Dictionary Edits, post edit suggestions here

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Since I've been working on the IDE again lately I've noted a few more things that need fixing with the Dictionary.

So I'm going to rebuild the non-dynamic database part of the dictionary again.

If you know of any entrees that need fixing, are inaccurate or are missing important information you can post about them in this thread and I'll fix/include the changes in the new sqlite file.

Here's some examples just off the top of my head that have bothered me recently:

The glossary entrees for single line comment should mention that the double-dash '--' has historically been used for single line comments with xTalk, and should link the the 'keyword' entree for "--". Also one or both of these entrees should probably mention that there has also keyboard-combos (Cmd/Ctrl + '-' and Cmn/Ctrl + shift + '- ') that have historically been used to comment/uncomment the selected lines of a script.

Theres no keyword entry for "\\*" multi-line block comments and the glossary entree doesn't tell you what characters to use. We probably all already take these things for granted here, but a new user isn't going to know them.

There's no separate entree for window (wd) or 'the windows' which in OXT are treated as if they're simply synonyms for 'stack' and 'the openStacks'. That seems odd to me because IIRC that's not how HyperTalk used these terms. A window is not a stack, just as a card is not a stack. They have WindowID properties that come from the OS's window manager and on macOS a I know a stack's rectangle is different than the actual bounding rect of the window it's displayed in (I know this from using Builder/FFI/ObjC/NSWindow, see 'getNSWindowFrameRect( pWindowID ) in macOS tools) but I digress... There should be entrees for 'windows', even if they're essentially duplicate information as 'stack' because if your'e coming to OXT from some other xTalk or some other dev system, you might be searching for 'the windows' instead of 'the openStacks'.

Entrees for 'Palette' incorrectly states you cannot resize a stack that's window is in 'palette' mode, I've proved this is not true. I wonder where that idea came from, because it wasn't true in HyperCard/classic macOS (where 'palette' originated as an XCMD external command included with the HC 'engine') either.

There' various other entrees I've noticed that are have 'disappeared' words in them, which actually has to do with references and links to other entrees, where the formatting or link word is incorrect/missing, but the missing words are in the original .lcdoc document with some sort of tag markers around them. These errors are hard to find / keep track of as this problem is scattered throughout the dictionary.

One thing I haven't noticed is any Entrees that still have 'branding' in them.

Anyway if you can point me in the direction of any dictionary errors, that'd be great.
Also if you think of any relevant computer, app dev, UI sort of words that you think should get glossary entrees we can consider adding those too.

[richmond62]

Since I've been working on the IDE again lately I've noted a few more things that need fixing with the Dictionary.

I have 2 comments:

1. The word 'few' may be generous.

2. A lot of the explanations are really bad cases of "preaching to the converted" in so far as any newcomers are going to have a tough time understanding them.

[tperry2x]

Theres no keyword entry for "\\*" multi-line block comments and the glossary entree doesn't tell you what characters to use. We probably all already take these things for granted here, but a new user isn't going to know them.

double-slash.png (5.67 KiB) Viewed 182 times

single-slash.png (4.33 KiB) Viewed 182 times

I always use a single forward slash / if block commenting, as a double produces the error above.
A backslash generates errors too:

back-slash.png (5.77 KiB) Viewed 181 times

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Also I'm always interested in Syntax from other xTalks that are not currently functional in OpenXTalk.
There's quite a few that are non-functional 'stubs' that are recognized by the interpreter, but don't actually do the thing the syntax was intended to do.

One of these that I think could easily be made functional is 'Answer Picture' which was available in SuperCard (I think Oracle MediaTalk had this form too). From SuperCard's docs, in its implementation the only difference between 'Answer Picture' and 'Answer File' is that the open file dialog box is already set up to only show files in importable graphics formats. I think we could simply lift the handler from revMenubar's 'Import Picture' menu item to do that. It might be cool to have a 'reference' or 'embed image' button in our Answer Picture.

