Creations built using RJtextEd

[yereverluvinuncleber]

New Dieselpunk Panzer Calendar Gauge using the same graphics adapted. Widget has been built and can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/yereverluvin ... -763271945



Code will be created using RJtextEd and that is in progress now. This is the working widget on my desktop, a work-in-progress.





Since creating the original set of Panzer gauges I keep finding more and more uses for them...

o Added ability to select the correct numbers and select the date using the minimum of CPU
o Added code to allow creation of each gauge as an discrete object.
o Added animation effect for each 'flipper'
o Changed animation effect to use a timer
o Added sounds to the flipper
o Testing different animation types

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I am also working on this widget...



Just giving it a gentle overhaul to ensure it has all the other options that my other apps have.





There isn't another program quite like it. It sits underneath all other widgets and other desktop items exposing the inner workings of your broken screen.

If you drop any desktop item (shortcuts, files, documents &c) it will automatically place those into the appropriate folder, for example .doc files will be moved to the my documents folder. If it fails to recognise a specific file type then you can manually add that extension to the list and it will deal with them from that point on. It works on Windows XP, 7, 8 and 10, Vista and Mac OS/X High Sierra.

It was created using Photoshop and my old default editor Context. I am updating it now using RJTe and adding a few small functions.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Some graphic changes to the help, about and gauge faces, some copying of the code from the Panzer Flip Calendar allows me to create a flip clock. Largely complete, I am now just adding the sound, need to find the appropriate subtle sound that works and does not annoy at the same time.


Fig01. The flip-flop clock on a portion of my desktop.


Fig02. The help screen


Fig03. The about screen


Fig04. The right-click menu


Fig05. Just the clock gauges

Not just a straight copy. It required a lot of changes to the code as each flip flop needs to have its own action. The old calendar flip flop did not require this as it flipped in groups. The code change from group to single fipflop was not simple as each gauge is an object and was quite complex to change.

Harry Whitfield, my partner in crime when it comes to widget-making has converted this widget to a pure HTML and javascript widget. This means that we have a RainWidget version of the Panzer FlipClock that should run well under RainWidgets. All tested and working. Needs some tender love and care and tweaking before release. I feel I need to know RainWidgets before I just dump a widget out there.

You can see it as a web widget here: https://g6auc.me.uk/PanzerFlipClock/

This version incorporates a countdown timer. Note this is our trial version and functionality may change without notice

[yereverluvinuncleber]

6th October 2018 - The Weather Gauges - No new major visual changes.

// time to next poll indicator
// time to next poll indicator tooltip
// after a sleep it ought to try to poll
// after a sleep the error message should be suppressed
// the error message should only appear after 'n' defined attempts at polling
// anemometer face for wind speed in m/sec and code to switch
// kelvin face for the temperature gauge and code to switch
// fixed the text window displaying an overload due to an undefined value
// fixed the text window displaying an incorrect value
// when you change the face on a gauge (knots to m/sec for example) the clipboard text should change too
// when you change the face on a gauge the tooltip text should change too as above
// fixed the storm warning drop lamp indicating too early
// fixed a tooltip on the barometer gauge
// fixed some bugs preventing operations on Mac os/X
// added support for running a command line initiated instance of any named editor


Fig. 21 Weather gauge and new visual resource oscilloscope gauge.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Currently working on another of my creations, this time it is a steampunk media player. It runs on Windows and Mac os/x and uses each system's default media player to interact with music files. It is not really possible for one person to write the code to interact with every known file format that exists (I would be forever writing codecs) so instead I just use the in-built media player that already knows the majority of formats and interface with it via an o/s API.


Fig 01. The player in simple mode.

On Windows it is the WMP (Windows Media Player) and on os/X it is QT (QuickTime). The same logic/code is used for each and the steampunk player acts/responds the same on each platform, not quite multi-platform but dual certainly. It may well work on the Ubuntu 13.03 with the Yahoo connect TV engine but that is completely untested.

It has two modes, simple compact mode where it takes up very little screen space and allows you to resize the thing to tuck it away anywhere you like. On a small pull of the keychain it enters normal mode where it shows you all the tracks in its current list.


Fig 02. The player in simple mode showing it in operation.

I am just updating the widget's menus, fixing the help screens and adding new folder browsing functionality. The old YWE engine provides access to the standard Windows folder browsing API but it does not allow you to determine where the default folder location is, instead always starting at the computer's drive root which is a pain. I am just recreating that folder browsing functionality and adding the folder start parameter that the YWE developers forgot. I am creating a browser window that looks like an old XP classic frame but I will create a more steampunk look-and-feel for it later using photoshop.

