>>
>> Skip
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
>>
>> Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 3:34 PM
>> To: [hidden email]
>> Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
>>
>>
>>
>> Yes,
>> the link I proposed was to go after the proposal of using the Ofbiz
>> Confluence server like was proposed in the community.
>> In any case I think that a stand-alone help system that could be used even
>> when no internet connection is available would be preferable.
>> In addition the help system should contain information about modified or
>> custom applications.
>>
>> In the actual Ofbiz I can see a first approach to provide an online help
>> in
>> the Project Management Application, here in the application menu bar there
>> is an help button that opens a new browser window on a Ofbiz Confluence
>> page.
>>
>> I was investigating on other possibilities to build such an help system
>> and
>> in particular I like the JIRA help system with the yellow question marks
>> in
>> the web pages that point to static html pages.
>>
>> Reading here
>>
>> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/index.html?clicked=jirah
>> elpand
>> here
>> http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/docs/v3.12.2/localdocs.html
>>
>> it seems that there is the possibility to modify and re-build the pages
>> starting from XML files using Apache Forrest and having the web
>> application
>> using the local copy of the help.
>>
>> What do you think of this system? Is too complicated or may we think about
>> it?
>>
>> -Bruno
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> 2008/4/12, skip@thedevers <[hidden email]>:
>> >
>> > The only problem that I see is that they want 4k U.S. for Confluence.
>> >
>> > While the product looks solid, that seems a pretty steep price when you
>> > are
>> > just after a help system that could be done another way for free.
>> >
>> > Skip
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Bruno Busco [mailto:[hidden email]]
>> > Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:38 AM
>> > To: [hidden email]
>> > Subject: Re: Loading Raw HTML
>> >
>> >
>> > This could be a good reference to use Confluence as an help sytem.
>> >
>> > http://blogs.atlassian.com/news/2007/12/using_a_wiki_fo.html
>> >
>> > -Bruno
>> >
>> > 2008/4/10, Jacopo Cappellato <[hidden email]>:
>> > >
>> > > There are several ways to serve a static html page thru OFBiz: you can
>> > use
>> > > the html view handler, you can create a simple screen definition that
>> > just
>> > > includes to the html file or (and this is the simplest solution) you
>> can
>> > put
>> > > your html file in a browseable folder (for example the
>> framework/images)
>> > and
>> > > just create a link to it (you don't have to create controller's
>> entries
>> > for
>> > > this).
>> > > About the online help system: if we use the idea of static content
>> (e.g.
>> > > html files organized in folders or with some naming convention to
>> > categorize
>> > > them by locale/application/page) then, from a technical point of view
>> it
>> > is
>> > > really easy to implement.
>> > > The main problem is writing and maintaining the content.
>> > > That is why, in the past, someone proposed to maintain the online help
>> > in
>> > > an external site (for example a Wiki based site, maintained by the
>> > > community; our Confluence server could be used for this).
>> > >
>> > > But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve
>> the
>> > > machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
>> > > For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields
>> > of
>> > > an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by
>> > form
>> > > definitions to create online tips for the user.
>> > >
>> > > Jacopo
>> > >
>> > > On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>> > >
>> > > > Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
>> > multiple
>> > > > html files, one for each language.
>> > > > - Bruno
>> > > >
>> > > > 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
>> > > >
>> > > > >
>> > > > > I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
>> > > > > I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
>> > application
>> > > > > that
>> > > > > could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
>> > private
>> > > > > help
>> > > > > pages.
>> > > > > The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as
>> a
>> > > > > whole
>> > > > > in the help application.
>> > > > > The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
>> that
>> > > > > could
>> > > > > present information about the release installed.
>> > > > > In this my contribution attached to
>> > > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
>> > > > > could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
>> > > > >
>> > > > > I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
>> > > > > - Bruno
>> > > > >
>> > > > > 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
>> > > > >
>> > > > > >
>> > > > > > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames
>> in
>> > a
>> > > > > > way
>> > > > > > similar to what you describe.
>> > > > > >
>> > > > > > -Adrian
>> > > > > >
>> > > > > > skip@thedevers wrote:
>> > > > > >
>> > > > > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I
>> have
>> > > > > > > lots
>> > > > > > > of
>> > > > > > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden
>> tag
>> > on
>> > > > > > > the
>> > > > > > > page
>> > > > > > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and
>> passed
>> > to
>> > > > > > > some
>> > > > > > > rendering code.
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in
>> > the
>> > > > > > > left
>> > > > > > > frame
>> > > > > > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
>> > > > > > > displayed
>> > > > > > > in
>> > > > > > > the right frame.
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path
>> to
>> > > > > > > the
>> > > > > > > html
>> > > > > > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with
>> ftl?
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the
>> > html
>> > > > > > > in a
>> > > > > > > directory to build the search table.
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the
>> > html
>> > > > > > > page (or
>> > > > > > > even if it is possible).
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table,
>> but
>> > > > > > > this
>> > > > > > > way for
>> > > > > > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the
>> html
>> > > > > > > standalone.
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > > Skip
>> > > > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> > > > > > > Checked by AVG.
>> > > > > > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release
>> Date:
>> > > > > > > 4/4/2008
>> > > > > > > 8:23 AM
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > > > >
>> > > > >
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> > No virus found in this incoming message.
>> > Checked by AVG.
>> > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
>> 4/9/2008
>> > 4:20 PM
>> >
>> >
>> > No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> > Checked by AVG.
>> >
>> > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.11/1368 - Release Date:
>> 4/9/2008
>> > 4:20 PM
>> >
>> >
>>
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>>
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date:
>> 4/11/2008
>>
>> 4:59 PM
>>
>>
>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>> Checked by AVG.
>>
>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.12/1374 - Release Date:
>> 4/11/2008
>> 4:59 PM
>>
>>
>

Jacques Le Roux

Re: Loading Raw HTML

Administrator

In reply to this post by Jacopo Cappellato-3

From: "Jacopo Cappellato" <[hidden email]>
> But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve
> the machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
> For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields
> of an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used
> by form definitions to create online tips for the user.

