[platform-help-dev] (no subject)

[bkalali@xxxxxxxxxx]

Hi all,

I am new to the world of Eclipse and working on a research project.  I want
to  add  an  annotation  plug-in  to  the Eclipse Help System. This plug-in
contributes annotation feature to the Eclipse Help's webapp component. That
is,  it  allows  a  user  to  annotate  a  content file on the Eclipse Help
browser.  Annotations  are  appended on the bottom of each content file and
saved on disk.

So  far,  I have implemented the annotation feature in the webapp component
for  only  Integration and standalone scenario. At this stage, this feature
only  supports English NL. I can send the source code if anyone interested,
but it is not %100 stable.

In  future,  one  main  benefit  of  having  such  a  feature is to collect
annotations  about  a  content file and send these annotations to a content
analyzer.   Ideally,  this  can  be  achieved  by  embedding  a Web service
requestor  on  a  machine  that  Help  system  is  running. The Web service
requestor collects annotations and sends them to a content analyzer service
provider.  The  content  analyzer  can  analyze  a  content  file  based on
annotations.  Ideally,  the content analyzer can give a demographic view of
how  many  times  a page has been visited, the time and date that a page is
visited,  and  so  on.  Ideally,  a content provider should use the content
analyzer. In addition, users who have difficulty of understanding a content
can ask their questions via this embedded Web service. Consequently, we can
improve the quality of a content file based on users feedback.

Having  said  that,  I am thinking to remove my feature from the webapp and
design a plug-in that contributes this feature and other extended features.

To  start  this,  I  think,  firs I need to define a new extension point in
webapp.   Since  the main code that I am using in webapp is IFilter, I feel
we should have an IFilter extension point.

IFilter  right  now is tightly coupled in webapp and extending a new Filter
requires an IFilter to be implemented in webapp component.

If this makes sense and it is a good way to start, then I want to define an
IFilter  extension  point.  By the way, I don't want to make any extra work
for  our  folks  in the Help system team, since they are so busy with their
work. I only want to get input if what I am doing makes sense to start.

Thanks in advance for your help.

--Bahman