RFE: Best 3.x Premium Edition

This post is mainly for me to track the RFE's I've submitted to Ben.

Convert between programs:


e-Sword 8.0.6 -> e-Sword 9.5.1;
e-Sword 8.0.6 -> Pocket e-Sword 3.1.0
e-Sword 9.5.1 -> e-Sword 8.0.6;
e-Sword 9.5.1 -> Pocket e-Sword 3.1.0;
Pocket e-Sword 3.1.0 -> e-Sword 9.5.1;
Pocket e-Sword 3.1.0 -> e-Sword 8.0.6;

BeST 2.x (Premium Edition) can do this for the resource types it supports.

Import into e-Sword, and where appropriate, Pocket e-Sword:

• Bible;
• Commentary;
• Devotional Modules;
• Dictionary;
• Map/Graphic;
• Study Note;
• Topical File;
• Bible Reading Plan;
• Harmony Resources;
• Markup Overlay;
• Prayer Lists;
• Scripture  Memory Verse Lists;
• Verse Analysis;
• Verse Lists;

http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/3932 and http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/3936 describe some of the issues in creating a tool for all of those resource types. Most of these are currently creatable by BeST.
 
Import support for presentation markup languages:

• B-XML;
• CSV;
• GBF;
• HTML 3.2;
• HTML 5.0 + CSS 2.0;
• OSIS;
• no markup;
• RTF;
• TSV;
• USFX (not currently supported):
• USFM (not currently supported); 
• XSEM (not currently supported);
• VPL;
• Z-XML; 

Unless otherwise stated, these are currently supported by BeST.

Import support for file formats:

• plain text;
• Excel 2000;
• ODF - ODS;
• DIF (? Obsolete format. Probably more effort to implement, than benfit would be derived.   );
• SYLK (? Obsolete format. Probably more effort to implement, than benfit would be derived.);

Unless otherwise stated, BeST currently recognises these file formats.

Resource conversion:

• Create a concordance from any resource type (currently available) ;
• Merge any two resources of the same type into one resource;
• Create a file that lists only the different elements (and which file contains them), for any two resources of the same type;
• Create a file that lists only the common elements for any two resources of the same type;
• Topical File  <-> Dictionary Resource;
• Verse List <->  Scripture Memory Resource;
• Study Note <-> Commentary Resource (currently available);
• Bible Reading Plan <-> Devotional Resource;

Included within Bible Resource construction:

• Red Lettering for Words Of Jesus (Currently available.);
• Red Lettering for Words of God the Father (Easiest is to to read in an external file.);
• Red Lettering for Words of the Holy Spirit (Easiest is to to read in an external file.);
• Red Lettering for words of angels (Easiest is to to read in an external file.);
• User supplied verses to be Red Lettered (Easiest is to to read in an external file.);
• Add Strong's Numbers (Easiest is to to read in an external file.);
• Automatic construction of a concordance file (currently  available);
• Highlight user provided list of verses (Easiest is to to read in an external file.);

Included within Commentary Resource Creation:

• Create a Dictionary file of subject lines for commentary notes;
• Automatic construction of a concordance file  (currently available);

(The following was added 28 November 2009.)
Convert character encodings:
Convert all of the following character encodings to UTF-8:

• Beta Code
• DOS_CP_737 (MS-Dos monotonic Greek)
• ISO_8859_7 (Standard monotonic Greek)
• Ibycus (for Latex)
• Latex Standard Babel
• Babel_7 (Latex Standard Babel + ISO 8859-7)
• SIL Composite (for the SIL Greek system)
• SMK GreekKeys
• SPIonic
• Sgreek
• SuperGreek (for the Macintosh)
• Unicode encoded in UTF-8 (Using precomposed polytonic glyphs from the Greek Extended codepage)
• Unicode encoded as HTML Character Entities (as above)
• WinGreek
• Michigan Claremont Encoding

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The original post was posted to my e-Sword-users.org blog on 17 November 2009.  I did add content to it later, which I note in the post itself.

