GBPVRSkinTools alpha

[gruskada]

The main menu I think might be a special case.

Skins talking to plugins and visa versa is always problematic. Maybe skintools could concentrate on manageging the creation of a skin, and leave the preview to using gbpvr itsleft. You could always have a preview of each composite image?

I was thinking about something like that, too. Maybe if a special element has a size and location hardcoded, we can display it, otherwise, let the user know somehow that certain items are not displayable. Kind of sucks, though.

Also, I think it would be great to have a "code view", so in case our preview can't handle something, at least you could go back and tweak it. This opens up all kinds of possibilities - we could eventually have tag insight, so if SkinTools knew all of the possible options to display for a tag, it could tell you in a little context menu (again, like Visual Studio).

i.e., as you're typing:

<SpecialElement Name="MenuType" Type="

it could have a menu saying:

GBPVR.HorizontalMenuTask
GBPVR.VerticalMenuTask

that you could choose from.

Or instead of building this into we could include handling XML extensions in the preferences (probably better for phase 1), which may look something like this:

Associate File Types with Editors:
".xml - Eclipse"
".jpg,.png - Photoshop"

Then, back in the main app you could just right click on the XML file in the object viewer and select "Edit".

gruskada

[gruskada]

I've just posted a technical project justification (needed in order for SourceForge to accept or reject hosting the project). It was an interesting excercise - here's what I wrote:

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"GBPVR SkinTools" will allow designers to easily design skins for the GBPVR DVR by providing a WYSIWYG interface that will provide the ability to place and reposition skin elements. Currently, it is necessary to edit the actual XML files in order to develop skins, and start up the GBPVR application to view the effects of any changes made. If the XML is not well-formed, the application will not start. This application will reduce the time and technical knowledge required to quickly develop a skin theme for GBPVR, and hopefully, in turn, will entice more graphic designers to design high-quality themes, as they are sorely needed.

Technically, it will accomplish this by using GBPVR's publicly-exposed rendering methods to display already-created XML, and custom C# code to write and edit XML as the end user manipulates graphical objects in the WYSIWYG editor. "Assets", such as graphics, style sheets, xml files, and skin elements will be able to be managed in an object hierarchy, allowing a skin designer to fully manage the skin project in one place from within the application. Helper applications will be able to be assigned to each file type, so the end user can further manipulate objects in their preferred editing environment (i.e. .jpg,.png - GIMP; .xml - VI). Lastly, each type of object (Text Styles, Color Contstants, etc.) will be able to be fully managed in seperate forms from within the application.
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I'll keep you updated on the status of the application.

gruskada

[gruskada]

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

gruskada

[lonegeek]

Wow! That is amazing. This will really be something to help gbpvr get going. An app to create your own skin with!
Is there an ETA?

Keep up the good work!

[McBainUK]

I'm liking the screen shot

Working on gbpvruielements at the mo, but give me a shout if you need a hand with anything.

Mark

[gruskada]

Wow! That is amazing. This will really be something to help gbpvr get going. An app to create your own skin with!
Is there an ETA?

Keep up the good work!

Thanks. ETA? I have no idea. I'm anxious to use the finished product, too, as I'm in the middle of creating my own skin as well, and helping to skin "Olbia". All I can say is that I'm committed to the project, and it will get done eventually. I'll try to release partly functional builds along the way.

I'm hoping that once I get a functional release of some sort out the door, that other developers will jump in and improve upon it.

gruskada

[gruskada]

I'm liking the screen shot

Working on gbpvruielements at the mo, but give me a shout if you need a hand with anything.

Mark

Thanks. I was just thinking - the "Toolbox" section really would be of use for developers making UIs for their plugins, right? Maybe it would be cool to totally encapsulate your GBPVRUIElements app into SkinTools, and have SkinTools be able to operate in two modes - "Skinner" (for lack of a better word), and "Skinner Developer" (also for lack of a better word...). In Skinner mode, you wouldn't even see the toolbox, and you would be able to pick your startup template (The default would be the "Blue" skin). In Skinner Developer mode, your main purpose would be to drop in UI elements and arrange them.

Does this make sense to do?

BTW, if you can think of a better name than SkinTools, I'm all for it.

gruskada

[McBainUK]

Yes it does make sense.

[gruskada]

McBainUK - I was looking at your CompositeImage test code, and couldn't figure out how to make it so that you could manage images from within the property grid, so I came up with my own test code to see if I could write that part from scratch. Below is what I came up with, using CodeSmith to make an "ImageCollection" vector that uses IList (which I believe is needed for the property grid to create the "manage images" screen.) I tried it using generics as well, which worked in the code, but wouldn't let you manage images with the property grid either.

Here's what I came up with. I don't think it has any .NET 2.0-specific code, but let me know if you can't open it, and I'll try and compile it with VS 2003.

[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

FYI - quick update - I got most of the code working to draw the TreeView when a user clicks "New Skin...". It copies the "Blue" skin from "C:\program files\gbpvr\devnz" by default (which can be changed in "preferences"), and creates a new skin with the name the user chose. I think I also figure out the best way to handle "layers" - we should probably just manage them with a "visible" bool value that doesn't get written back to the XML. That way, a skin designer could see all, some, or none of the total images when designing a skin.

gruskada

[McBainUK]

I'm afraid I can't open the solution or run the exe. I only have .net 1.1.

I think I also figure out the best way to handle "layers" - we should probably just manage them with a "visible" bool value that doesn't get written back to the XML. That way, a skin designer could see all, some, or none of the total images when designing a skin.

This is what I was thinking, like photoshop really.