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I have a .VSDX extension file. And I am not getting the tool to open it.
I have tried Visio Viewer (Google Chrome extension). But it's not showing in the chrome toolbar.
Can any one suggest online website or tool to open it?
Go to diagrams.net and drag and drop the .vsdx file into the editor
If company policy forbids the use of such a site, there's a desktop version.
If you wanted to make a site available internally that views .vsdx files without installing the desktop version on every machine, serve the source code from a web server. The operation is client-side, you don't need any back-end running.
You need to install Microsoft Visio 2010 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Microsoft Visio 2013 Viewer.
I can confirm importing from VisualStudio 2013 (.VSDX) works very well, only some issue with lines but easy to correct.
So far, I think Lucidchart is an interesting tool (export to pdf and png, for example, are very useful)
You can also use open it using LibreOffice Draw (tested on 4.3.1.2). It's completely free and from here you can create pdf or export to PNG.
Just Store it on O365 or on OneDrive you will be able to view it (even from iOS using free Visio Viewer).
If you want to view and modify you need Visio Plan P1 (5$/Month). Dont forget you will also be able to create new diagram directly from you browser.
The .vsdx is a new Microsoft Visio file format introduced in Visio 2013. In order to open it you should have supported Visio Installation. You can also open .vsdx file using some online tools like Lucidchart. Signup for the trial account, in the dashboard go to File -> Import Diagram -> Visio File. After importing you can also edit a diagram as per your need and can then again export it to Visio File.
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What UI mockup tools exist that could be used to produce designs that look like Eclipse UI? Perhaps there is an Eclipse project available for this? (http://www.eclipse.org/projects/listofprojects.php doesn't make it easy to browse through all the projects and learn about them.) I would consider tools for any platform.
They are wireframe sketches rather than Eclipse-UI like mockups, but I find http://wireframesketcher.com/ or http://marketplace.eclipse.org/content/wireframesketcher very useful.
It's quick and easy to use, see the feature list here:
http://wireframesketcher.com/features.html
One thing they don't seem to mention there is their SWT Spy plugin which "allows you to convert your existing SWT UI into a wireframe that you can edit and revise afterwards" (their words from the help content of the wireframe sketcher feature).
They have a 14 day trial.
I ended up buying SwordSoft Layout in the Mac OS X App Store. It's inexpensive ($6.99) and easy to use. While it doesn't have Eclipse-specific templates, it wasn't hard to create mockups that looked close enough to what I'm proposing.
We use balsamiq Balsamiq site. You can use their web version for free. Web version
However, the web version doesn't save. So you need to manually store the xml. Use export as xml and copy paste to a local file and use again import as xml to restart.
You can take a look at ForeUI, which can help creating UI mockup with various styles (Handdrawn, Wireframe, Windows xp, Mac OS X and Windows 7), and allows you to define behavior of your mockup then run HTML5 simulation in web browser.
For reference, Eclipse has a project
http://eclipse.org/windowbuilder/
that actually can be used for constructing plugin mockups and to start off the plugin project through generating much of the UI stuff. Since it is an Eclipse project using all Eclipse artefacts as they show in Eclipse, there's probably no better tool at the moment.
You can use MockupUI. It is a desktop user interface mockup software. Not using Eclipse, but it lets you draw high fidelity UI screens with a native Windows 7,8 or 10 look and feel.
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I'd like to be able to integrate Android api docs into Eclipse so that, for example, if hover over an Activity class you get the appropriate Javadoc in a popup.
So to add Javadoc to Android you open up any Android project in Eclipse. Location the "Android x.x" library. In this right click on the android.jar file and select Properties. Choose the Javadoc location entry.
In the JavadocURL section I entered http://developer.android.com/reference/packages.html and clicked Validate but it gives the usual error of
Location might be invalid. Files 'package-list' and 'index.html' that are typically available at the root of the documentation created by the Javadoc tool have not been found
I've tried lots of variations of that URL but to no avail.
I also don't want to have to resort to downloading the source for Android.
In Eclipse right click the Android Library, and hit Configure Build Path. Then Select Android.jar and click Javadoc location. Click Edit then make sure Javadoc URL is selected. In the box, type in: "http://developer.android.com/reference/".
BTW one possible (but unsatisfactory) solution is to get the Honeycomb API docs to access them offline.
In the AVD Manager download the "Documentation for Android 'Honeycomb' Preview SDK" package. This installs into your .../android-sdk-linux_x86/ directory under docs. You can then link the android.jar file to it as detailed above.
I wouldn't mind being able to download the docs for the particular API version I use but I can't find it anywhere. I'd still prefer to access the online version.
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I've taken over development for a site that was started to be built in Joomla. So far, there is just a few static pages and user registration. The specs state it will basically be a file-sharing website. The admin's (and only admin's) will add files and the user's will be able to download some of those files from the Members Area (based on the current date).
