Jim,
Could you post the script?
Thanks
The script used is 100% useless on its own as it pulls documentation from sources on the internal Esri network. Why do you need it?
Nevermind, I understand now.
This talk seems to repeat itself, for every new version.
Essentially: If the documentation exists internally in esri, why is it not made available to the user?
I would still like to know that.!
I just posted all the links in one place for you all! Thanks again, Jason Scheirer - you rock.
A very vocal subset of users want the list of classes and functions in this form. There are enough people asking for it that we provide it. I'd guide new users to the online help as there are code samples and context for each class and function. I provide this as a good-enough solution for that subset of users that prefer to see their functions and classes all on one large piece of paper on their office wall. It's not made in any formal Esri processes. I do it in my spare time, outside of my regular duties, to make users happy.
All this script does is turn a subset of the documentation, which is available online (10.1, 10.2, Pro App 1.0) and make a graphviz document which is then exported to PDF. The internal sources provide XML versions of the HTML help which I parse in the script and turn into boxes full of words.
Every piece of information on these PDFs is already available, in a different form, in the ArcGIS help. There is no hidden information or secrets being withheld from you here. I am merely taking the same information in a different format (XML, versus the HTML it's published to online) and transforming some of it into yet another format. This PDF is not actively maintained or authored by hand. It is a script that makes that plain-text .graphviz file in the .ZIP archive, then uses the command-line graphviz tool to turn that text into PDF:
C:\Python27\python classloader.py arcpyxml\
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Graphviz\bin\fdp.exe" Diagram.graphviz -T pdf -o WallReference1.pdf
There's really not much more to it than that. This document isn't used anywhere internally by Esri. It's an artifact of the information within the help system and some scripting. The script will not be of much use to you as you don't have any XML help files. The XML help files are translated into HTML before they are published online.
Thanks for putting this together Jason. I've been printing the posters over the years and they are a great visual tool on my wall. I like that I can see all the classes, functions, methods, properties, etc in one palce and it really allows me to be creative with my scripting because I can see what is possible. The onine help is a nice extension to this poster dig deeper into syntax.
So, I thought I'd offer a suggestion. Would it be possible to provide lyncs to each element in tha poster with its corresponding help menu location? (I can envision this being a lot of work if it isn't seemlessly pulled from the XML's)
Also, I am terrible with working with PDF's, but I wanted to edit this poster for a coworker to only include the elements that are pertinent to her license level. The poster text, as I have printed on a custom 38'X44' plot, is still quite small so I thought I'd just edit out things like spatial analyst module, network anayltst module, etc and rearrange the pdf so that I can print the text larger. I tried doing this and it appears that the pdf is an image, so I can't move the boxes around. Is there any way to provide the pdf so that it is editable? Or is it already editable and I'm being dumb with my Adobe Pro software?
Thanks,
Mike
This was initially intended to be just for printing out, I never really expected people to look at this thing on a computer screen, so I didn't even think of links. On that note, I can't even add links as the markup language doesn't support it and the scheme for links to online help topics changes often enough from version to version that it'd be way more maintenance for me just to keep on top of it.
You'll need to ungroup the elements in your PDF editor. Edit in Illustrator if Adobe Pro isn't doing it. I don't think there are any restrictions set on the PDF. I was also able to import both the PDF and the SVG into Inkscape (a free vector graphics editor) and manipulate it that way.
Thanks Jason. I had a feeling that providing links wouldn't be simple. Also, thanks for the tip on editing the pdf.