I would like to propose adding one more classhelp method argument to the 
Roundup core.  The argument would enable "view only" option for the text 
appearing in the pop-up window.  The pop-up window itself would not have 
the "Cancel" and "Apply" buttons, nor the check boxes, but could have a 
"Close" button instead.  

This sort of pop-up window could then be used by tracker administrators to create a contextual help system for their tracker.  Tracker administrators can create a new class in the schema such as this:
helpdoc = Class(db, "helpdoc",
        name=String(),
        doc=String())
helpdoc.setkey("name") 

Then they can create a web page based on the item template to populate the helpdoc class information.  Administrator can define the terms of the tracker that may be confusing to end users.  Once the terms are defined, they can create links to specific entries in the help documentation.  For example a link could be created like this:

Nosy (_help_)  BOX FOR VALUES  (_list_) where _help_ is linked to a pop-up window displaying information how the Nosy functionality works.  Fortunately classhelp method already has an argument for filtering content and for creating a custom label for the link.  

I would be happy to write up documentation for creating help in this way if needed.

Thank you for considering this!
Tonu

Patch welcome. If you'd like direct CVS access, just ask.

Interesting idea. For those fields which are not usually filled via helper dialogues, it could make sense to have a simple popup window anyway, which displays the possible values and an optional "description" or "doc" field added to the status, priority... schema. If I get you right, such popup windows could use the value of the "helpdoc" table/class, whose "name" attribute points to the documented table/class (and could be named "klass", or something similar).

OTOH, shouldn't it be possible to use the "radio" version and let the user optionally set the value of a select box using it (should work, shouldn't it?)

BTW, what about i18n? Since we don't support composite table keys, we would need to build the key ourselves, e.g. indexing the german translation of the 'status' class as 'status-de'. Otherwise we would need .po translations for database entries, which wouldn't make sense.

I saw this in the roundup tracker at issues.roundup-tracker.org.

It looks like the _generic.help.html strips the apply, clear etc
buttons and the checkboxes if there is no "property" passed to the
classhelp.

So a classhelp like:

  db.status.classhelp('id,name,description',label='Status')

that uses _generic.help.html will be a simple popup.

You ca see this by clicking on the status label at:

http://issues.roundup-tracker.org/issue1760553

The status label is:

http://issues.roundup-tracker.org/status?@startwith=0&@template=help&properties=id,name,description&form=itemSynopsis&type=checkbox&@sort=order&@pagesize=50

if you change that to include property:

http://issues.roundup-tracker.org/status?@startwith=0&@template=help&properties=id,name,description&form=itemSynopsis&type=checkbox&@sort=order&@pagesize=50&property="foo"

you get a help box with decorations.

If anybody wants to create a modified _generic.help.html that
implements this (the current one looks like it will error if property is
missing).

Tonu, would this solve your problem?

Tobias, I don't think the i18n issues are addressed by this idea.