RFE: BeST 3.x Standard Version : E-Sword

BeST 2.1.0.1 is a great tool.

Currently, two open resource types can not be created using BeST.

• Harmony Modules
• Topical Files

I _think_ that they are on Ben's to do list. I'm not aware any issues that mitigate against tools that can create these resources.

The following resource types  are officially closed, but the specifications have been publicly distributed:

• Bookmark
• Map/Graphic files;
• Verse Lists

User created Map resources tend to destabilize e-Sword, and as such, keeping that format closed makes sense.

Bookmark is a verse list with the filename of bookmark.lst.  The major issue with a  tool that imports this resource type, is that it is supposed to be a closed format.

The following resource types are closed:

• Bible Reading plans
• Localization
• Markup
• Prayer Requests
• Scripture Memory Verse
• Sermon Illustration
• Study Notes
• Verse Analysis

Both the Localization and Sermon Illustration component were created for a specific resource.  There is no legitimate reason for a tool to create this resource type.

I'm not sure what the virtue of a user created verse analysis resource would be, especially since only one --- common.anl  --- can be used by e-Sword

Inasmuch as BeST can create Commentaries, the ability to create Study Notes is redundant/irrelevant.

Bible Reading Plans, Markup, Prayer Requests, and  Scripture Memory Verse, are closed. As a general rule, these (as well as Verse List ) are usually created by an individual for their personal use.   I am aware of exceptions for all five ( New_Christian_Bible_Reading_Plan.brp, Rainbow_Bible.ovl, Praying_the_Psalms.prl, The_Roman_Road.mem, and Elohist.lst, respectively).

Whilst it wouldn't be useful for me, adding the ability to import USFM would enhance the usability of BeST by various organizations. Whether or not the programming required to add that functionality, can be justified by the limited number of users of USFM, is a question I do not know the answer to --- especially since there are tools that convert USFM to OSIS.
 
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This was originally posted to my blog at e-sword-uses.org on 16 November 2009.

RFE: Synchronization Tools

I've been using both Pocket e-Sword and e-Sword for Bible Study. I'd like to have a tool that synchronizes e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword data.

• Bible Reading Plans
• Markup
• Prayer Requests List
• Scripture Memory Verse
• Study Notes
• Verse Lists
  
  
  The Non-Technical issue is if Rick will approve the creation of, and distribution of a tool that synchronizes e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword content/resources. All of these formats are "closed". Currently, they can only be created from within Pocket e-Sword.(In theory, this also holds true for e-Sword.) No publicly available tools can be utilized to create these resources for Pocket e-Sword.

Technical Issues
e-Sword can utilize the Orthodox Canon. Pocket e-Sword is limited to the Catholic Canon. For most users, the differences will not be an issue. For the rest, the differences might be enough to preclude using Pocket e-Sword.

Bible Reading Plans
In theory, the Bible Reading Plans for both e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword are limited to the Protestant Canon. In practice, some users have created Bible Reading Plans that include the Anagignoskomena for e-Sword. These might not be synchronizable with Pocket e-Sword.

Markup 
Pocket e-Sword offers highlighting by verse only. The colour palette offers 9 colours, and "delete highlighting". This highlighting is version agnostic.
e-Sword offers both underlining (thin line, thick line, wavy line, dashed line, no underlining) and highlighting. The initial palette offers six choices.  An expanded palette of 48 colours is available.  Users can create a custom palette of up to sixteen colours.  Users can either highlight, or underline anything from a single character, to the entire chapter.  This markup is resource specific.

Prayer Requests List
I don't know how many times I've been asked to add somebody to my prayer list, and done so, on my PDA.  However , that list doesn't get transferred to my Linux Box. I haven't found any functional differences between e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword, in how they handle Prayer Requests. [I need to point out that e-Sword allows for multiple Prayer Request Lists. Pocket e-Sword only allows for one Prayer Request List.]


