Re: st: RE: Dialog Programming

[Phil Schumm <pschumm@uchicago.edu>]

On Jul 30, 2008, at 2:11 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:
> So, to summarize and steer this thread back to where I wanted it to  
> go: "StataCorp, we do not like the way we have to write help files,  
> LET ALONE dialog boxes." :-)

There were two threads here, one started by yourself having to do  
with programming dialog boxes and another started underneath it by  
Rich Williams having to do with writing help files (see http:// 
www.stata.com/statalist/archive/2008-07/ if your mailer doesn't  
thread).  My response (and Nick's 2nd email) were both part of the  
latter.  I would summarize the latter this way:

1) writing help files can be painful, but
2) there are some simple things you can do to make it easier (e.g., use
   an existing file as a template, add a few helper functions to your
   text editor), and
3) although one could imagine writing help files in another format and
   then translating them to SMCL, the extra work required to construct
   such a utility may not be worth it

StataCorp does not dictate how we write help files -- only that we  
use SMCL for formatting them.  In fact, if anything, perhaps the  
problem is that they give us too much freedom in how we write them  
(i.e., if they forced us to use a rigid template, then this would  
make things easier in one respect).  Since help files are merely text  
files following a well-documented format (SMCL), we are free to  
construct and/or edit them however we want.

Note that this subthread had nothing to do with dialog boxes...


-- Phil

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