Harvesting and Comparing Screenshots for use in FM

[Combs, Richard]

Elks, Loren wrote: 
 
> Is anyone aware of a tool that can go through an application 
> and harvest screenshots of all menus and dialog boxes?  Then, 
> would it be able to compare screenshots of the last version 
> to indicate where changes have occurred on the GUI?

I can't even imagine such a tool existing. And your problem confuses me. You don't really want to just update the screen shots in your doc without any human intervention, do you? 

If a menu or dialog box has changed, don't you need to add or change the text in your doc, not just the screen shot? To know what to write, you need to look at and work with the menu or dialog box. Presumably, the place in your doc where you're writing is the place where you have the screen shot. Couldn't you just, quick as a wink, press your Snag-It (or whatever) hotkey and create a new screen capture? (You're importing by reference into FM, I hope, so that it's just a matter of replacing the old graphics file with a new one of the same name.)

You might also want to reconsider how many screen shots your docs really need. IMHO, a screen shot of a menu is pointless clutter. If your procedure says, "On the Foo menu, select Bar," do your readers really need a picture to find Bar? In reference material where you describe each menu item, do your readers really need to see what font they're in in the interface? 

> Carpe Nunc
> "Seizing the Moment" - Think about it ... the only real 
> guarantee that we have is that we are alive at this very 
> moment.  Period ... that's it.  Now, with that truth in mind, 
> does it make sense to worry about the future -- or the past?  
> Isn't it reasonable to accept that if we take care of each 
> moment as it comes, all of the following moments wwill take 
> care of themselves? 

I'm struck by the irony. You're saying that even "diem" (the day) is too forward-looking for you -- so why are you worrying about future GUI changes? Deal with each at the "nunc" when you discover it! ;-)

Richard


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Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
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