Scripture Memory Verse
Pocket e-Sword appears to restrict verses to the Protestant Canon. My test might have been a simple "bad" abbreviation, to cause an endless chain of error messages. (I used 1 Mac 1:1, rather than 1Ma 1:1.) Other than that, I'm not aware of any technical issues in synchronizing between e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword.

Study Notes
If Pocket e-Sword can display the specific verse, a user can add a note for that verse. However, user created Bibles that include content from the Anagignoskomena tend to have issues. (Not surprising, since Pocket e-Sword doesn't officially support the Anagignoskomena.) Those issues may hamper synchronization between e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword.

Rather than synchronizing, or attempting to synchronize the study notes, create/merge a commentary file that contains updated entries from both the e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword study not files. Doing this would also simplify the distribution of one's study notes. (Users are free to create their own notes about one's commentary --- two or more instances of e-Sword can be run at the same time.)

Verse Lists 
Pocket e-Sword doesn't allow for the creation of a permanent verse list. Under some circumstances, it appears that the verse list is not deleted when Pocket e-Sword is closed. (I haven't spent much time in to determining when I lose my verse list, and when I don't. Soft resets will delete the existing verse list. Not closing Pocket e-Sword between study sessions will retain the verse list.)

This issue might make synchronized verse lists technically infeasible.

Resource Creation Issues
As a general rule, these resource types are usually created by an individual for their personal use.  The rest of this post covers why users might want to be able to create these resources from content that they did not create.

Bible Reading Plans
e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword enable one to create a Bible Reading Plan for the Protestant Canon only. No provision is made for the Anagignoskomena.

A function that e-Sword does not include, is the ability to track the number of times one has read a specific Bible Reading Plan. A Bible reading Plan that includes reading the book n  times, is useful for instances such as New_Christian_Bible_Reading_Plan.brp, ( http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/426 for e-Sword 8.x, http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/3026 for e-Sword 9.x ) where the same books are read three or four times, in the first six months.

For new users, the lack of preconfigured Bible Reading Plans _might_ be an issue.  (Findex claims that over 200 preconfigured Bible Reading Plans are included in Quickverse 2010, up from 125 plus in previous versions.) Perhaps some of the 5 000 + different BRPs that can be created from within e-Sword can be distributed as user created resources.

For experienced users the inability to construct Bible Reading Plans such as New_Christian_Bible_Reading_Plan.brp from within e-Sword and/or Pocket is an inconvenience.   On the flipside, how many specialized Bible Reading Plans are there?   Lectionary and Daily Office readings should be Devotional resources, not BRPs.

Because the process of creating a Bible Reading Plan manually is error prone, a tool that imports the readings, and verifies that they are "correct", would be useful.   ( "Correct" here means refers to an actual passage in the Bible. )

Markup
A  few years ago I stumbled across The Rainbow Bible (Not legally distributable as an e-Sword resource) . http://www.standardpub.com/bibles/main.html should link to a page that describes this Bible. I  later on a stumbled across a Bible that used highlighting to demarcate the different documents defined by The Documentary Hypothesis (Not currently available as an e-Sword resource). My guess is that I've come across less than a dozen books or documents, that could be distributed with markup.ovl as a one component, if they were converted to e-Sword format.

The only other situation in which distribution of markup.ovl makes sense, is if one is creating a replicate of a personal bible,  and wants to include the highlighting, underlining, and sidelining that the individual did, instead of only the written notes. Written notes are usually best distributed as a commentary resource.

Prayer Requests List
When Rick added this component, I doubt he had Praying_The_Psalms.prl (Not currently available as an e-Sword resource)  as a potential resource. OTOH, its flexibility does enable one to construct rosary.prl (Not currently available as an e-Sword resource) so that the appropriate prayers each day are made --- regardless of whether the 15 or 20 decade version is used.

