Developers,
First of all, thank you all for your hard work on v3.2. I’ve been eagerly anticipating some of the new features like complex expressions and trigger looping. I know that everyone has put in lots of time to squash bugs, so again, thanks to everyone on behalf of the community.
I had to stop a previous project due to RealLife™ and now that I have the time, I’d like to convert this project to the new version before I continue. However, there doesn’t (or there didn’t, as of Monday) seem to be any solid documentation on how the expressions and the trigger looping could be implemented. Are there very specific ways that the expressions must be formatted for correct functionality? Are there Properties with which they do not “play nice”, such as $variable$ fields? Also, I was looking around the web site for some examples of how these new features could solve existing problems. How can they be incorporated into existing modules to make them easier to manage? What types of concrete “programming” problems will the alleviate?
I know that you just finished getting the beta out, and that everyone’s been working hard, so please don’t take this as a complaint. Is there a time frame projected for the additional documentation / usage examples? Will this be incorporated into the Designer’s Guide from the beginning, or will this be added later?
Thanks again, and great job!
Thus spake Rommel14:
I know that you just finished getting the beta out, and that everyone’s
been working hard, so please don’t take this as a complaint. Is there a
time frame projected for the additional documentation / usage examples?
Will this be incorporated into the Designer’s Guide from the beginning,
or will this be added later?
Most of the new features which are undocumented are Brent’s creations,
I believe; unfortunately, he’s been quite busy of late.
We do need people to document the new features, if not Brent, then
someone else.
–
J.
Now that the beta’s out, I was planning to update the designer guide (and user guide) for 3.2 to include documentation of all new features.
I can create online help in HTML format as well for the new screens.
I’d also like to do a general revision of the online help to bring it up to date. The screen shots and descriptive text are aging or obsolete in places.
Thus spake mycenae:
Now that the beta’s out, I was planning to update the designer guide
(and user guide) for 3.2 to include documentation of all new features.
I can create online help in HTML format as well for the new screens.
I’d also like to do a general revision of the online help to bring it up
to date. The screen shots and descriptive text are aging or obsolete in
places.
It would be great if you would.
–
J.
Mycenae and Uckelman,
Thanks for your comments. I was hoping that the Designer’s Guide was in the queue for updating.
I don’t have as much experience with module creation as some, but I have a good eye for detail. I’d be happy to help with some of the content updates and such. I may be moving at some point, but I don’t think it will be required immediately, so I should have some time. We’ll see if what I was told holds true–it’s changed at least once already. 
Mycenae - Is there some way I could help at present, given that I haven’t figured out how all the new features work yet? I know a reasonable amount about v3.1.19.
Uckelman - Do I need to “register” with you or Brent as a proofreader/content editor to help out in some way?
If you two have this covered, I understand, but I’m happy to help as my time/situation allows. Just let me know, and thanks again!
I expect to start the docs for 3.2 very soon. Still getting to know the new features. I’ll be glad to count on you to proofread and edit them after they’re ready to review.
If you’d like to help, you could take a look at the existing (3.1) designer’s guide, review and comment. That’s the basis for the 3.2 docs, so if we can improve it, we will have a much stronger doc set for 3.2. Then, when the 3.2 updates are ready, you will only need to review the new sections.
Does that work?
-Ed
Mycenae,
Thanks for the ideas. Sure, that sounds like a plan. I have noticed a number of old / incomplete / ambiguous references or paragraphs in the actual help files also, so I’ll try to look at that as I have time as well. Some of that may not be an issue any more.
How should I contact you with updates and revision info? Should I send you a PM or post everything here? What would you prefer and what would make more sense?
Thanks again for the opportunity to help. I’m looking forward to contributing as much as I can.
Great! I think posting corrections to the help in the forum could get spammy. Probably better to PM them to me as you find them, or even email, which I will PM you with.
Hm, tried to PM you, but the forum is telling me you’ve disabled PMs…Is that correct?
I’ve had some bad experiences in other fora with leaving PM set to ON all the time–sorry about that. I see that your PM box is on. I’ll drop you a quick note with my contact info.