Yes this is interesting too...

> Jacopo
>
> On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
>> Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
>> multiple
>> html files, one for each language.
>> - Bruno
>>
>> 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
>>>
>>> I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
>>> I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
>>> application that
>>> could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
>>> private help
>>> pages.
>>> The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a
>>> whole
>>> in the help application.
>>> The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
>>> that could
>>> present information about the release installed.
>>> In this my contribution attached to
>>> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
>>> could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
>>>
>>> I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
>>> - Bruno
>>>
>>> 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
>>>>
>>>> Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in
>>>> a way
>>>> similar to what you describe.
>>>>
>>>> -Adrian
>>>>
>>>> skip@thedevers wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
>>>>> lots
>>>>> of
>>>>> help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag
>>>>> on the
>>>>> page
>>>>> with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed to
>>>>> some
>>>>> rendering code.
>>>>>
>>>>> I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in the
>>>>> left
>>>>> frame
>>>>> and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
>>>>> displayed
>>>>> in
>>>>> the right frame.
>>>>>
>>>>> My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to the
>>>>> html
>>>>> file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
>>>>>
>>>>> I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the html
>>>>> in a
>>>>> directory to build the search table.
>>>>>
>>>>> I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the html
>>>>> page (or
>>>>> even if it is possible).
>>>>>
>>>>> Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
>>>>> this
>>>>> way for
>>>>> me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
>>>>> standalone.
>>>>>
>>>>> Skip
>>>>> No virus found in this outgoing message.
>>>>> Checked by AVG.
>>>>> Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
>>>>> 4/4/2008
>>>>> 8:23 AM
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>

Bruno Busco

Re: Loading Raw HTML

Have done some work on this here:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1750

-Bruno

2008/4/12, Jacques Le Roux <[hidden email]>:

>
> From: "Jacopo Cappellato" <[hidden email]>
>
> > But before we go on with this, I think we should consider to improve
> > the machanism and content about the meta data information in OFBiz.
> > For example: it is already possible to add a description to the fields
> > of an entity; we could add attributes to let the information be used by
> > form definitions to create online tips for the user.
> >
>
> Yes this is interesting too...
>
> Jacopo
> >
> > On Apr 10, 2008, at 7:11 AM, Bruno Busco wrote:
> >
> > > Of course the help system should consider the locale and handle
> > > multiple
> > > html files, one for each language.
> > > - Bruno
> > >
> > > 2008/4/10, Bruno Busco <[hidden email]>:
> > >
> > > >
> > > > I like very much the idea of having an user help integrated.
> > > > I was thinking about it as a completely independent ofbiz
> > > > application that
> > > > could scan (at build time) all ofbiz enabled applications for
> > > > private help
> > > > pages.
> > > > The collected help pages could be sorted/indexed and presented as a
> > > > whole
> > > > in the help application.
> > > > The help application could also integrate an "About..." section
> > > > that could
> > > > present information about the release installed.
> > > > In this my contribution attached to
> > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-1700
> > > > could be integrated to show information about the SVN repository.
> > > >
> > > > I will be more than happy to contribute to this.
> > > > - Bruno
> > > >
> > > > 2008/4/9, Adrian Crum <[hidden email]>:
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Look at the Webtools Entity Reference page - it uses two frames in
> > > > > a way
> > > > > similar to what you describe.
> > > > >
> > > > > -Adrian
> > > > >
> > > > > skip@thedevers wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > I want to do a rudimentary, quick-and-dirty help system. I have
> > > > > > lots
> > > > > > of
> > > > > > help files already written in html. I want to add a hidden tag
> > > > > > on the
> > > > > > page
> > > > > > with helpfilename, have the html file name looked up and passed
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > some
> > > > > > rendering code.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I then want a frame based page with fixed index and search in
> > > > > > the left
> > > > > > frame
> > > > > > and the html file whose name was retrieved from the database
> > > > > > displayed
> > > > > > in
> > > > > > the right frame.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > My question is, can I make a widget that I can pass the path to
> > > > > > the
> > > > > > html
> > > > > > file and have it displayed. Alternately, can I do it with ftl?
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I'll write a keyword indexing service that will scan all the
> > > > > > html in a
> > > > > > directory to build the search table.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I just don't know how to write a widget that will display the
> > > > > > html
> > > > > > page (or
> > > > > > even if it is possible).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Some may like the idea of storing the help text in a table, but
> > > > > > this
> > > > > > way for
> > > > > > me is simpler and cleaner, and I can easily distribute the html
> > > > > > standalone.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Skip
> > > > > > No virus found in this outgoing message.
> > > > > > Checked by AVG.
> > > > > > Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.22.5/1359 - Release Date:
> > > > > > 4/4/2008
> > > > > > 8:23 AM
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > >
> >