A tool that enable the creation of this resource type would be used by very few people.  Seriously, how many times does one see a list of people, etc to pray for?   I usually get additions one at a time. On the flip side, such a tool might be useful for the church secretary, to enable the church to email the current prayer list, as an e-Sword resource, to every member of the congregation. It also would be useful to those who convert breviaries, and similar material into the appropriate e-Sword resource.
 
Scripture Memory Verse
There are hundreds, if not thousands of lists of verses to memorize out there.  Navigator's  Topical Memory System (Not legally available as an e-Sword resource)  is probably the best known commercially distributed list.  The Roman Road ( roman_road.mem http://e-sword-users.org/users/node/73 for e-Sword 8.x) is probably best known one that is freely available.

A tool that imports a list of verses would remove some of the drudgery involved in creating these resources from within e-Sword. It also could parse the verse references, altering them to an abbreviation that e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword recognize.

Study Notes
If Pocket e-Sword can display the specific verse, a user can add a note for that verse. However, user created Bibles that include content from the Anagignoskomena tend to have issues. (Not surprising, since Pocket e-Sword doesn't officially support the Anagignoskomena.) Those issues may hamper synchronization between e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword.

Rather than synchronizing, or attempting to synchronize the study notes, create/merge a commentary file that contains updated entries from both the e-Sword and Pocket e-Sword study not files. Doing this would also simplify the distribution of one's study notes. (Users are free to create their own notes about one's commentary --- two or more instances of e-Sword can be run at the same time.)

Verse Lists  
A list of verses, without any context, is meaningless.  The filename is the only way to ascribe a meaning to the resource.  And yet, even with that limitation, they can be useful. Red_Letter.lst (Not currently available as an e-Sword resource) indicates which verses are the Words of Jesus.

The Documentary Hypothesis Collection (Not publicly distributed as an e-Sword resource)  is probably unique, in both scope, and number of resources it contains.  It too, is a victim of "meaningless filenames", that reduce the utility and functionality of the specific resource.

Most lists are best constructed as either dictionaries ( For example Endtime Prophecy topical verse lists http://www.endtimeprophecy.net/EPN-1/GroupPages/grupvrs1.html) or Harmony resources.  For example, The_Documentary_Hypothesis.har  (Not publicly available for e-Sword.) I'm not convinced that there are enough verse lists out there, that would be functionally usable, and created, to justify the creation of a tool to import them into e-Sword. On the flip side, a tool could automatically validate the verses, to ensure that they theoretically exist.  (For example, 1 Daniel 3:95. )

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This was originally posted on my blog at e-Sword-users.org on 20091117.  This was before Rick announced that development on Pocket e-Sword had ceased.

RFE: e-Sword 9.x: screen magnification

One RFE:

When a component is magnified, can the content in the tooltip window also be magnified.

RFE: e-Sword 9.x: screen magnification

One  (or eight, or seven) requests related to the Screen magnification Tool

Can you add the Screen Magnification Tool to the following components:

• Scripture Memory;
• Sermon Illustrations;
• Study Notes;
• Prayer Requests;
• Markup Overlay;
• Verse Analysis;
• Verse Lists;

• Search tools;

RFE: e-Sword 9.x (Writing System/Font Support)

One, Two, or Eight RFEs for Writing System/Font support:

At ">Options >Fonts" add:
a) The Following Biblical Languages:

• Aramaic
• Armenian
• Coptic
• Ethiopic / Ge'ez
• Georgian
• Gothic
• Old Church Slavonic
• Syriac

b) Restore the following:

• Central European

RFE: e-Sword 9.x (Bible Reading Plans)

One RFE For Bible Reading Plans.