From my limited experience with Joomla in the past few hours it seems to me that Joomla is good for having a semi-static website where non-technical admin's can add/edit content but it doesn't seem good for being able to add customized dynamic content (I haven't been able to figure out yet how I can add a new page where I can access the database).
I am thinking to propose the current Joomla site be scratched and start over with a PHP framework instead so it can be customized. Is my understanding of Joomla correct?
Review your requirements. If what you described here is really all you need, you don't need a CMS, you need some kind of download manager. Joomla is useful, but not in your case (apparently, it's up to you to decide).
IMHO, you're using wrong tools to acomplish your goals. Using a PHP framework like CodeIgniter, Zend Framework or others to implement only user registration/groups and files associated to these users is the way to go. It's easier than try to search through all Joomla extensions, read through all Joomla extension documentation and such. In the end, being so desperate of "I may not reivent the wheel" you may create complex extensions when sometimes all was needed were a bunch of php files. You spent days and days "searching for ways of implementing in Joomla" when you could have done exactly what you needed from scratch in the same amount of time.
Don't be afraid of "reinventing the wheel". I've asked a question about a download manager here in SO too and couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. The solution: develop my own.
For File download [Phoca Download][1] a very capable File Download Manager for Joomla.
Another one that is pretty good would be Remository.
[1]: http://www.phoca.cz/phocadownload/ Phoca Download
There is no need to drop Joomla over a php framework because Joomla is php based and you can write custom modules for your own use. In fact, there are a large number of modules/extensions and other resources that can be added to the default installation to create a more customized environment.
I would suggest looking at Documentation and Extension pages to see if any of the functionality you need is already included and can be added to your Joomla deployment. Plus, if you need to create a customized feature that is not available through Joomla or Joomla developers you can always create your own functionality by writing your own extension.
Joomla is probably the most popular PHP CMS.
The real question is, what are you going to do next?
If you do not know the answer, then it is worth using Joomla on the chance that a Joomla module will do what you want.
If you use straight PHP, then you will be stuck coding from scratch.
-FT
It depends on what what is meant by new page in your case. Joomla has plenty of extensions which also include tools for front end content adding. It's true that PHP framework will mean constant coding to add something new or improve anything, while Joomla and its extensions are simple to add/remove and enable /disable. If this is so necessary you can code something new for Joomla.
Just think more deeply what it is gonna be you develop now.
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The people writing the user manual are not necessarily programmers, and they need a visual editor. A major issue is the internal format of the authoring tool; it should be readable text/html, so it's easy to compare versions of individual pages checked into version control.
DocBook
(source: docbook.org)
Microsoft HTML Help Workshop can be used to create good quality professional CHM help files. All you need is a bunch of HTML files. The tool "compiles" all these and bundles into a single Help file.
The HTML files can be generated using Microsoft Word/Frontpage or even Dreamweaver. You might want to consider source controlling these HTML files.
Latex. Lyx provides WYSIWYM for writing latex files.
At my old job they used a tool by madcap software called flare.
It seemed to work really well.
There are other professional products which allow help file writing and they have support of "context ID" which makes context sensitive help possible. Doc To Help and RoboHelp are these type of products.
A good combination to consider is Subversion, DocBook and Publican.
Version control = Subversion
Content Authoring = DocBook
Publishing = Publican
Optional WYSIWYG = Serna
At the moment, this is one of the toolchains in use by the world's largest provider of open source solutions, and the name behind much of the world's use of Linux-based operation systems in the enterprise market. Most (and close to all) of Red Hat's official documentation is created in such a manner. Same goes for Fedora.
The major "pro" here is that these are freely available tools, with a strong overlap in the market of technical writers. All of which will be able to (but might not want to) write in XML, and picking up DocBook is like picking up HTML in the 90's. Subversion is a very common version control tool, that like DocBook is relatively easy to implement and use. Publican is a great publishing tool that can take DocBook XML, and publish it to PDF, HTML, HTML-single, etc. Obviously your writers can use a WYSIWYG like Serna, but I use snippets in Geany (on Fedora) or TextMate (on OS X) personally.
The major "con" is the perception of technicality. Your writers might want WYSIWYG (and can have it), and depending on your documentation needs, this might be what you end up using. As you would know, there's a market out there for "Technical Writers" who specialize in fixing Microsoft Word styles (and markup), so the arguments for separating "authoring" from "publishing" are based on proven but distinct use cases for organizations that require documentation to be held up to the same standards of the engineering/programming/source production.
Some of the extreme advice you will get comes from people and companies that have been exposed to the value of XML documentation, and especially those in the realms of DITA, where certain multi-nationals have a reputation for acquisitions that are influenced by the format and availability of the product knowledge. there are also the arguments that locking your documentation into a "sticky" or closed format doesn't help the future maintenance requirements. This is where the open source options gain support on a corporate level. Plus, obviously, it's free.
