Author Topic: NANY 2013 Withdrawn: Bead Designer (Read 19,900 times)

app103 · « **on:** October 12, 2012, 08:42 AM »

NANY 2013 Entry Information

Application Name	Bead Designer
Version	--
Short Description	Lightweight application for designing Native American style beadwork designs
Supported OSes	Windows
Web Page	http://arussoprojects.tk/2012/09/bead-designer/
Download Link	--
System Requirements	--
Version History	--
Author	app103

Description
A simple application for designing patterns for Native American style loomed bead weaving, that actually looks like finished beadwork.

Screenshots

Teaser:

I don't know if I am going to be able to pull this one off, but I will give it a try. Been having a lot of fun playing with it just as it currently is, but it is quite obvious that this is an unfinished project.

I have a project page up but this will not be the final location for it when it is finished. http://arussoprojects.tk/2012/09/bead-designer/

tomos · « **Reply #1 on:** October 12, 2012, 10:14 AM »

Looks really nice.
I borrowed

another screenshot from your linked page:

[attachthumb=#]

Is this intended for designing stuff that would actually be made, or is it for creating images (or both)?

Edit: goes well with my avatar :p
[attachimg=#]

wraith808 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 12, 2012, 12:54 PM »

That looks cool! And I agree that when (not if!) you finish, you should seek an OEM deal

Renegade · « **Reply #3 on:** October 12, 2012, 01:21 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on October 12, 2012, 12:54 PM

That looks cool! And I agree that when (not if!) you finish, you should seek an OEM deal

YES! Exactly!

app103 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 12, 2012, 05:03 PM »

Quote from: tomos on October 12, 2012, 10:14 AM

Is this intended for designing stuff that would actually be made, or is it for creating images (or both)?

Both. One does not even need to know how to do bead weaving to have fun with this! But if they do know how, it can be used to plan small projects...the kind that one would do on those small looms that they sell in toy stores.

I do this kind of work, myself, and for years I have planned my projects on graph paper with colored pencils. I never even knew that any software existed for this until I went and checked, after getting this far on my project.

Most of the software I found is quite complex compared to what I am making and not the sort of thing designed for an 8-10 year old child, a beginner, or the casual bead weaver. Almost all of them are pretty serious applications. You'll probably spend almost as much time (if not more) trying to figure out the software as you would designing your first project. And none of them are really of any use to anyone that doesn't do bead weaving.

And that is what is keeping me going on this project.

I will finish this one, just don't know if I will be able in time for this year's NANY. This project has a lot of stuff that I have never done before and I am bound to hit a lot of snags getting it to work right. (already got one that is driving me bonkers) But I will finish it, because I want to use this, myself.

This is one of my favorites of the screenshots. It's pattered after an actual Ojibwa design.

wraith808 · « **Reply #5 on:** October 12, 2012, 05:24 PM »

Do you have a roadmap for what features you're going to include? Just asking b/c I know my daughter loves doing this, and as you said, she uses graph paper and colored pencils right now.

app103 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 12, 2012, 10:48 PM »

Quote from: wraith808 on October 12, 2012, 05:24 PM

Do you have a roadmap for what features you're going to include? Just asking b/c I know my daughter loves doing this, and as you said, she uses graph paper and colored pencils right now.

Most of the project info can be found here, and I will continue to update that page as the project progresses. Also contains a list of existing software that I have found. Your daughter can try one of those if she can't wait for mine.

app103 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 18, 2012, 12:22 AM »

As wonderful as I hope this project will be when I can finally finish it, I am at a point where I am stuck and even Google can't help me, so this project will be nowhere near finished in time for this year's NANY.

I can't figure out even the first step towards being able to access or save the design data from the grid, which so much of the features planned, depends on.

So, I am withdrawing this project till further notice. It may return in a few years...or it may not.

Unless I cut most of the good stuff planned from it and release it as something that you'd need to make a screenshot to be able to keep a record of a completed design idea, which is pretty much all it is right now.

It's fun to play with, can plan a small project in one sitting, but that's about all. Not really what I had hoped to be able to release.

wraith808 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 18, 2012, 12:28 AM »

App, PM me if you want help. No promises, but I might be able to help, and am more than willing.