You might think it would be more sensible to use active X to use a system-level call to bring up a folder browser window and you'd be quite correct for almost all programming languages except javascript. Javascript traditionally runs in a browser and is restricted from being able to access desktop APIs. Even with these desktop engines your javascript still code runs in a browser context, in the konfabulator engine it has embedded the webkit browser and the javascript engine that comes with it. Since NT6 (Vista) access to certain activeX APIs has been restricted/deprecated, it now seems to check the language type and so you can no longer fire up a folder browser as you'd like to. Instead you have build your own from scratch.

Note: Microsoft's own jscript which runs natively on the desktop can still access these APIs, it is just those embedded in the context of 3rd party browsers that are now forbidden to access certain Windows APIs, thanks Microsoft - we know what you are doing there...


Fig 03. Displaying the original folder browser, styled to look like XP classic, new skin yet to arrive...


Fig 03a. Displaying the new folder browser, a medieval skin

Isn't it amazing how a simple skin changes the whole? The two skins above were formally created using the same methods and form but the skin changes everything.


Fig 04. Displaying the help for the player in 'simple' mode.


Fig 05. Displaying the help for the player in 'full' mode.


Fig 06. The player on my desktop with a few other steampunk creations.

Steampunk Weather (top)
Steampunk Volume Control (top right)
Steampunk Clock Calendar (left)


Fig 07. The right click menu

The right click menu showing the RJtextEd shortcut link that allows me to edit the program project files at a simple select and click


Fig 08. The build button used to initiate the program.

For each project the build button is set to simply run the project's KON file, the file that is recognised by the engine by default to initiate the running of your program. You set this using the following menu option:

Project - configuration - run settings - run

These two simple configurations speed up the debugging/development process considerably.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

On the steampunk media player I have modified the folder and file listing code to allow displaying both folders and files on the same pane, previously it was was just folders or files. A simple filesystem.getDirectoryContents using the konfabulator API listing just gives you an alphabetical dump so in some way you have to sort the contents, display the folders first, then the files afterwards.

I am in the process of adding a slider to allow scrolling up/down which only appears when there is more than one screen of files/folders. Also allowing the manual selection of files using the up/down keys as well as scrolling pages using the mouse scroll wheel. It indentifies known file types as they are displayed and allows you to interact with the folders alone as this is a folder selector.



Why am I doing this? Not quite sure, it started out as a fix to the limitations of the engine but suddenly I am writing a full folder/file browser pop-up in javascript and starting to replicate default Windows functions. As you get stuck into something I feel the need to do it 'right' and not to alienate Windows users which means doing it roughly the same way.

It is only when you try to recreate something from the o/s yourself that you realise what a lot of code goes into a simple folder browser window...

[yereverluvinuncleber]

// now allows selection of files but not to drill down into...
// now allows the up and down key selection of tracks/folders
// does not allow the selection to go above or below the list on a key up/down
// if a track is clicked upon or key'd then the default folder is chosen.
// implemented a return to open a sub-folder
// implemented the CTRL+HOME to return to the top screen and select the top track
// implemented the CTRL+END to go to the bottom screen and select the last track
// changed the selected track colour to match the rest of the window

More recently:

// selection by mouse only allowed on populated folder/tracks
// up icon click now correctly calcualtes from current tree position
// onMouse Scroll movements to select up/and down - WIP
// up icon now checks to see if the folder is a drive, if so now passes a boolean variable to cause the drives to be displayed
// added folder exclusion list to prevent the Windows folder from being browsed - ERROR!
// the readfolderslist now shows drives
// added a drive icon for drives only
// changed text alert for folders that contain no audio files
// changed the tooltip texts to be more relevant and informative
// changed the play button to a select button
// added ting and page turn sounds to navigation events
// added folder list refresh function to F5
// added back button code to handle the very last folder selection
// remove back icon when showing drives only
// when a folder has no files but still has sub-folders within, it requests to turn recursive searching on and do a rescan.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I've added a help screen for the folder manager



A working version is now out:
https://www.deviantart.com/yereverluvi ... -780346607

// fixed a bug with some CDs that have no track information causing no track title to trim()
// up to drive e: when the tooltip should say drive root, added code to handle the up icon mouse enter root identification
// added help screen and menu item
// added roll over highlight of the buttons
// added tooltip change to reflect file or folder selection
// created file background with file plaque changed according to type
// fixed the file/folder browser type as called from the various places.
// there is no selected file by default any more
// no file selection does nothing as it should
// double click a file in file mode must play it
// the 2nd and 3rd folders selected should not replicate the first if the folder selected is the same
// right click select fourth saved folder selects the wrong one, now calls setmenu
// save the selected folder to the current prefs so that when opening the new folder selector the previous position is retained.
// back pressed twice, the up location is not set correctly

Unfortunately, there may be one or two bugs but in general it works and does not crash. It is a fairly basic file/folder explorer with no drag/drop nor filename editing on-the-fly but it allows navigation, file or folder selection, has full help and does the job it was designed to do. It also has a unique look that appeals to me.

