Outlook: Email to Calendar

In Yahoo webmail it is easy to add an email to the calendar.   Figure out how to do this in Outlook.

Help & Manual Publishing Issue Suggestions

Note to readers:  I really like Help & Manual.  It is an outstanding help-authoring tool.  I have been a satisfied user since January 2002.  Their technical support is excellent.

This post is part of a technical support discussion.  I’m trying to be clear.  No offense intended!  I highly recommend Help & Manual to anyone looking for a help authoring program.

 

Recommended Changes

1. Explicit Notification of Topics Not In The TOC

While I now understand that the ability to have different Builds for the TOC and .xml “flavors” of a given topic is considered a feature, I suggest that is appropriate only for advanced users.  If someone’s primary job is writing documentation it’s probably useful and powerful.  But I think it is a bug for novices and occasional users like me.  The default behavior had me publishing unseen, unwanted content.  For me, this is the definition of a bug.

This is a screenshot from your homepage.

Like a word processor and thousands of pages?  Looks great!  Let’s do it!  I set up the project carefully and logically, separating content in both the TOC and the Project Files.  I now understand that I was wrong but I don’t apologize for my initial expectation.  “Like a word processor” and “Thousands of pages”, plus the fact the navigator is called “Explorer”, had me expecting that it would be impossible for the files under
   Topics/UserGuide
to in any way influence anything in, say
   Topics/Overview
It was a shock to me to realize that as far as publishing goes, there are no Topics folders.  They are meaningless for controlling content.  This is quite different from all other Windows programs I can think of that use folder organization.

“Did you read the help?”  “Not much, until I had problems.  What I needed to know isn’t in there anyway: ‘Our folders are not like most every other Windows program you have ever used.’”

“But previous versions worked like this too.”  “That was centuries ago in internet time.  I don’t recall.  My help projects were simpler anyway.  I probably never ran into an issue.”

While I think that the “different Builds for TOC and xml topic feature” should be disabled by default for the benefit of novices and occasional users, that is a significant change.  An acceptable temporary/permanent solution is notification to the user something like this.

A notification like this probably would have saved me many hours.  Clicking on “What does this mean?” should bring up the following.

2. Build & Folders Overview in Help

Maybe pointing to existing Help topic(s) is enough, and maybe not.  The notification of non-TOC topics may have been enough for me to figure out what was happening.

Help & Manual Publishing Issue

H&M version information.

Two people are working on the same H&M project on two computers.  Subversion syncs our work. The project has 10 Custom Builds for the different documents we will publish.  I want to make a .chm of my Overview document (OVERVIEW Build) to view my latest work …

… but I get a bunch of compiler messages.

 

This never happened before.  The other person tried it and it happens on his computer too.  Hummm…  Investigating, yes the offending topic Test Files is only in the USERGUIDE build.  No problem here.

The other person recently added the topic Test Files.  If it is in the wrong Topics folder, could that be a problem?  No, it is in the expected folder.  No problem here.

Then I noticed it didn’t have a Custom Build, and neither do a lot of other topics in this folder.

 

Huh???  I confirm that the Builds for topic Test Files are different in the Table of Contents vs the Project Files.  The Builds are also different for the topic Viewing Output Types.  (I would like to check more topics but it is difficult to do because H&M does not provide TOC / Project Files mapping.  The feature request is already in the Wish List.  See  http://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewtopic.php?t=9348)

 

Looking around and thinking, I may have an idea how this happened.  We initially populated this H&M project with imports from Word, XML Spy and Dr. Explain.  Next we figured out how to make the separate final documents we need, assigning the Custom Builds.  Since then we have been editing.  It looks like all the Build-out-of-sync topics were created in H&M.  In the TOC they “inherit” the Build but they don’t as XML files in Project Files.  Of the topics we have added in H&M it looks like topic Test Files is the first containing links.

Getting rid of the Compiler Message errors is not hard:  Right-click Test_Files.xml and change “Include in Builds” from “All Builds” to “USERGUIDE”.  But IMO this bug should be fixed for two reasons.

1. As a H&M user it seems impossible to me that TOC topics are in any way different from Project Files topics.

2. So far the Build difference has not affected the final output; I have just seen warnings in Compiler Messages.  But when our 30 documentation products (10 Builds @ 1 each CHM, PDF and HTML) are part of our auto build process, how do I have confidence that SomeRandomTopic.xml, Build USERGUIDE in the TOC but “All Builds” in Project Files, won’t suddenly decide to show up in all 30 products?  I have been writing software a long time and have made a lot of mistakes.  ;-)  On the surface this looks to be a “Multiple Sources of Input” error, a technique I have used to create intermittent, hard-to-debug errors…   ;-)

Thanks.

