[sword-devel] Is "original input source" for modules available?

[Greg Hellings]

I only looked at the .DOC so far, and that seems like a decent start.  If I
was fleshing it out I would definitely write each step more verbosely (I'm
guessing that's part of what you were talking about when you refer to the
1/3-1/10).  Maybe the CwModuleTutorial includes the information, but I would
envision the module-making guide containing information specific to the
individual mark-ups.  I found that there were two main caveats in the
current module guide: 1) it didn't give much information on the markups,
some of which seemed to be rather esoteric in my opinion, and 2) once it
moved past the mark-up, it didn't give much indication of the output files
of the different conversion utilities.

So I envision a module-making guide that contains the following steps:
1) A discussion of SWORD in general
2) A discussion of the different types of texts: Bible, Commentary, Lexicon,
General Book as well as the derivatives and how they are implemented, such
as the daily devotionals.
3) A discussion of the main types of markups with more than just a link to
the describing organization.  It was difficult to identify that ThML didn't
really work with Bibles while OSIS is sometimes overkill for something
simple.
4) Work through how to prepare the document and discuss the module
configuration file.
5) Discuss the different import utilities and what their disparate outputs
are for.  At first I was very confused when a bible spat out 4 files but a
General Book resulted in 3 very different files.
6) Indicate how the files are to be stored within the preferred directory
structure for Sword.  Especially note that the configuration file for a
General Book must contain the first part of the filename in its path
argument whereas the Bibles do not contain that information.

I got the feeling that my basic outline has much in common with your list,
but I guess I was looking to combine documentation with a how-to/tutorial
because I always find that the easiest and most efficient method of learning
is to follow an example that also explains how and why everything is
happening.

--Greg

On 2/8/06, L.Allan-pbio <paraclete at bibleinverse.org> wrote:
>
> Greg H. wrote:
> > Due to some of the same difficulties you were running into, I had
> planned
> > to make a new tutorial on how to create a module in my edits to the
> > website.  ...
> > As for a prepared tutorial on the website... I'm not aware of one other
> > than the one you looked for.  It needs some significant work to keep the
> > prospective user from being over-worked to fill in the gaps, and I'd
> like
> > to get to that soon, but there are other website changes I had planned
> to
> > work on for Troy first.  Hopefully I'll get to tackle some of those
> > soon-ish.  Cheers!
>
> I wrestled with mod2imp and the other converters, and sort of got them to
> work. Thanks for your help.
>
> I thought it might be useful to draft the start of a tutorial while the
> steps were relatively fresh in my mind. Perhaps we could combine efforts?
>
> Here is a link to a first draft, with only about 1/3 to 1/10 of the
> eventual
> content ... if it seems worthwhile to continue ...
> http://lcdbible.sourceforge.net/misc/CwModuleTutorial.doc
> which references a "StarterKit"
> http://lcdbible.sourceforge.net/misc/CwModuleTutorial_060208c.zip
>
> Feedback appreciated.
>
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