Recent changes:



o New toggle switch for long/short folder/file names.
o New close and help buttons top right.
o Current folder name added to the top of the page.

Bugs Fixed:

// macintosh - code to determine parent folder using /
// On Macs ignore files beginning with a dot '.'
// give the explorer an option to display the whole path or just the current folders within this folder.
// tested to see if the external sound resources exist before attempting to play
// add a brass toggle to select the display of long/short folder names
// add a startup routine to set the brass toggle position as the browser initiates
// fixed a bug with file selection causing the currentfolder to empty

// 1.0.14a contains the following bug fixes and changes.

// both upIcon functions use the same code to select the up folder
// the upIcon function now only selects a folder if the path is valid
// array variables moved from mediaplayer to folder.js to make folder.js more portable
// new alert for selecting files when folders should be selected
// new busyIcon for the folder.js when selecting an up or down folder
// added a .030 sec sleep to allow the new busyIcon to display
// file selection bug - the selected file has the correct file name but the folder is not from
// the folder selected but is built using the folder where it is being dragged to.
// added the current folder name to the top of the page
// there is a // insertion bug when selecting a folder using the Windows default browser
// WIP take the .kon file and translate it to a better more encapsulated method of creating images in javascript WIP
// help image to have a x - to close added to the image and supporting close text
// f5 refresh - causes the folder panel to fade out and in again
// long folder name selection toggle to work for files too? Tried it, abandoned the idea.
// rotate the folder busy instead of the main busy
// place the folder elements, sound, images in their own folder
// images into the images/folder folder
// sounds into the sounds/folder folder
// tested the alternative to a sleep statement to allow the busy animation to rotate, abandoned the idea,
// - tried a for loop with the animation within but it would not show the animation until the loop was finished
// fixed the menus
// add custom alert code
// reorganised the preferences screens to be more logical

Added new functionality to provide 'period' alert boxes as and when needed.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

Current Project (very late) - some Christmas Baubles

I'm updating the baubles that I created three years ago to finish them off and get them 'out there'. They've just been populating my desktop and no-one else's.


Fig 1.0 - The help file for the baubles

Each plays a carol suited to a day in Advent, they fade in and out as your mouse passes over each, respectfully keeping themselves unnoticed in the background.


Fig 2.0 The desktop shown with the baubles bright and shiny (they fade to 20% opacity when idle)

I had hoped and have managed to largely finish them BEFORE advent ends...

You can get it here:
https://www.deviantart.com/yereverluvin ... -776141834

I used RJTextEd exclusively to create this particular program along with Photoshop for the graphics. It is approximately 1,600 lines of code in 8 program files, mostly standard javascript with some XML descriptors. 155 separate images, baubles, advent calendar inserts, doors opened and closed, numbers, help files, scrolls &c.

A present for you this Christmas 2018.

In version 1.4 I am tidying up the baubles adding a few minor improvements:

o listing the current song's name in the scroll pop-up
o add an option to the preferences to toggle the display of the trackname
o remember and preserve the bauble's door open/closed state
o add an info window for updating the user when positions are successfully saved &c
o fixed a bug that occurs when restarting during the playing of a carol.

When these advent Baubles are completed, the aim then is to create a series Christmas Baubles for the twelve days of Christmas following the images as provided by the old song "On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me"...

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I am always working on more than one program/project due to a problem with boredom and a failure to focus on a specific task, a failing of mine. I have another project on the backburner.

Some programs have a function, ie. they actually do something, most of my programs do something very 'real' they just have a distinct interface that runs against the computer-norm for visuals. This particular program is purely visual. What's the idea? Well, the concept is how to take something that is static and bring it alive for marketing/advertising reasons. When I was a boy I'd have given my eye-teeth for a living, animated comic cover. I think it shows what can be done by taking an out-of-date comic format and bringing it into the 21st century.

