Updated versions of a number of StrongHelp reference manuals are now available to download from riscos.info, where they are kindly hosted. Useful for developers, these manuals are:
- OS (version 3.40 of the manual), which documents the standard OS application programmer interface (API) for writing RISC OS software.
- InetSocket (1.10), which details the API for writing programs to access the internet using sockets.
- Toolbox (1.31), providing details of the API for using the various Toolbox modules, which are themselves designed to provide an easier, more abstracted approach to creating application user interfaces.
- C (0.58), which provides information for programmers using C/C++ tools that are supplied as part of the Desktop Development Environment sold by RISC OS Open Ltd.
The full set of ‘core’ StrongHelp manuals that provide a useful, shorthand guide for RISC OS programming include these and others covering the WIMP user interface, the VDU system, and much more.
Put together by a number of people and improved over time, there may still be errors and omissions in the manuals – so if you make use of the manuals and spot an issue, don’t forget that you can easily make a correction. With the relevant page displayed in StrongHelp, simply click Menu over it and choose “Edit Page”. This will open the page in your preferred text editor, allowing you to change it. Once you’ve done so, save the changes and send the updated manual back to its moderator, who will review your change and hopefully upload the changed version. If you need to identify the moderator, just look on the ‘Contributors’ page of the manual itself.