Renegade · « **Reply #9 on:** November 18, 2012, 12:54 AM »

While perhaps a bit messy, you may be able to simply grab the object and serialize it to disk, then open it, cast it to the right type, and assign it back. Not sure how you're working things there, but does it make sense for what you need to do?

kyrathaba · « **Reply #10 on:** November 18, 2012, 02:07 AM »

Are you using a .NET programming language? If so, I can supply code to serialize/deserialize your object.

vrgrrl · « **Reply #11 on:** November 18, 2012, 02:54 AM »

I love the idea of bead designer!! I'm a big crafter and if there's any way that I can help, I'd love to.

wraith808 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 18, 2012, 02:57 AM »

Quote from: Renegade on November 18, 2012, 12:54 AM

While perhaps a bit messy, you may be able to simply grab the object and serialize it to disk, then open it, cast it to the right type, and assign it back. Not sure how you're working things there, but does it make sense for what you need to do?

That was one of my suggestions.

And no, it's not a .NET programming language, but the idea is still applicable (and I've used it before with great results).

kyrathaba · « **Reply #13 on:** November 18, 2012, 03:08 AM »

Quote

but the idea is still applicable (and I've used it before with great results).

As have I

Whereas .NET provides wrapper functions for serializing/deserializing, it shouldn't be too difficult for App to do it manually.

app103 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 18, 2012, 03:29 AM »

Working in Delphi 6 here, and the project has 2 DrawGrids...one is the color selector and the other is the design area...the cells are filled with images from an ImageList, with the image in the selected cell of the color selector being copied to the selected cell in the design area.

I have never worked with grids before, not done much with images other then simple decorating of a form, and not saved much user data to files other than lines from a Memo and strings from a ListBox.

If anyone wants to take a look at what I have so far, it's attached.

Renegade · « **Reply #15 on:** November 18, 2012, 03:51 AM »

There's quite a bit of information out there on serialization.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=serialize+a+control+in+delphi

I don't know enough about Delphi specifically, but... the principles are pretty general.

If you have 2 objects there, I'd probably just create an:

object[2]

Then fill it like:

object[0] = obj1;
object[1] = obj2;

Then serialize that. It's very simple and uncomplicated, but certainly doesn't allow for changing "file formats" later on. Something like "filename.<version>.<extension>" could help solve that problem easily though. Not the neatest solution, but workable and certainly a lot less work than creating a customized file format.

However, looking at your code, you've got an array in there, so it might be just as easy to create an XML file with something like this:

Code: (xml)

<Grid>
  <rows count="2">
    <row position="1">
      <col position="1">
        <data>blue</data>
      </col>
      <col position="2">
        <data>red</data>
      </col>
    </row>
    <row position="2">
      <col position="1">
        <data>green</data>
      </col>
    </row>
  </rows>
</Grid>

Or something like that. There are many ways, and that's just one very simple example. Not a very good one though... Just illustrating... The point is that you can create the entire grid in XML and pretty much do whatever you want. However, it is more complex than doing simple binary serialization. The good news is that there are lots of XML libraries to help out.

I like XML as it is very simple to use, and if designed right, is nicely compatible going forwards or backwards.

Renegade · « **Reply #16 on:** November 18, 2012, 06:20 AM »

Well, after looking into serializing controls in .NET, looks like a custom class is needed as the default controls are not marked as serializable. Not sure what that means for Delphi, but it is one thing to consider. i.e. Can the object be serialized?

wraith808 · « **Reply #17 on:** November 18, 2012, 06:32 AM »

I sent a reply... since she's posted the original code here, I figured no harm in posting my alterations for any that are interested. (App, if you want me to take it down, just let me know).

app103 · « **Reply #18 on:** November 18, 2012, 06:58 PM »

Been messing around a bit while I avoid the big issue, switched to StringGrid to see if it somehow makes things easier (not entirely sure yet), and managed to get image export working (png), so that's a step in the right direction.

@wraith: Thanks for the help...I'll see if I can wrap my head around what you did, later, when things are a lot quieter here, probably late tonight when the noise makers are all asleep.

wraith808 · « **Reply #19 on:** November 18, 2012, 07:34 PM »

TStringGrid is a better choice in general- TDrawGrid is usually only used if you are making a totally custom data storage and grid. The most basic difference is TStringGrid has a data storage mechanism behind it- TDrawGrid has no such thing. And though it's called TStringGrid, you can draw anything with it if you override the draw method.

A couple of links on the subject:
http://borland.newsgroups.archived.at/public.delphi.ide.general/200703/0703298244.html
http://www.festra.com/wwwboard/messages/2241.html

I was originally going to ask you if you really needed to use a TDrawGrid or would a TStringGrid work- but as I was able to get the save working, I backed off of asking that.

But yeah... TStringGrid is probably the way to go, even if you use my method. You can even store the TBead object in the cell on the grid to get rid of the extra data structure, and iterate through the grid instead of the array when saving/loading.