With this in mind I have taken an image created by a friend of mine and turned it into an animated comic cover. SmallBrownDog's superb interpretation of a typical Commando Comic cover of the 1960s - animated and given life! I have taken SBD's two-dimensional image and have extracted the layers to create an animated desktop program/widget that has action and realistic sound effects all encapsulated within a comic book cover.


The original image updated by me to give it even more animation and life. You'll see I've added searchlights and a Me109 just coming into the picture top right. SBD will forgive me as these extra elements are animated.

It is a replica of a typical Commando Comic cover available in the UK in the late 1960s. There will be sound-effects, music and action. 99% complete and ready to show it fully in action.

The animated program is here: https://www.deviantart.com/yereverluvin ... -779805263

Created with Photoshop, converted into an XML code using a bespoke script we have for converting Photoshop PSD files containing multiple layers into an XML description. From this we attach javascript code using RJTe to various include files and we use the powers of a javascript runtime engine to create the program that operates on the Windows/Mac desktop. All the audio created using Audacity.

This program's code was entirely edited using RJTe. Approximately, 1,700 lines of javascript code and XML.

// test operation as a .widget, check it ALL works as expected
// test operation as a .widget on another machine with Win10, check it ALL works as expected
// tidy up functions and descriptions
// add machine guns on demand!
// add randomness to the two paired explosions
// f5 plays nothing, true
// add a menu link to my widgets on DeviantArt
// add a menu to facebook and other links if necessary (setmenu)
// make the ack ack explosions a little more frequent
// add Me109 animation s x 2
// add large explosion
// add fade in of the whole thing at the beginning
// add close button to the widget
// add modern metro-style volume toggle
// add price image click to make me 109s re-appear
// add menu link to DC Thompson
// add menu link to DeviantArt
// add menu link to 2nd about us page
// created 2nd about us page
// add green banner, badge and link to DC Thompson
// corrected the about us page text
// added a close button to the about us page
// added theme music
// added debug and editing options


The image below is a very low quality GIF of the first part of the animation only (no sound).



In the recent past, this sort of program was typically created using Flash, a superb tool for creating animated graphic content for the desktop and the web. The trouble is that Flash has earned a bad name for itself due to the poor security design and its ubiquity on the web. Flash is still a superb tool for creating desktop applications. However, its demise on the web has also led to its demise on the desktop which is quite ridiculous. Regardless of what I think, Flash is dying and so it is rather pointless creating programs like the above in Flash despite its superb GUI with timelines &c.

Instead of Flash, I have just used the YWE and code with a few graphics to achieve the same, not quite as easy without a timeline editor but it shows what can be done. Doing it this way the javascript code is not constrained just to the Yahoo Widget Engine but can be re-used in other engines and even on the web by adapting the code to use the appropriate APIs.

SBD's original art can be found here:
https://www.deviantart.com/small-brown- ... -765031420
I know he won't mind me animating his original work, he has seen earlier versions already and was thrilled with the result, hopefully he will be even happier with the new version.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I know I am monopolising this thread but I would be pleased to see other people's creations here too. Please post something you have created using RJTe, I'm sure we'd all love to see it too.

My programs/apps are good-looking (at least in some people's eyes) but the coding is not of particularly high quality, I was brought up on Sinclair Basic, GWbasic, QB45, VBdos, DCL, VB6, HTML, PHP and javascript and my programming skills do now finally encompass event-driven and object orientated programming but my style is distinctly self-taught and still largely 2G in basis. My skills lie in graphical design and I exploit that to make a niche for myself - I suppose that is how I get by in the programming world... so, please, just because my apps leave a graphical impression don't let it stop you from publishing your own creations. Mine will be much worse-coded than yours - I assure you!

PJJ, one of your creations perhaps?

Question: Rickard, do you ever use RJTEd to create parts of RJTEd? I know that you use the Embracadero IDE to code and build but their might be some overlap where it is easier to use RJTed to do certain things... just a thought.

[pjj]

I know I am monopolising this thread

I think it'd be better to put it this way: this thread was brought to you by the letters y, e, r, v, l, u, i, n, c and b

PJJ, one of your creations perhaps?

None that would be worth mentioning now, I'm afraid. I plan to put some code on GitHub this year, so I'll let you all know when it happens, but don't hold your breath

[yereverluvinuncleber]

It is good to hear what others are doing and it is a good advert for RJTed, it keeps me inspired to see what others are up to. How about just a synopsis?

[pjj]

Quod scripsi, scripsi

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I shall wait oh Roman one - hinc spes affulget.