You can use Subversion and MGTEK Help Producer. Help Producer makes help files from Word documents. TortoiseSVN comes with scripts to compare different revisions of Word documents, in Word itself (Word has a version compare tool).
Your users are going to want a visual diff tool that resembles the one they are editing in. If they are just slightly not-technical, DocBook or Latex aren't going to work (I've tried giving my users both, and I even tried Epic Editor as a DocBook editor which is very expensive but didn't work out very well after all). Sticking to something they know (Word) will prevent you many headaches.
I was very reluctant to go this route at first too, because I wanted a solution that was more 'technically perfect', but I realized over time that having happy and productive users was more important. Just saying that I know where you're coming from, but try the Word route - it works much better in practice than all the 'pure' text-based solutions that are out there. Regular users don't like markup based editing.
If you're using Visual Studio, take a look at SandCastle - http://www.codeplex.com/Sandcastle.
There's also a couple of tools that help you build sandcastle files, try searching "sandcastle" on codeplex. One of them is SandCastle Help File Builder (http://www.codeplex.com/SHFB), but I've never used it so I don't know if non-technical users will be happy with that.
Mapcap Flare is the best commercial tool around. Written by the ex-developers of Robodoc
I created a documentation system called Mandown (Markdown/Html/Javascript/file-based relatively linked documents for portability) which would easily go under version control. The visual editor part you would have to figure out separately - I sometimes use HTML-Kit which at least has a preview feature.
See What is the best way to store software documentation?
Here's another tool to check out: Xilize
We are using APT. It integrates well with the CI (standard build artifact) and is more alive than for instance word document. It is also possible to generate PDFs and other formats when needed.
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Is there a free software for creating windows help files for your program?
I would like something that allows an output of both CHM and HTML files.
Yes. HelpMaker from sourceforge (The original site www.vizacc.com is down). Best free help utility ever.
HTML Help Workshop by Microsoft.
If you're developing for .NET and you're looking to generate XML documentation help files you should look into Microsoft's shared-source Sandcastle project, and the front-end GUI for it "Sandcastle Help File Builder."
It's pretty nice and highly configurable. You can make some really good help documentation using it.
It was a little slow the last time I used it (over 6 months ago) but it may have been optimized since then...
I'm not sure about 'free', but Dr. Explain is a little over $100 and worth every penny. We use it to produce both help for desktop apps with a single CHM and web apps using the HTML export. The best part is that it 'auto-magically' mines your webpage or app page and starts the basic construction of the help for you. The ROI for us was about 1 day.
HelpNDoc is free for personal use. It can generate CHM and HTML help files as requested, as well as Word DocX, PDF, ePub and Kindle eBooks from the same source.
DocBook is a universal standard file format for writing software documentation.
DocBook is an XML file format and as such is already blessed by Microsoft. It is declarative, earning it further kudos.
DocBook allows you to identify to it what pictures are screenshots, what strings of words are actually commands, and so forth. Which yes, actually means it is a bonafide part of the semantic web.
Because of this, you can use an XPath expression to search for all the screenshots, all the commands, and so forth. Decent IDE's all support XPath searches, and so do lots of small, free utilities.
Once you have worked out which XPath search string returns the content you want, you can write a little XSLT stylesheet yourself or with someone else's help. The stylesheet can collect the information and generate an HTML bullet-list (UL LI), a definitions list (DL DT,DD), or a quick reference card. Whatever you like. XPath, XSLT, and the various *ML languages are very flexible.
Read From DocBook to Integrated Help Systems for information about how to automatically convert a DocBook standard file into a proprietary and very practical Microsoft Windows HTML Help file.
For more information about DocBook itself go visit http://www.docbook.org/ - and grab the free XSLT stylesheets for the latest version while you are there.
DocBook files can be automatically converted into many file formats besides the one used in Microsoft Windows WinHelp files. See the docbook.org web site for details. It is a long list of supported file formats, so brace yourself for a pleasant surprise!
If you already have a structured XML text editor, you might want to use that. If you are writing a really big online help file then consider oXygenXML and/or Open Office Writer. The former is a commercial product and the latter is free, open source software.
For more information about using Open Office Writer to create/edit DocBook files, read Getting Started with DocBook on Open Office.
Doxygen, while originally meant to produce code documentation can be made quite easily to produce any kind of help.
It's not "free" but the best software I've ever come across is HelpScribble from Just Great Software. I use it on Windows 7 without any problem. What I like most is its ability to integrate SHG files into the helpfile. A picture is worth a thousand words so I tend to use screen images where I capture buttons, text boxes or whatever. The user can see that screen and then just click of the display they want more information on an "BOOM!" ... the explanation pops right up! There's no need to thumb through pages of a manual or screens.