Main
Index 		Search
Posts 		Who's
Online 		Log
In

Home: Discontinued/Classic Products: DocBuilder:
Questions about DocBuilder integration... etc.

 
 


njcajun
Novice

Dec 29, 2003, 5:52 AM

Post #1 of 4 (5596 views)
Shortcut
Questions about DocBuilder integration... etc. Can't Post
Hi,

From what I can tell/see, DocBuilder is exactly what I envisioned for my very simple documentation site. However, I do have a few questions that I haven't seen answered in the docbuilder part of the site:

1. What are the system requirements to be able to use the wysiwyg editor? The demo didn't show me the wysiwyg editor, and I was using Mozilla Firebird on Mac OS X at the time. Guess I shouldn't really expect a wacky combo like *that* to work, but I'd like to know the requirements, because I like that feature. If it's IE-only, I'll have to pass :-(

2. I run a publicly accessible doc repository. I don't really want to force people to log in to read the docs. I only want to force a login to add/modify/delete the docs. 99.999% of the time, I'll be the only one doing that. Is it possible to only prompt for a login if you're trying to do something other than read/download a doc?

3. What is this written in (HTML/JS/PHP/ASP...)? I ask because I'd like to integrate DocBuilder into a larger site, which will likely be written in PHP (by me). How difficult will it be to build things around DB? Can I put links in the left-hand menu that are arbitrary links to different parts of the site/different sites, etc?

4. Does DB require a database of any kind? My host is a LAMP provider.

My site is linuxlaboratory.org. It currently runs postnuke, which is overkill for my needs, but I'd like to keep my logo banner and general theme. Is this dreadfully difficult? I can probably handle any simple editing tasks if the code needed to do so is available to me. I'm not a huge JavaScript guy, though. PHP is my primary language.

Thanks!!


Donna
Staff / Moderator


Dec 29, 2003, 10:10 AM

Post #2 of 4 (5588 views)
Shortcut
Re: [njcajun] Questions about DocBuilder integration... etc. [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi ncajun!

Thanks for your email. :)

1. The WYSIWYG editor only works in IE5.5+ on the PC. Microsoft introduced some functionality that we use in the WYSIWYG editor into their IE 5.5 browser in the PC version only.

2. There is no login prompt for the published documentation unless you add it to your server. Logins are only required if you want to log into DocBuilder itself, not the published content.

3. All of our software is written in Perl, but we have full templates available so that you can totally modify the pages as much as you need. You can certainly add additional links to other parts of your site.

4. DocBuilder uses a flatfile database, so it doesn't require any additional software to be installed.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. :)

Donna

--
support@interactivetools.com


njcajun
Novice

Dec 29, 2003, 10:41 AM

Post #3 of 4 (5585 views)
Shortcut
Re: [Donna] Questions about DocBuilder integration... etc. [In reply to] Can't Post
In Reply To
1. The WYSIWYG editor only works in IE5.5+ on the PC. Microsoft introduced some functionality that we use in the WYSIWYG editor into their IE 5.5 browser in the PC version only.

I'm sad. I don't use Windows, and wouldn't use IE even if I did. I'm not some crazy zealot, I just hate IE (well, I don't particularly care for windows either). Not to mention I'd hear a ration of crap if I made my writers use Windows to write docs for a Linux-oriented site. You can't imagine how many hits a day come from 'netcraft.com', just to see if I'm running my site on the OS I advocate on the site. This is a deal-breaker for me, unfortunately.

However, if my assumption that htmlArea provides the wysiwyg part of things is true, and that htmlArea 3.0 will eventually be integrated into later versions of docbuilder, then someday maybe I can use it, since it appears that the 3.0 beta supports Mozilla 1.3+. Is this something that's in the works?

In Reply To

4. DocBuilder uses a flatfile database, so it doesn't require any additional software to be installed.

Is this BerkleyDB by chance? Just curious.

In Reply To


I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. :)

Everything about this seems really perfect, except for the wysiwyg part. :(

Thanks for your helpful reply.
brian


Donna
Staff / Moderator


Dec 29, 2003, 10:53 AM

Post #4 of 4 (5584 views)
Shortcut
Re: [njcajun] Questions about DocBuilder integration... etc. [In reply to] Can't Post
Hi njcajun! Good to hear from you. :)

No problem, I understand the IE thing. :) However, the site does degrade nicely back to an autoformatted text area for users who aren't using IE5.5+.

Yes, htmlArea is the WYSIWYG editor, and eventually once version 3 is up and running to our standards, we'll have a WYSIWYG editor that works in Mozilla.

As for the database, we use a custom flatfile database, not BerkleyDB.

Let me know if you have any other questions. :)

Donna

--
support@interactivetools.com