GRYS Software

So, just to focus on something else, I upgraded all the software on the server. In the process, I also switched to viewgit to publish my repository on the web.While doing it, I also find the time to send a patch to the viewgit author to be able to exclude  some repositries when using the directive ‘projects_glob’. This is usefull if you want to exclude just some repositories in a long list (the basic idea of using the ‘projects_glob’ option) for some reason.

Well, the patch was accepted and merged (on the second try, the first one I used an approach the author does not like), so I am glad to see that I still know how to code with php

So, after a long time a new update about BulbCalculator.

Things go well, despite the little time I have, it is coming along very well. The latest addition is a download manager and the download support. So at this point, the last big feature to add for the first release is the printing process, even if I am not sure how to print a the bulb that  is bigger than the paper size used. I suppose the solution is to split the print on two pages, I will see how.

With the last few commits, Bulbcalculator is now able to import some external foil profile. This is usefull since is another step in the direction to have a complete and usable file/project managment, since for now the open/save feature is only usefull if the bulb foil is one of the default.

Another reason for which the possibility to import foil profiles are important, is that this is one of the initial features that I’d like to port for the first release of the new version of Bulbcalculator, so I can say that the release is one step closer.

• Make some nice work in BulbCalculator, the alpha release is coming… #

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• Make some nice work in BulbCalculator, the alpha release is coming… #

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On bulbcalculator.grys.it it available the first (win32 only) snapshot of BulbCalculator. It has bugs, it have not functionalities (no print, no import, no open/save) but it already do some basic calculations and it is possible to export the data in a text file.

Later this week I hope to release a new snapshot with some more features and less bugs

After some more research for a good opengl widget to integrate with Qt, I decided to use the QGLViewer. This for 2 basic reasons:

1. I am now able to compile a software that use it under windows
2. I use it for another (now sleeping) project, so I already know it

The first point is the most important. Since the software (BulbCalculator) is a port of a win32 software, one of the main goal of the project is that it must run under windows. After some more research I probably find why I was not able to compile a project with libQGLViewer and after solving this issue (glut was missing) I changed my mind and istead of using the standard QGLWidget from Qt 4, I will use libQGLViewer.

BulbCalculator is coming along nicely. After beeing stuck with the 3d part for some time, I move to implement the other functionalities, since I am thinking that it is better to have a fully functional software than to have a nice software. At least I will get an usable version, also if not 100% complete,since anyway the basic porting is only the first step of that project.

So now I impemented a view of the bulb data, ready to be exported in text format. I’d like to add some more format for the export, but for now I am still not convinced. I also fixed some bugs that I found along the way had some good ideas on features to add to the software, so for now the project seems to be promising.

In the last days I have the opportunity to test three different OpenGL widget: the QGLWidget from the Qt4 library, the QGLViewer and the GLC_lib. Both QGLViewer and the GLC_lib are based on the QGLWidget. Here is my impressions

QGLWidget
Perhaps the simplier. It is a basic OpenGL widget that come with the Qt4 library.  It is good enough to make some simple 3d application without too much trouble, but I think that its simplicity is the biggest limit.

QGLViewer
It is the first widget I found when looking for a better widget or library to use. It is nice and well supported, at least under linux. It extend the basic QGLWidget without adding much more. Of course it make easy some operations. A nice widget to use if you need only OpenGL support.

GLC_lib
This seems to be the most complete solution. It expand the QGLWidget and add some more things (like the support for some graphics file format and more).  I cannot try it on my Windows machine since it crash, but I was impressed with the test under Linux.

So, what widget to use ? I choose the QGLWidget since the program must run either under Linux and Windows and the targer audience is not so techical (I suppose), so no need for external dependecies o package to install.
The other two failed to work under Windows (my bad probably) , but my software was rather simple on the 3d front, so I have no particular needs.

Having to write a Linux-only software or a much more complex application,  I probably choose QGLViewer since it has also the python bindings, but also the GLC_lib is a good choice expecially if you have to use some standard format for 3d file (like .3ds files).

• The translation of the Eric4 IDE is under the 500 strings left: the end of the project is near. #

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