Re: Using dynamic text in manuals: yes or no?

Le 18/09/2023 à 22:13, Dan a écrit :
> Attached to this e-mail is a showcase file (chapter 2 of Tutorial, current version in master branch), so that everyone can have a look and tinker with it.
> This example already displays some of the benefits I pointed out previously, namely automatic update of strings in UI (see Text Properties in attached file).

This is nice indeed.

> Some limits should be placed to the usage of info insets, though, as the example makes clear.
> *Localized GUI strings*, is the exact string in souce code, metacharacters included (&, |, [[context]]); plus, the string may not be unique either. So this should be used with caution
>      + DOs: for unique and seldom used/changed strings such as names of manuals, template or example files.
>      + DONTs: I would never use this, say, for environment names or button names (find & replace, for instance).

If there was a way to browse all strings in the info inset dialog, with 
a search fields, it might be easier.

> Some things to note:
>    - When using info insets, spaces between words are normal, instead of non-breaking, which is the usual in the docs for menu names and the like.

Isn't it the opposite? It is the reason IMO why info insets are not used 
more in documentation, they do not break on screen and this does not 
look good. Having insets that can break on screen has been on some TODO 
list forever (so called three-parts-insets, or something like that). I 
think that I know how to do it, by using a mechanism similar to 
addToMathRow() for math insets with allows to linearize macros in 
equations. But I have no idea about when this could be implemented. And 
of course this creates practical issues about how to do it right (in 
terms of display mainly).

>    - Not all references to menus are paired with a function in LyX, for instance File > Export.

We could add an info type "submenu", this wold not be difficult (but it 
is a format change, of course)

>    - The actual language the info insets are displayed in is the UI's, not the document's. This is definitely a drawback for languages with limited translation support.

But these languages will have the same issue in the real UI, right? So 
it is faithful to what the user gets.

>    - If a localized GUI string is not found or is not yet translated, it is displayed in English; therefore there is no danger of leaving blank text in place of info insets.

Right.

Thanks for investigating that.

JMarc

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