I want to learn to write FW Actions, but the documentation given by Softpress (http://softpress.com/kb/article.php?id=004) seems to be over 5 years old!! And what is said in there doesn’t seem to be working anyways!
The tutorial about writing actions from FreewayActions.com only seems to show you one page that tells you what you’ll need before starting, although the say there:
“Over the following pages we’ll outline how you can get yourself on the actions development ladder…”
So, is there any new documentation about writing actions out there, or am I just so stupid that I’ve done something really wrong?
I doubt very much that you’re stupid. I mean really, you picked Freeway, didn’t you?
The documentation is old, and some of it has a face that only an engineer could love, but it does work. Have a look at many of the technotes that are published in the KB.
Also, and I can’t stress this enough as a learning tool, download some of the many open-source Actions out there. Mine are here:
Not all Actions are open source, but many are. Even many of the ones inside the Freeway application bundle can be read and taken as example code. Control-click on the Freeway application, and choose View Package Contents from the contextual menu. Drill down into Contents/SharedSupport/Actions, and then look in FAST or Control-click again to get inside the Standard.fwactionb bundle and look there. Despite the glossy icon, they’re just text files underneath.
Read through the code (some of it is even commented!) and see if you can figure out what goes where.
And ask a question! Post some code, we won’t laugh. (Much.)
I do have two other action books/documentations
one is in the back of my Freeway 2 Manual and the other is another old one which doesnt seem to exhist any more and is a thicker version (more pages) of the main documentation. its called something else to but it dosnt seem to be available though everything in it is covered in the more up to date manuals.
They are quite old and it’s one of those areas that could do with a complete overhaul, but I would imagine it’s also at the bottom of the list of things to takle by the softpress crew
I always found it easier to start with simple actions first…
dont even bother with the Javascript ones unless you know how to write javascript untill you can confidently write basic actions. thats covered in the main documentation . Once you are comfortable at that level then start to look at the second part of the main documentaion which disscusses more advanced action writting.
I wish there was a proper “Write Freeway actions for Dummies” book out there but I don’t know of any.
Just to stress again, please do use this list to ask questions too,
there are a bunch of us that can help out and it’s a great place for
others to pick up the information in the future.
I do have two other action books/documentations
one is in the back of my Freeway 2 Manual and the other is another
old one which doesnt seem to exhist any more and is a thicker
version (more pages) of the main documentation. its called something
else to but it dosnt seem to be available though everything in it is
covered in the more up to date manuals.
They are quite old and it’s one of those areas that could do with a
complete overhaul, but I would imagine it’s also at the bottom of
the list of things to takle by the softpress crew
I always found it easier to start with simple actions first…
dont even bother with the Javascript ones unless you know how to
write javascript untill you can confidently write basic actions.
thats covered in the main documentation . Once you are comfortable
at that level then start to look at the second part of the main
documentaion which disscusses more advanced action writting.
I wish there was a proper “Write Freeway actions for Dummies” book
out there but I don’t know of any.