[Wiki suggestion] API documentation

[jim87]

Hello!

Even if a lot of methods are described in the intelli-sense system, a large number of them, or a general description of the namespaces are still missing. My idea is thus to fill the wiki with the HB documentation, updating it from version to version (looking at the changelog).

I'd need some help though:
1. A list of HB base namespaces (there is not only Styx unfortunately ), as I don't know all of them.
2. Someone who wants to help me

I'd suggest to follow a template doing this, as the developer should be able to recognize it and scroll to read for what he's looking for (if we don't use a template, the developer has to read all the text all the times). Any suggestion is welcome.

 

[CodenameG]

if you have your project setup correctly, in the soultion explorer just click on refrences to expand it, then right click on honorbuddy.exe and then click "View in Object Browser"
from there you can search for whatever api you need or just browse though it, theres really no need to list EVERYTHING.

 

[jim87]

Well, but my project is thought with 3 ideas in mind:

1. detect and fill the missing documentation
2. correct old documentation
3. have a general and easy "search for" list, i.e. CTRL+F kind_a_method and see if there is something similar, without having to know in which namespace it is...

I'm trying to create an XSLT file for the Honorbuddy.xml file, but it's not easy as even if there are all the informations we need, somes are stored in strings like namespace.class.method (with P, M or T behind them, which I'm trying to understand what they are for).

 

[Smarter]

I would suggest documenting the API for Intellisense before adding anything to the Wiki.

 

[jim87]

But we can't*, users, document the Intellisense. All what we can do is to document, via arguments explanation and simple examples, the methods on the wiki.

*we probably can editing the Honorbuddy.xml file, but we should at least know how to format it

 

[chinajade]

I would suggest documenting the API for Intellisense before adding anything to the Wiki.

I like Jim87's energy, but believe Intellisense, not the Wiki, is the right place for the information, also.

If you've developed with Honorbuddy for even a few months, you realize that things are always moving around, and changing how they work. They introduce new ways of doing things and deprecate the old. There is simply no way for the Community to keep on top of all this, and keep it up-to-date.

To name a few just in the last year:

• we've moved from a 'pulse' system of CC development to a Behavior Tree model
• we've been given 'behaviors' that the Community can extend
• the way settings are processed and stored (for everything) have changed
• all the helpful screenshots and descriptions for newbies are outdated because the GUI was fundamentally changed

The Wiki is open for everyone to publish information they feel appropriate, of course. Just look in yourself, and if you can't keep it up-to-date, the information becomes misleading or outright wrong. This is a lesson that's taken me a year to discover.

An example of this, is the description of many of the behaviors in the Wiki are stale or outright incorrect. This information was correct when it was written, but behaviors have changed so much since January of this year.

Jim87 is absolutely right of course in that the Intellisense file is not ours to control. This leaves the question to be "is the work worth the effort, and can it be kept up-to-date?" You might try asking the HBcore team if they'll pass you a copy of the Honorbuddy.xml file to update, and pass it back to them. That's the work mode I frequently use.


just my $0.02,
chinajade

 

[CodenameG]

if you have questions then ask, but the reason why i put so much emphasis so much on setting up your project correctly in visual studio is by using the references thing i mentioned in the 2nd post you can search whatever api you need or you can manually go into the tree and look up whatever is there. not only that but by having Visual studio baby sit you, and suggest things that go next.

not only that but it shows problems right away, so unlike notepad you can see what the issue is and fix it before starting up honorbuddy.
that being said, there is very little of the api that actually needs to be explained, specially after sticking it into visual studio the distinction between WoWUnits and WoWPlayers and using the information becomes as simple as selecting it from a drop down menu.