[richmond62]

What might also be a good thing would be the ability to show pictures in Ask and Answer dialogues:
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baudrons.png (39.42 KiB) Viewed 178 times

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Theres no keyword entry for "\\*" multi-line block comments and the glossary entree doesn't tell you what characters to use. We probably all already take these things for granted here, but a new user isn't going to know them.

double-slash.png
single-slash.png

I always use a single forward slash / if block commenting, as a double produces the error above.
A backslash generates errors too:
back-slash.png

Ah! Well it was late, and it seems I wrote the wrong characters in my post. I'm not sure why I used double slashes when I wrote that either, maybe because I'm frequently looking at other coding languages?
But there is no entry for forward-slash /* or back-slash either, which is used for line continuation on next line. the spelled-out entree for the word 'backlash' only tells you it's a constant that represents the '\' character, but makes no mention of using it for line-continuation (which in other HyperTalk and some other xTalks the '¬' option+L character is used for that)

The point remains, the entree for that spelled-out as "block comment" doesn't tell you what characters the interpreter recognizes as must-line comment.

And while in there editing, there should also maybe be information about using block-comments to for the inline-documentation parser. Come to think of it that docs parser library should have some user interface made for it so that any script author can use that to document their handlers if they want to (not just people who know how to invoke it currently, which is only via the Extension Builder stack).

[richmond62]

Oddly enough I have never made a block comment.

-- I generally confine my comments to one-liners

[OpenXTalkPaul]

Oddly enough I have never made a block comment.

-- I generally confine my comments to one-liners

Up until I started to use the revDocs parser library to make inline docs, I don't think I ever used block comments before either. It's easier to select a block of text and the hit key-combo Cmd+'-' to comment every line of the selection all at once, and use command+shift+'-' to un-comment. I frequently use '--' that to disable lines of a script.

[OpenXTalkPaul]

What might also be a good thing would be the ability to show pictures in Ask and Answer dialogues:
-
baudrons.png

I agree, I feel like OXT is rather limited in its choice of pre-made dialog boxes. It would be nice to have a List-Select dialog also and some other the other sorts of dialogs that were once common. Back in HyperCard days you could use ResEdit with a 'DLOG' resource template to easily edit a custom dialog window, you could edit palettes that way too.

[tperry2x]

Ah! Well it was late, and it seems I wrote the wrong characters in my post. I'm not sure why I used double slashes when I wrote that either, maybe because I'm frequently looking at other coding languages?

Haha, that wasn't meant to be a criticism. I just wondered if I should be able to use \\* rather than /* and if it was something I was missing / doing wrong etc.
I always forget there's the other methods for commenting too:

comment-options.png (2.99 KiB) Viewed 134 times

... no mention of using it for line-continuation (which in other HyperTalk and some other xTalks the '¬' option+L character is used for that)

Yes, I still always use the ¬ for line continuation. (I suppose just habit from days gone by).

I have an issue on MacOS with the Quick Dictionary stack - seems to be dropping the SQL connection, whereas it remains open on Linux and on Windows. I wonder if you can have a look at that please, because I don't know enough about SQL databases to troubleshoot that one.

Which also leads me onto intersect in the dictionary. <-- Edit: TerryL has helped fix this

[OpenXTalkPaul]

I have an issue on MacOS with the Quick Dictionary stack - seems to be dropping the SQL connection, whereas it remains open on Linux and on Windows. I wonder if you can have a look at that please, because I don't know enough about SQL databases to troubleshoot that one.

Which also leads me onto intersect in the dictionary. <-- Edit: TerryL has helped fix this

Unfortunately, I don't know all that much about SQL databases (or DB stuff in general) either, I've always tended to convert those to some character delimited data (usually I was doing that for some variable data printing, VDP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_data_printing ). But that sounds like more of a communications or file reading error if its on local storage (like the sqlite that builds the dictionary docs).