online support

[olaus]

proposal:
* put a button in the main-menu called "support".
* open a sub-menu with "show FAQ in webbrowser", "show documentation in webbrowser"  and "join glest-chat"
* join-glest-chat would use the built-in irc-client to join #glest.

might help newbies to solve their problems because doing that via clicking "online-game" and asking in #megaglest-lobby is a bit far fetched.

[titi]

"show FAQ in webbrowser" might sound simple, in fact it looks like there is no cross platform way to show a browser!

[will]

It could be platform-specific, and on non-win32 it just says to go to the website, perhaps?

[titi]

better launch firefox in ubuntu/linux and display a message for all others 

[Omega]

It could be platform-specific, and on non-win32 it just says to go to the website, perhaps?

I think that's a bad idea. Obviously it has to be platform specific, but I don't see why it can't detect the platform and do the platform specific code for that one platform. For example:

-Detect system
-If linux, execute linux command for opening the page in a web browser/default web browser/firefox/whatever linux does
-If windows, execute windows command for opening page in the default web browser.
-Other OS's are a minority. If possible, try and implement such features. If not, show a generic message box with a link to the online version

Also, please distribute the files with MG. Don't just open the web browser to the MegaGlest site's page... It is incredibly annoying and not the least bit helpful for those of us who play offline/away/while traveling/etc. It requires no extra work, and web pages are very small filesize compared to the rest of MG. Besides, we can handle the different file path types with this method anyway, since we are detecting the OS.

[RedDwarf]

-Detect system

Done at compile time.

-If linux, execute linux command for opening the page in a web browser/default web browser/firefox/whatever linux does

http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-open.html

No hardcoded Firefox, please.

[Omega]

-Detect system

Done at compile time.

You can detect operating systems in real-time too. Compile time won't help because many people might be using precompiled binaries.

-If linux, execute linux command for opening the page in a web browser/default web browser/firefox/whatever linux does

http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-open.html

No hardcoded Firefox, please.

It wouldn't be. It would be whatever linux uses to open a "default" web browser (or as close as we can get).

[-Archmage-]

I have this amazingly revolutionary idea for you. How about you show the FAQ right on top of the menu, no need to do all this messy browser-fetching. Just include a copy of the FAQ with the game in a text file, then display the text on the screen. If you want it to be up-to-date all the time, you could put a copy of the latest on the master server, and have the game auto-sync it on startup.

Show documentation? That could be done the same way as the FAQ.

Join Glest Chat? Already answered. Just use the in-game IRC function.

If done like this ^, it'll all be in-game and pretty. Whadaya think?

[Omega]

I have this amazingly revolutionary idea for you. How about you show the FAQ right on top of the menu, no need to do all this messy browser-fetching. Just include a copy of the FAQ with the game in a text file, then display the text on the screen. If you want it to be up-to-date all the time, you could put a copy of the latest on the master server, and have the game auto-sync it on startup.

Show documentation? That could be done the same way as the FAQ.

Join Glest Chat? Already answered. Just use the in-game IRC function.

If done like this ^, it'll all be in-game and pretty. Whadaya think?

Except that makes displaying images, having links, etc rather difficult, and would be a lot harder to program. Of course, on the other hand, using a web browser will be a slap in the face for those who play full screen.

[-Archmage-]

Images: If you can open a browser and show someone an image, why can't you download the image or include it with the game, then display it in-game. Besides where would you need to show an image where you wouldn't already have it with the game?

Links: Well links can only be opened in a browser, unless an in-game browser was added. Likely.

I think doing as much of this as possible in-game would be no harder than yanking the game away and plopping a browser in front of you. In game stuff is just a hell of a lot nicer.

PS: Dreams of Firefox integration are coming upon me.

[tomreyn]

I prefer fun dreams over nightmares, and an integrated web browser is a nightmare in terms of architecture, maintenance, support, and last but not least security.

[-Archmage-]

I prefer fun dreams over nightmares, and an integrated web browser is a nightmare in terms of architecture, maintenance, support, and last but not least security.

I was kidding dude. I like my firefox outside Glest better.

[Omega]

Images: If you can open a browser and show someone an image, why can't you download the image or include it with the game, then display it in-game. Besides where would you need to show an image where you wouldn't already have it with the game?

Let me rephrase: Images AND text, in the same manner that the modern webpage uses.

[RedDwarf]

-If linux, execute linux command for opening the page in a web browser/default web browser/firefox/whatever linux does

http://portland.freedesktop.org/xdg-utils-1.0/xdg-open.html

No hardcoded Firefox, please.

It wouldn't be. It would be whatever linux uses to open a "default" web browser (or as close as we can get).

I was pointing that "xdg-open" is the "whatever linux uses to open a "default" web browser" ;-)

[-Archmage-]

Images: If you can open a browser and show someone an image, why can't you download the image or include it with the game, then display it in-game. Besides where would you need to show an image where you wouldn't already have it with the game?

Let me rephrase: Images AND text, in the same manner that the modern webpage uses.

Images and Text. I'm afraid I'm not catching on, those both could be displayed in-game.

[tomreyn]

So it's xdg-open for any system using X - which leaves out systems not using X (or a compatibility layer for it), but then you can't play there either.

On Windows, there's an option to do it with shell32.dll and ShellExecute: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224816
I think this library is available on all Windows systems so this is neither a dependency issue nor a licensing issue.

[Omega]

Images: If you can open a browser and show someone an image, why can't you download the image or include it with the game, then display it in-game. Besides where would you need to show an image where you wouldn't already have it with the game?

Let me rephrase: Images AND text, in the same manner that the modern webpage uses.

Images and Text. I'm afraid I'm not catching on, those both could be displayed in-game.

Not easily. If you look at firefox's source code, you'll find that displaying webpages is anything but easy.

[-Archmage-]

Uhm...... When were we talking about webpages?

[Omega]

Uhm...... When were we talking about webpages?

Because web pages are the best, easiest, and most universal way to display a help file to a user. They can include images, which are nearly a must (an image is worth a thousand words) in proper documentation, everyone has a web browser (even if some are... less than satisfactory), and sending a link to a web browser is a dozen times easier than trying to hard code the ability to display formatted text, images, links, and whatnot. Plus, an internal help file can't give links to external sites, such as a forum topic, the Glest Guide, or the Wiki!

[-Archmage-]

Dude most people don't want to have to experience the fullscreen crap. If an FAQ is text, just show it on an overlay, don't drag them off to some website. But I agree for websites and stuff. Just for things like Documentation and the FAQ, they are just text, put it on the screen!

[titi]

I just wanted to mention that I carefully read all these posts here! It looks like it can be done, will try it if I have time.