Help & Manual 5 Suggestions

A. “Insert new Topic or Chapter” Dialog Box

1. Change title from “Insert new …” to “Insert New …”

2. Increase “Create in:” dropdown size to cut down on scrolling.

3. Fix focus after invocation by Shift+Alt+Ins.  The dialog box looks like it is ready for input because the Topic Heading is selected.  But keystrokes don’t go to the dialog box.

This focus problem doesn’t happen all the time.  I have not noticed a pattern yet.

 

B. Customize Quick Access Toolbar

I like to add frequently-used commands to programs’ Quick Access Toolbars.  For example this is my Word 2007 environment.  I would be more productive using H&M if any command could be added to H&M’s Quick Access Toolbar. 

Live Writer Blogger.com 400 Bad Request

By googling I found out Blogger doesn’t like special characters in Categories.

There is a log file available from the About box.

MS Live Writer Plug-Ins

Writer Extensions Home (Kinda messed up in Firefox)

To Try

Blog This for Firefox by MS

 

Plugs-Ins Used

Insert Code for Windows Live Writer seems to have problems.  First use.  Wanted to make the two filenames texty.  Writer:

As posted:

Source:

.CHW File Extension (Merged CHM Files Index)

I noticed HelpMan.chm has an apparently associated .chw, whatever that is…

HelpMan.chm
helpman.chw

 

http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/chw

Index file automatically generated when multiple Compiled HTML Help (.CHM) files are merged together; creates the Help table of contents and contains references to each CHM file.

The CHW file must be rebuilt each time any of the merged CHM files are updated; otherwise, the indexes will not merge correctly and the table of contents will not be valid; CHW files can be compressed using the KeyCHW program.

 

http://www.file-extensions.org/chw-file-extension

Functional comparable with .gid file. File extension probably used by Help application in older versions of Microsoft Windows (95/98).

 

http://www.downloadatoz.com/file-extensions/chw-file-extension.html

CHW is a Compiled Help Index File. This webpage includes following information: CHW description, user guides and software to open/edit CHW format file.

CHW file is index file automatically generated when multiple Compiled HTML Help (.CHM) files are merged together. CHW file creates the Help table of contents and contains references to each CHM file.

The CHW file must be rebuilt each time any of the merged CHM files are updated, otherwise, the indexes will not merge correctly and the table of contents will not be valid.

Open CHW File on Windows:

• Microsoft Help
• Help File Explorer
• HTML Help Utilities

Firefox CHM Reader 0.2.3

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3235

TOC didn’t show up on first open.  How to view it.

These Tab Mix Plus context menu items will be very useful. 

Contribute to Tab Mix Plus.

Wire Bending

http://home.earthlink.net/~bazillion/tooling.html

http://www.duluthtrading.com/28011.aspx
http://store.allstainedglass.com/hanwirtool.html
http://www.micromark.com/ECONOMICAL-STRIP-AND-WIRE-BENDING-JIG,7070.html
http://www.micromark.com/VISE-MOUNTED-WIRE-BENDER,7044.html
http://www.micromark.com/BENDING-MACHINE,7739.html
http://www.micromark.com/UNIVERSAL-BENDER,8229.html
http://www.micromark.com/METAL-FORMING-PLIERS-SET-OF-4,7068.html
http://www.micromark.com/LARGE-and-SMALL-WIRE-LOOP-PLIER-SET,6930.html
http://www.micromark.com/WIRE-TWISTING-PLIER,9556.html
http://www.hobbylinc.com/prods/rap.htm
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/k+s/k+s326.htm

Gutters & Ice Problems

Heating (Gutters, Driveway & Sidewalks)

http://www.orbitmfg.com/

Roof Rake

http://www.roofrake.com/Productpages/roofrakemenu.asp
http://snowcutter.com/

Good Articles on Gutters

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/gutters-and-down-spouts.shtml
http://www.ronhazelton.com/archives/howto/low_maintenance_gutters.shtm
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/skill-builder/0,,211604,00.html

Since 2004 (From alt home repair newsgroup)

http://www.homegardenguides.com/garden-forum/home-repairs-forum/50147-removeable-gutters.html

 

Tilt ‘N Clean

Out of business a long time.

http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/*/http://www.tiltnclean.com
http://web.archive.bibalex.org/web/20020806203947/http://www.tiltnclean.com/

Ground Gutters

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/design-matters/ground-gutter
http://www.bluland.com/index.asp
http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/green-basics/water-management

DEV-T3400 Monitor Strangeness

9-Monitor Arrangement

Win7 is Confused!

UltraMon 3.0.8 Beta

A. Reboot after install; USBs added 1 at a time.  Win7 & UM monitor numbers are different.

B. After Restart without disconnecting USB adapters.

Different numbers.  UM Smart Taskbar did not show up on one monitor (Win7-#5 UM-#7).

C. Shutdown, Disconnected USBs, Start

Plugged in USB #4 before USB #3.  Different monitor numbers.

D. Shutdown, Disconnected USBs, Start

USBs connected #1 to #5 sequential.  Same as A.