The ability to create a Bible Reading Plan from within e-Sword for the deuterocanonical books/Apocrypha/ Anagignoskomena.For those that don't know what I am talking about, the followinig books are the ones that I am referring to:

Catholic Deuterocanonical books

This includes the following books:

• Judith
• Tobit
• Wisdom of Solomon
• Sirach
• Baruch
• 1 Maccabees
• 2 Maccabees

This also includes the following books 1:

• Prayer of Azariah 2
• Song of Three Young Men 3
• Susanna 4
• Bel and the Dragon 5
• Greek Esther 6

 
Anglican Deuterocanonical Books

This list also includes the 39 book Old Testament, 27 Book New Testament and the material that is deuterocanonical for Catholic Christianity: 7

• Prayer of Manassa 8
• 1 Esdras
• 2 Esdras

Anagignoskomena

This list also includes the 39 book Old Testament, 27 Book New Testament and the material that is deuterocanonical for Anglicans:

• 3 Maccabees
• 4 Maccabees 9
• Psalm 151 10

1 Some e Sword resources that include this material do so, by inserting it as part of the verse that it precedes, or follows.

2 This book was included within Daniel 3, prior to e-Sword 8.0.

3 This book was included within Daniel 3, prior to e-Sword 8.0.

4 This book was included at the end of Daniel 12, prior to e-Sword 8.0.

5 This book was included at the end of Daniel 12, prior to e-Sword 8.0.

6 This book was intermixed with Esther, prior to e-Sword 8.0.

7 Whilst this list is from The Thirty Nine Articles, ECUSA, and Anglican organizations influenced by American Episcopalians either ignore, or reject this material as canonical.

8 At least one e-Sword Bible resource includes this book within 2 Chronicles.

9 In Orthodox Christianity, 4 Maccabees is usually considered to be “good reading” rather than canonical.

10 This book was included at the end of Psalm 150, prior to e-Sword 8.0.
 

RFE: e-Sword 9.x (Harmony Resources)

One Request For Enhancement for Harmony resources:

Keystroke combinations (preferably arrows) to go to the next record, previous record, first record, and last record in the resource.

RFE: e-Sword 9.x: Bible Abbreviation

One RFE:

When tooltiping Ecclesiasticus, it is converted to ECC, which is Ecclesiastes, and consequently the wrong book.

Can that algorithm be rewritten to correctly convert Ecclesiasticus to Sir.
(I realize that using Sirach, rather than Ecclesiasticus in the first place, entirely avoids this issue. )

RFE: e-Sword 9.x

These are RFE's I've submitted to Rick, for what I think would be enhancements of e-Sword functionality.

Two requests for enhancement with the importing document:

1:  Add support for ODF. 

* Technical specifications are available at http://www.oasis-open.org/ ;
* http://ooolib.sourceforge.net/ has a PERL and a Python ODF Library. (GNUGPL / LGPL ) Neither can be directly used with e-Sword. :(

2: Biblos, Text2DAO, and one or two other e-Sword Utility programs that allowed one to import content into e-Sword, used "#####" as a separator string, and the first line that followed was assumed to be both the page name, and title of the page.  EG:
some text

####

Next Topic Title
blah, blah, blah

#####

Third Topic Title
blah, blah, blah.

Three (or five) requests for enhancement  of background colours:

RFE  1a: Add Pale Yellow to the background colour palette.
Currently, 20 colours are available in the background colour palette.
None of them, at least on any of the monitors, or computers I'm using, shows appears to be a pale yellow.

RFE 2b: Can the ability for users to create their own custom colours for the background be added?  (This would be the same as the current custom palette used for highlighting text.)

RFE 2a:  Add "textured" background.
An earlier version of e-Sword had a textured background, that made it appear as if one was reading from a parchment.
Can that texture be re-introduced?

RFE 2b: Can it be added so that users can create their own textured backgrounds?

RFE 3: Would it be possible to enable a user customized palette for all seven text colour options?

( Background, Active verse, Reference, Tool Tip Link,  Red-Letter, Italicized, Anagignoskomena. )

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This was originally posted to my blog at e-Sword-users.org on 21 February 2010