suggestion for improving help

hey all!

new to construct, great program, been heavily trying it out for a week or two

but im finding it hard to find the basic things i need.

so here some suggestions what could be helpfull

i would like to see an comparisment between normal code typing and eventcoding

how do they compare, and how do you arrange things

how is everything translated and in what order IF .... && .... while .. break loop

like how would you put this in events

for (var i=0; i < targets.Length; i++)

some basic examples of use

loop examples - while - for - or

working with multiple object creation, what do you need to know

unique id examples and when do you use them

a how to? section > like a f.a.q (keeping it short and direct, no tutorials)

how to spawn two enemy's with different speedsetting from the same object

condition(s) > actions and maybe a cap attachement

• how to spawn ten different enemy's
• how to random choose between execution of action

all code snippets that can be used in different cases, and this could grow fast thru the community

because it doesn't take as much time as a complete tutorial.

its hard to open all kind off caps to see is there some code you need or could use

thx

+ Repeat target.Length times

Set Text to Loopindex

But yeah, what you describe could be useful to everyone out there!

i thread making thread 4 exactly what you discribed. however....well someone else has to do it.

>>but im finding it hard to find the basic things i need.

100% agree. We could really use some basic examples of how to do basic stuff with loops, events, etc... The current problem is that the same types of things are answered over and over again in the forumns, but are never put into a resonable form in the Wiki. For example, there are lots of great examples of how to use the particle object, but no one bothered to make a Wiki entry for it. ????

Same goes with Events and Else conditions. Someone did a great post on it, but that isn't in the wiki (to my knowledge).

I was hoping to try to put a few things together just as you described, but there are many here that could do even better than me. We need many people to help with documentation. After all this is a community effort!!

as i do think the wiki is the best way to make a list, its harder to update and less interactive, as you need a different login, and do you need some kind off admin rights?

it could be cool even that someone just puts an event that he/she dont know how to do it ,

and later some experts just fill the blanks ,

but at the same time its important thats it stays clean and to the point

maybe the devs can make a sticky forum post where you can post a long list of things you dont know how to do, and hopefully that gets answered, and this post is put in de wiki list,

thats gonne need some cleaning, as some things will be the same, but i think its the best way,

also expert can make there own list of code snippets

just thinking out loud here...

As for me, off-line help (in PDF, .chm or even .exe ) is much better. For example, one big PDF is better than many wiki-pages.

Why not to release a new version of Construct with a new version of help? Then - new features in Construct + new information in help. By following this way an ordinary user will grow with Construct, his or her knowledge will also grow the same way.

For Construct guru -> a special chapter(s) in help.

just my opinion.

Problem is that SOMEONE has to write the extensive documentation. Moreover, Construct is still in development; even though it is reaching the final stage, the numerous changes can warrant corrections or even complete rewrites. So it kind of makes sense to wait until the 1.0 RC before cranking the proper documentation out.

Of course, the other theory is that we are too lazy.

Of course, the other theory is that we are too lazy.

Yes, or too busy. I think for the most part Construct is stable in regards to basic stuff so we could probably add some more there, but yeah a polished FAQ would be well timed for the 1.0 RC. It is amazing how time consuming even simple documentation is.

If only I could get paid to write a manual...

My theory is "We dont have time" but "Time is money" thus giving someone money he finds time to help you . But yeah "How to..." would be nice here.

I will try to write something useful. It wouldn't be often.

I totally agree and asked same question before having read this post.

I think documentation is more important then keep pushing forward with more features.

What is so hard about ----make feature---- document feature----

---add doc to pdf----add pdf to download?

Its not up to community to document features...developer knows whats what when making.

Developer needs to set priority to slow down and do this right (correctly).

Yes new features are good and welcomed but how much more could be gained if we got

direct doc input from Developers as features are implimented? In depth with Developers

inside knowledge we would be educated and well informed from a reliable source and be

more capable of contributing with the correct knowledge in a collected and organized form.

[quote:c7ugq1xg]What is so hard about ----make feature---- document feature----

---add doc to pdf----add pdf to download?

well it certainly is more work than just making the feature.

Documentation IS work. I really believe the community could help there, and the devs can focus on fixing bugs

Writing good documentation is actually very time consuming. Since us devs are volunteers working in our spare time, writing documentation means not working on the code or fixing bugs. The idea behind community-documentation is it doesn't require so much technical skill as the coding does, and saves developer's time. Some people have helped out with the wiki which is cool, but it's true it doesn't see much activity.

Being a 'newbie' to Construct myself I too would like to see some sort of pdf file as I like to read printed stuff and have them to have as reference.

PDF manual: