Archive for the ‘Programming’ Category

Diagram your websites!

June 19th, 2010
I've added a plugin architecture to DiagramCreator, and now you can download a plugin to automatically diagram a website. One of the cool aspects of this is you can edit the diagram after it is auto-generated by the Website Diagrammer plugin. Here's how it works:

(1) DiagramCreator launches the (2) Website Diagrammer plugin. (3) The user enters a valid URL for the Website Diagrammer Plugin to begin mapping. (4) The plugin downloads the HTML of the main page and then (5) searches for links within the HTML code. (6) This process repeats for the number of iterations specified by the user. (7) When done, the plugin converts the data to DiagramCreator XML code and passes it on to DiagramCreator, which then, (8) renders the chart. At this point you can edit the diagram just like any other diagram, and save the source as well.

Getting the Website Diagrammer Plugin

You can download the Website Diagrammer Plugin here:

Installing the Plugin

In order to install the plugin you need to first locate where your DiagramCreator folder is. There you will find a file called InstantDiagrams.rev. You should create a folder there called dc_plugs and put the downloaded file in it: WebDiagram.rev

Launching the Plugin

After you've successfully installed the Website Diagrammer Plugin, you will now find it available in the File menu. Just click it to launch it.

Using Website Diagrammer

Here's a quick How-To to get you started:

(1) Instructions- always a good idea to check out. (2) Remember, this is beta software! Check for Updates often. (3) Here's where you put the URL- don't forget http://  (4) After you enter the URL, press the Crawl Web button to start the process. It can take several minutes! (5) At any time you can press the STOP button and the plugin will generate the data already captured. (6) The number of levels for the plugin to search through the website. The more levels, the longer it takes and the bigger your final diagram. (7) Typically, you will want to limit the level iterations to only your website domain. It's best to leave this checked. (8) After completion, the DiagramCreator XML file code is generated and passed to DiagramCreator by pressing the (9) Generate Diagram button. (10) You will see the status of the process in this lower area and when finished it will tell you some relevant statistics.

Here are some pages which were generated using this plugin. I'll be creating more plugins as we go, and if you have RunRev, you can develop your own plugins for DiagramCreator. You can look at the source code of the Website Diagrammer plugin to learn how. Let me know if you find any problems.

Posted via email from Shafer Walters Group

 

Posted in Programming, Runtime Revolution

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DiagramCreator in beta. Get yours NOW!

June 12th, 2010
At SWG, we create diagrams for just about everything. Finally, I decided to write our own diagramming tool to help us. We've been using and updating this tool for quite some time now, and I think it's time to release a beta version of DiagramCreator, so others can try it out. It's a very cool tool for making your own diagrams using basic English sentences. It is based on the Open Source GraphViz tool and, for the time being, is free to create your own diagrams on both Mac and PC.

Diagrams are created simply by typing a simple Noun, Verb, Noun sentence such as:
Jack likes Jill
This creates two Nodes, Jack and Jill with an Edge (arrow) between them with the word likes. There is no need to draw boxes or arrows or move things around to keep them from overlapping. Diagram Creator takes care of the diagram layout for you. All you need to concentrate on are the relationships between the Nouns and Verbs.
Anytime the same Noun is used in a sentence, it will reference the existing Node. So, for instance we add a couple more sentences:
Jack doesn't like Sally
Sally likes Jack
We now have a three Node diagram with Jack having two Edges.
We can Group Jack and Jill and give it a label easily by just (1) editing the Node properties of Jack and Jill.


As I mentioned, the killer feature is the simple fact these diagrams automatically create themselves. They optimize the positions of Nodes and Edges based upon rules, such as trying to keep Edges from crossing and spacing Nodes from top to bottom according to the order of the sentences. These other images show how complicated diagrams can be created.

Three things to know BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

1. Before you do ANYTHING, be sure and CHECK FOR UPDATES, as the files below are VERY OUT OF DATE.
2. You'll need to install the Open Source GraphViz package for all this to work. Don't worry, there are very clear instructions on how to do this in the HELP file.
3. Read the HELP file. It covers everything you'll want to know, except for the Groups feature which has just been added, and demo'ed above.

Here are the locations of the downloads. Unzip and store wherever you like. Because these are beta, they don't have the proper icons, launcher files, etc. yet. Don't forget to keep checking for updates! And, let me know if you run into any bugs or even how you like it.

Posted via email from Shafer Walters Group

 

Posted in Programming, Runtime Revolution

2 Comments

 

Vista 64 patch for Rev 3.0

November 4th, 2008

Up to now, running the Revolution IDE on a Vista 64-bit OS was most problematic– if you could run it at all. I spent a number of hours chasing down the various issues and have fixed all of them I could find. Those with Rev 3.0 and Vista 64 can download my Vista 64 patch at:

http://www.gadgetplugins.com/altplugins/Vista64Patch.rev

Basically, the main issue has to do with ‘the globalnames’ where there are two environment globals which are problematic:

$ProgramFiles(x86)
$CommonProgramFiles(x86)

I’ve tracked down both the message box bug and the script editor bug to this problem and have created a patch which writes to and saves the Message Box stack and the revDebugger stack. As with all my patches, you can revert to a previous state.

This patch will not run on anything but Vista 64. Even if a mac or other pc were patched, things will work as they should. I suspect this patch will be in an upcoming version of Rev. AFAICT, there are no other outstanding issues with running Rev 3.0 in Vista 64 versus running Rev 3.0 in Vista.

 

Posted in Programming, RR Plugins, Runtime Revolution

1 Comment

 

Alternating Line Colors in Fields

October 25th, 2008

Trevor DeVore has created a very nice tutorial where he shows how to create alternating line colors in fields automatically for Rev. Definitely worth checking out.

He also wrote the whole ScreenSteps documentation platform which is a wonderful and affordable way of posting tutorials online. Works on both Macs and PC’s

 

Posted in Programming

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Group Manager for Revolution

October 22nd, 2008

This is a rework of an older plugin with new interface and removal of frontscripts. Some other GUI features have been added such as auto-hiliting and scrolling of the Groups List.

It only does one thing, but it does it well.

It allows you to see all the groups which exist in a stack, and whether or not they are currently ON the current card. You can then choose to remove or place them on the current card as you see fit. Very handy for group management across a bunch of cards in a stack.

To download just type into the message box (or cut and paste text below):

go URL (“http://www.gadgetplugins.com/altplugins/altGroupMgr.rev”)

Then save and reopen as a palette. As with all other Altuit plugins, this is compatible with the altPlugin Toolbar. This version was not yet tested on Mac, but the previous version was. Please let me know if there are any issues. Thanks.

 

Posted in Programming, RR Plugins, Runtime Revolution

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Custom Scrollbars in Revolution

October 22nd, 2008

Here’s a beta plugin which allows one to create custom colored scrollbars for fields in Rev. It’s been tested on WinXP, Vista and Unit tested on Macs. Not sure about Linux.

It’s pretty simple and not as beautiful or fancy as those created by Scott Rossi, but it’s definitely a ‘no frills’ approach, which has minimum impact. It’s works like my altFldHeader which puts buttons at the top of fields for sorting tables, etc.

To download it, just type into the msg box (or cut/paste):

go URL “http://www.gadgetplugins.com/altplugins/altFldScroller.rev”

Then be sure and save. Make sure and run this in palette mode. If you use altPluginToolbar, it will install and automatically run in palette mode. Be sure and read the instructions fully before using it. Holler back at me if you find any problems.

 

Posted in Programming, RR Plugins, Runtime Revolution

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