Re: Better way to indicate a variable in doc

Subject: Re: Better way to indicate a variable in doc
From: Jeff Hanvey <jeff -at- jewahe -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 13:10:06 -0700 (PDT)


I've seen the following used:
___
xxxx
<variable name> (this is my preferred: it seems to imply something changeable. Also, you can replace the words with the type of data that will be contained within, such as <date>. Of course, a brief explanation of this convention should be explained).

You could also continue using the current convention: however, you *should* explain what is happening. For example: "'Port %s of %s is not answering calls' (where % represents variable data)."

HTH!
Jeff

--- johanne -dot- cadorette -at- locusdialog -dot- com wrote:
>Our administration guide includes a chapter on alarms that are logged by
>the system and sent to the system administrator via email. In this
>chapter, the alarms are organized by their descriptions, that is, the
>short text inside the email message that explains what the problem is (for
>example, "Maximum number of entries reached.")
>
>When there is a variable in the definition, it is represented by %s in the
>documentation. For example, "Port %s of %s is not answering calls;" in
>this case, the message sent to the administrator would read "Port 4 of 8
>is not answering calls"; or, "Your license expired on %s."
>
>I?m looking for a better way to represent the variables. Any ideas?

_____________________________________________________________
Jeff Hanvey: http://www.jewahe.net

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