32 replies to this topic

[MJ_]

Hi Son Seeker,

Have you tried using Tool Tip Tool to make your modules? I am sure that the hanging bullet points work.

Not upgrading to 10.1, you will miss out on new modules that has images.

thanks

For me, I'm not sure that I have seen a good example of the utilization of pictures in modules. What modules are here that would showcase that capability.

[APsit190]

I haven't seen anything that makes me want to stay with v9.

But I have seen a few things that cause concern. You are right--the control does have bugs and "unpredictable" things do happen. The control has some bugs that are difficult to replicate. But others are easy to replicate. For example, the control will throw an error and produce garbled RTF when you have a certain combination of cells in a table.

Also, the RTF input/output from the control is not always standard RTF. That's concerning for me because what happens if the third party company goes out of business? You then have modules for a control that doesn't exist. You are at their mercy, both in terms of features like drag and drop and whatever else they choose to do or not do. I've noticed far fewer bugs with other file formats, like doc or docx. Is RTF a priority for them?

Also, I'm unimpressed with their technical support and response to bugs (which makes me wonder, are they in business for the long term?). Response to technical support questions (where a 24 hour turn around is promised) is dismal.

Hi Josh,
On that, I'm wondering just how advanced Rick Meyers is as a programmer. The reason is because of what he has so far done with e-Sword is really good, and if that is the case, I'm wondering if he has be technical programming skills to create his own Rich Text and other Controls for e-Sword and use them instead of what he has put on.

I just dunno where these thoughts come from

Blessings,

[Son seeker]

Adding the pictures gives a nice touch but takes away at the same time. For me, I don't use pictures in the editor. For the most part I just want to use text and format my notes and make appealing to the eye as well.

My sentiments exactly :-)

[DSaw]

How hard (Time consuming) would it be to switch from RTF to DOC and would it be worth it to eSword users if Rick Switched

[BH.]

I'm late on this topic, but I now have some experience with "Text Control" which is used in e-Sword because I use it in "ToolTip Tool NT" (T4). Drag-and-drop is a single bit to enable and I'm able to copy and paste between T3 and T4, and T3 does not use Text Control, but Microsofts RTF control. Note - I'm using v17 of Text Control and e-Sword is using v16, so there may be differences. But in v17 it is a trivial addition to enable drag-n-drop.

As for the suggestion that one can write their own RTF control. Sure! We will check back in a few years to see how they have progressed! This stuff is not trivial. Why re-invent the wheel.

Because of how e-Sword controls the fonts and colors, RTF was used and data must conform to a certain specification, which makes WYSIWYG editors more difficult. If Rick were to switch to DOC file instead of RTF, which "Text Control" can do, the whole data structure would change, and all modules would need to be remade.

[Josh Bond]

Brent,

You're saying that Rick just enable an option in the text control to get drag and drop working? I didn't think it was available at all. If that's the case, I have no answer for why drag and drop copy and pasting is not currently available in e-Sword.

[BH.]

Brent,

You're saying that Rick just enable an option in the text control to get drag and drop working? I didn't think it was available at all. If that's the case, I have no answer for why drag and drop copy and pasting is not currently available in e-Sword.

The API calls are "AllowDrag" and "AllowDrop". That's it. Try it in T4. Try it between T4 and another program. Does it work? It works here. Just dragged and dropped from Wordpad. Back and forth from T3. Now - there may be more reasons that I have not considered why it is not turned on in e-Sword.

Edited by BH., 17 May 2012 - 11:36 AM.

[jonathon]

How hard (Time consuming) would it be to switch from RTF to DOC

RTF is the documentated part of the DOC specification.

The smarter decision would be to switch to HTML 5.0 and CSS 3.0.

Every layout engine I've seen has been either proprietary, or GPL or LGPL. The latter two licenses are incompatible with the e-Sword license. Proprietary engines usually require a licensing fee.

and would it be worth it to eSword users if Rick Switched

As a presentation markup language, I don't see any virtues in switching to DOC. Or, for that matter, ODF.

I do see some virtues in switching to OSIS, and ThML. The downside of switching to those to formats, is that, AFAIK, Rick would have to write the layout engine from scratch. Given the known issues with the ThML and OSIS specifications, writing the engine will be, from a programming perspective, extremely non-trivial. Furthermore, it is non-trivial to adapt those formats to usage within a database.

I see a greater virtue in switching to HTML 5.0, and related standards. However, I am not aware of a BSD licensed web engine. Whilst writing one from scratch is possible, maintance and bug-fixing could be distractions from working on e-Sword as a whole.

jonathon

[DoctorDaveT]

I drag and drop into T4 all the time. I do some module work with my WordProcessor (ahem), and then drag and drop into T4 for final module editing.

[DoctorDaveT]

I can drag and drop from T4 into my WordProcessor, too. Just double checked to make sure.