diff --git a/src/lay/lay/gsiDeclLayMainWindow.cc b/src/lay/lay/gsiDeclLayMainWindow.cc
index 68f86901a..e8faecb6c 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/gsiDeclLayMainWindow.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/gsiDeclLayMainWindow.cc
@@ -176,9 +176,9 @@ template <unsigned int NUM>
 gsi::Methods cm_method_decl ()
 {
   tl_assert (NUM < sizeof (cm_symbols) / sizeof (cm_symbols [0]));
-  return gsi::method (std::string ("#") + cm_symbols [NUM], &call_cm_method<NUM>,
+  return gsi::method_ext (std::string ("#") + cm_symbols [NUM], &call_cm_method<NUM>,
     std::string ("@brief '") + cm_symbols[NUM] + "' action.\n"
-      "This method has been added in version 0.25 and is deprecated in version 0.27.\n"
+      "This method is deprecated in version 0.27.\n"
       "Use \"call_menu('" + std::string (cm_symbols[NUM]) + "')\" instead.");
 }
 
diff --git a/src/lay/lay/layGSIHelpProvider.cc b/src/lay/lay/layGSIHelpProvider.cc
index 1906a1f19..2307e7f3c 100644
--- a/src/lay/lay/layGSIHelpProvider.cc
+++ b/src/lay/lay/layGSIHelpProvider.cc
@@ -825,7 +825,12 @@ method_arguments (const gsi::MethodBase *method, const gsi::ClassBase *cls_obj,
           if (! a->spec ()->init_doc ().empty ()) {
             r += replace_references (escape_xml (a->spec ()->init_doc ()), cls_obj);
           } else {
-            r += escape_xml (a->spec ()->default_value ().to_string ());
+            try {
+              r += escape_xml (a->spec ()->default_value ().to_string ());
+            } catch (tl::Exception &ex) {
+              tl::error << cls_obj->name () << "#" << method->begin_synonyms ()->name << ": " << ex.msg ();
+              r += "?";
+            }
           }
         }
       } else if (n < int (doc.args.size ())) {
@@ -1339,11 +1344,11 @@ GSIHelpProvider::produce_class_doc (const std::string &cls) const
         os << "<p>" << tl::to_string (QObject::tr ("Use of this method is deprecated")) << "</p>" << std::endl;
       }
 
-    } else {
-      std::string dh = method_doc.doc;
-      if (! tl::Extractor (dh.c_str ()).at_end ()) {
-        os << "<p>" << replace_references (method_doc.doc_html (), cls_obj) << "</p>" << std::endl;
-      }
+    }
+
+    std::string dh = method_doc.doc;
+    if (! tl::Extractor (dh.c_str ()).at_end ()) {
+      os << "<p>" << replace_references (method_doc.doc_html (), cls_obj) << "</p>" << std::endl;
     }
 
     if (! pydoc.empty ()) {
diff --git a/src/laybasic/laybasic/gsiDeclLayLayoutView.cc b/src/laybasic/laybasic/gsiDeclLayLayoutView.cc
index b69efa3ae..df6d6760c 100644
--- a/src/laybasic/laybasic/gsiDeclLayLayoutView.cc
+++ b/src/laybasic/laybasic/gsiDeclLayLayoutView.cc
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ static lay::LayoutView *new_view (QWidget *parent, bool editable, db::Manager *m
 }
 
 Class<lay::LayoutView> decl_LayoutView (QT_EXTERNAL_BASE (QWidget) "lay", "LayoutView",
-  gsi::constructor ("new", &new_view, gsi::arg ("parent", (QWidget *) 0), gsi::arg ("editable", false), gsi::arg ("manager", (db::Manager *) 0), gsi::arg ("options", (unsigned int) 0),
+  gsi::constructor ("new", &new_view, gsi::arg ("parent", (QWidget *) 0, "nil"), gsi::arg ("editable", false), gsi::arg ("manager", (db::Manager *) 0, "nil"), gsi::arg ("options", (unsigned int) 0),
     "@brief Creates a standalone view\n"
     "\n"
     "This constructor is for special purposes only. To create a view in the context of a main window, "