PixInsight Reference Documentation System

[RBA]

Nay-sayers will always be nay-sayers, don't worry too much. And there ALWAYS be nay-sayers.

But those who "genuinely" complained should be happy now.

Good. So the next time somebody will complain that PI lacks documentation (eg at CN  ) we will have something to show 
Seriously now, this was really needed, especially for people like me that lack theoretical background and try to find their way by just try-and-error, this will give us a deeper knowledge of the tool.

[Juan Conejero]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like it!

I'll download the compiler and see if I can document my modules with it.

Great! Before using the compiler, you'll have to create your doc root documentation directory manually. Create the following directories:

<pi-install-dir>/doc
<pi-install-dir>/doc/pidoc
<pi-install-dir>/doc/pidoc/css
<pi-install-dir>/doc/pidoc/icons
<pi-install-dir>/doc/pidoc/titles

and copy the contents of the css, icons and titles subdirectories from here:

http://pixinsight.com/doc/pidoc/

That's all you need to start documenting your modules. The next PI version will provide the necessary infrastructure and everything will work 'out of the box'.

Let me know how it goes.

[Enzo De Bernardini]

Elegant and powerful. Excellent. Thanks for this great job!. 

[Kisik Kwon]

Great news!!! 

[Jack Harvey]

As usual Juan built a better mousetrap

[daffy]

Where did I go wrong? I didn't get any graphics in the images subdirectory.

I created the subdirectory doc in Contents/MacOS and the compiler created within doc /tools/ScreenTransferFunction/ and then /images and ScreenTransferFunction.html. But no images in the images subdirectory and thus, none in the html display.

Thanks!

David Illig

[ammcdavid]

Hi all,

I am glad to inform you that an integrated documentation system for PixInsight has now been designed and implemented. It will be released with the next version of PixInsight, and is now being used to author the official PixInsight Reference Manual, a collection of reference documents for all standard PixInsight tools.

I hope you like it. As you can see, I am facing the problem of lack of documentation very seriously. PixInsight is a large and complex project and its documentation is also complex. The new system has been designed to implement the documentation that PixInsight deserves. All your ideas and opinions will be welcome, as always.

Bravo!  I am glad to see some substantial documentation on the horizon.  This is not to say the efforts of many folks here who invested their own time to create some high quality tutorials are now trivial....quite the contrary....those works are invaluable and I use some of them without fail as I learn, albeit slowly, this software.
  
Question:  will the upcoming Reference Manual contain actual examples of processes/workflows in action or is that work primarily a technical manual describing the tools in detail (why you use them, what they do when used, and how they work on the image, etc.)?  As I said when I first joined this forum....I am a manual readin fool and I will keep a good one and use it until it falls apart.  I know this is the digital age and print is going the way of the dodo but if this manual lives up to expectations, I will be getting it printed to read over and over as needed.....I can't wait to see the finished product....

Andy

[h0ughy]

i look forward to a full manual - even if it is done via semi automatic process

well done guys

[RBA]

All your ideas and opinions will be welcome, as always.

Make it searchable, both from the application and on the web.

And if that's not contemplated in the launch for the next version of PI, I suggest you focus on completing the documentation and go for the search engine later.

[sleshin]

Let me add my thanks and appreciation for attending to this important issue.

Steve

[Carlos Milovic]

Have you considered writing in LaTeX?
Wow, this is a big jump ahead from our previous conversations about creating a few templates Good job!

[bosch]

Muchísimas gracias Juan. Gran trabajo.

Cuando salga ya intentaremos poner en marcha la traducción del mismo con un puñado de entusiastas como cuando salió la versión de Rogelio.

Un saludo

[RobF2]

Yay!
Quite a big milestone in PI's development. 
Will await the full package eagerly!   8)

[harist]

PI evolution takes its time, but the result is always worth waiting for.

Question:  will the upcoming Reference Manual contain actual examples of processes/workflows in action or is that work primarily a technical manual describing the tools in detail (why you use them, what they do when used, and how they work on the image, etc.)?  As I said when I first joined this forum....I am a manual readin fool and I will keep a good one and use it until it falls apart.  I know this is the digital age and print is going the way of the dodo but if this manual lives up to expectations, I will be getting it printed to read over and over as needed.....I can't wait to see the finished product....

I guess that depends on Harry's retirement. 

Tasos

[georg.viehoever]

It must be Christmas in Juan's relativistic time zone   . This is just great!

Georg