Conclusion (For Now)

Shut the computer off then unplug the USBs.  Start computer & log on.  When fully up connect USBs sequentially #1 - #5. Hopefully the UM numbers will stay the same so profiles will work.

(1-1-10  Shutdown, Unplug USBs, Startup, Plug in USBs one at a time in order, has worked several times.  The monitor numbers are as expected, though Win7 and UM monitor #s differ.)

Multiple Monitor Mounting

Found from text in entries in the UltraMon Gallery.

Interesting channels etc.  http://www.quadvision.co.uk/ 

Florida company.  Some interesting tech articles.  http://www.quadstations.com/

Dr. Explain to Help & Manual

DrE “default html” to H&M “default import doesn’t look good.

Better Format Blogspot Blog

This blog isn’t fixed width.

http://ranaictiu-technicalblog.blogspot.com/ 

TDD article (how I found the blog from CodeProject)

http://ranaictiu-technicalblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/test-driven-development-tdd-step-by.html

Report says the leading cause of software project failures is complexity (Quote)

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/345994/The_No._1_Cause_of_IT_Failure_Complexity

Computerworld -  Is the problem a bad set of user requirements? Poor business alignment? No. According to software architect Roger Sessions, the primary cause of software project failures is complexity.

Complexity can create delays, cost overruns and systems that don't meet business needs, according to Sessions, who is chief technology officer at ObjectWatch Inc. and author of Simple Architectures for Complex Enterprises (Microsoft Press, 2008). "Our goal should be to design the least complex architecture possible that solves the business problem," he said in a report he released last month.  …

Sessions' remedy is a software design process called Simple Iterative Partitions, which "partitions business functions into subsystems" in a way that makes the overall system as simple and reliable as possible to achieve the business goal.

MS, Google & ActiveSync, Silverlight 4.0, Azure

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/10-things-Microsoft-did-wrong-in-2009/1261424173

10. Licensed ActiveSync to Google. Synchronization is the killer application for the connected world. So why in hell would Microsoft license its synchronization protocols to competitor Google? Perhaps someone at Microsoft saw advantage for Exchange Server. That's one way Google used ActiveSync, but not where the company got the real bang.

Immediately, Google used ActiveSync for e-mail, calendar and contact synchronization from its cloud services to iPhone and Windows Mobile handsets. Google also used the technology to provide Exchange Server sync with Google Apps, so that businesses could use the hosted service instead of Outlook. Sync is quickly defining Google's mobile handset and mobile cloud strategies, and Microsoft helped move it along faster. How dumb is that?

http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/10-things-Microsoft-did-right-in-2009/1261377163

10. Debuted Silverlight 4.0. Microsoft continued making its nearly annual updates to Silverlight, releasing v4 beta during Professional Developers Conference 2009. Sadly, Silverlight 4.0 was the only real light coming out of PDC. Internet Explorer 9 is vaporware and Azure has morphed into last year's Amazon Web Services. But Silverlight promises Adobe AIR-like capabilities, support for microphones and Webcams, standalone Silverlight containers and better HTML support, including HTTP streaming, among other new features. A good thing is getting even better.

SharePoint Setup

Help File Technology Stuff

http://www.helixoft.com/images/stories/vsdocman/help/index.html?view_and_deploy_help__manual_d.htm

VSDocman and Help & Manual

… The recommended way of authoring with H&M is to create one master documentation in H&M. Then you generate API documentation with VSdocman and include it into the master documentation. This needs to be done only once. After that, you can generate API documentation with VSdocman any time, without need to open H&M. When the help is ready to be published, just open master document in H&M and publish it. VSdocman already comes with preset master documentation. It is located in Templates\HaM\MSDN_master_project\MasterProject.hmxp. It contains detailed instructions how to use it. …

Deploying Help2 (Visual Studio help)

… H&M generates correct Help2 (.HxS) file. When you publish VS help output in H&M, this file is registered under specified namespace as title. But that's all. Even Document Explorer which automatically opens after publishing is empty. You need to correctly register your help to see it in VS help, whether on your or other computer.

Hosting

Hosting vs In-House

http://www.desaware.com/support/faq/licensing/hosting.aspx

Hosting services and hosted dedicated machines generally provide a higher level of both security and reliability than most businesses (especially small businesses) can achieve in-house. Nevertheless you should take precautions. Hosting services do experience disasters and financial problems (as do any business).

• Keep frequent local backups of your hosted database.
• Do not use a fixed IP address or subweb of the hosted domain. Better to use a subdomain of a domain name that you own and set up your DNS to direct to your hosted IP. This allows you to redirect license activations to any machine.
• Buy your domain name from a domain registrar, not a hosting service, and be sure you own the domain name.

 

Exchange Hosts

http://www.vpsland.com/plans.html
http://www.intermedia.net/  + other hosting, good help.

Microsoft Hosting Partners