Help file

[sheldon]

Hi,

First thing I want to note, as a sideline, is that OpenDental\Main Modules\FormOpenDental.cs doesn't conform to the Coding Standard as there are a number of lines which are indented using spaces rather than tabs as required.

I came across that while making a change as follows:

Name of help file

The helpfile should be called "OpenDental Help.chm" rather than just "Help.chm". (Think about every app on your drive calling their help file the same thing...)

Rather than hard-code that I propose simply adding the following declaration:

Code: Select all

		private System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem menuItemHelpWindows;
+		private string helpFileName = "OpenDental Help.chm";

so we modify:

Code: Select all

			if(CultureInfo.CurrentCulture.TwoLetterISOLanguageName=="en"){
				menuItemTranslation.Visible=false;
			}
-			if(!File.Exists("Help.chm")){
+			if(!File.Exists(helpFileName)){
				menuItemHelpWindows.Visible=false;

and

Code: Select all

		private void menuItemHelpWindows_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) {
			try{
-				Process.Start("Help.chm");
+				Process.Start(helpFileName);

Help menu layout

I think the Help menu should be laid out a little differently to better conform to UI guidelines as follows

Contents
-
Online Help - Contents
Online Help - Index
-
Online Support
-
Update

This can easily be achieved with declarations of the form:

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		private System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem menuItemHelpSeparator1;

and adding disabling code to match like this:

Code: Select all

			if(!File.Exists(helpFileName)){
				menuItemHelpWindows.Visible=false;
+				menuItemHelpSeparator1.Visible = false;
			}

Alternate text might be "OpenDental Help"

If you'd like, I can provide a patch file against head. I'd assume you'd prefer a unified rather than context diff?

[mowgli]

The lines of code you're referring to must be very old, because I doubt that the Help.chm file posted on the website has been used by anyone for a long time, since it is 4 years old and therefore extremely outdated. I also doubt that anyone will wish to update it due to security issues with CHM files, causing Microsoft to issue patches blocking them from being opened over a network. And the compiler doesn't care either whether they are spaces or tabs. Maybe it's time to rem out those lines.

[jordansparks]

I have removed the help file from our website so that people won't use it. It's far too outdated.

[sheldon]

So you're planning to drop support for local help entirely?

I know that help file is old and out dated. I've just been updating it and was fixing the relevant bits of code.

I thought the way forward would be to update the help file and keep the manual up to date as part of the project. Writing/updating documentation is a good way for people to get familiar and involved in a project fairly quickly and easily. They don't necessarily have to be programmers to do so, either. By doing this:
- its easy to have the manual reflect the version in use on the workstation in question
- manual content can be more easily contributed to
- when new features are added, the documentation can be updated without effecting the current on-line version. Contributors can add documentation content to reflect their work.

The on-line help can be generated from the same set of files (its all html).

On the subject of security, the file is open source (ie readily scrutinized) and hopefully trusted by the user. After all, they're already trusting the code which has far more potential for security problems. Recent patches for html help prevent remote access but that isn't the issue here as the content can and should be made local. It is also still possible to view CHMs on the local network if you've set your security zones to permit that.

[jordansparks]

Oh, I didn't know you were trying to get it up-to-date. As people have moved to higher speed internet connections, the requests for local help have dropped very significantly in the last few years. There is still demand for a printed manual, but just not much demand for a help file installed locally. It's just as easy to go to the web. As for automatically generating the online content, that is not a priority. We have attempted to do that multiple times. It sounds simple, but it's just not. Yes, I know anything is possible, but we are not currently willing to invest the time an energy to make that work. We can accomplish far more by investing that same energy into improvements in the software.