Topic: Group Project: Change item(s) to Layer [VOTE]

[JohnK]

point taken but what should we call him/her? the 'boss' shall now be known as...wait for it..."the great pumpkin". *smile*

my stance; we are technical minded, not hippies, a boss is someone in charge.

let's stick with 'boss' until it gets brought up again (becomes an issue) and then we can adress it then but let me think about the 'extra work' issue you brought up a bit.

[dgorsman]

I'm amenable to "Mr. Springsteen" instead of "Boss" if you are looking for ideas.   

I have a couple of ideas to handle the "ugh, more work..." issue.  The first is a job jar, where various small tasks are posted.  Anybody who has an hour or two can sign one out, do what they can, and sign it back in.  If they get overwhelmed then it can just be returned as unmodified for somebody else to get started.  The other is maintaining a much more relaxed schedule (IMHO we do still need one) to give people a chance to do this as well as the paid work.  So what would normally be assigned for a week in a paid job would be several weeks or even a month.  Even now, I think a couple of weeks are needed to get people signed up.

[barc]

B.O.S.S.  = Big Ol' Silly Shi   ...... ummm  ..... Stuff

[JohnK]

I like the job jar idea but I also want to say that I, personally, dont have any formal or professional group experience (hence the reason for all this) so i am just offering my best guess on all this stuff so im sure we are gonna fail with some methods or tasks we choose. ...I wonder if we shouldn't just call the criteria good enough and start the sign up process to see what "level of experience" we get (work with what we got). Thoughts?

I can assemble what criteria was listed so far in a text file for our use.

BTW, just to list some pertinent (development/technical) background info on me:
I am using Linux (I will be doing most of my work at home on my laptop but i use Windows at work too so...).
I have a live.com account (so i can chat with that messenger thing).
I would be willing to talk on the phone.
I use the Vim text editor.
I can program in: C++ (and Qt) and both Auto/Visual Lisp.
I am comfortable with the Unix-Style development process (text editor -> makefile -> compiler -> final product).
I am comfortable with the IDE style development process.

[JohnK]

Here is the latest document (from the first post) with all the criteria listed so far.

[Lee Mac]

Good brief.

A few things I might be inclined to add:

• Remove use of underscores in variable names, these are irritating to type and look ugly
• Consider whether to write a temporary Dialog Definition file (DCL) and [optionally] delete such file following main procedure, or include the DCL as a separate file in the package
• Include an 'new layer' button in the Dialog? - (but then would this require another dialog, and how far to take it regarding layer properties...)
• Remember to exclude XRef layers from Dialog layer list
• Exclude Objects on locked layers from object selection
• Consider order of prompts, i.e. Object Selection -> Layer Dialog (my preference)  vs.  Layer Dialog -> Object Selection.

Just brainstorming a few thoughts for this task. How shall we proceed from here?

Lee

[JohnK]

> no underscores
sure. I dont care one way or the other; i want a standard.

> temp or DCL file.
Temp.

>new layer button
I vote no.

> xref layers and locked layer items
of course.

> order of prompts
first one.

I would say that we need a sign up sheet to see what kind of talent base we get.

[barc]

agreed x6

[alanjt]

Sounds like a lot of fun and the group base work could be really beneficial to a lot of people - including myself. Count me in for anything.

[JohnK]

Here is the latest criteria document.

Can someone create a list of members or create a new thread for signup (somehow keep track of the members we have).

Another item We/I need to address is the SVN issue. TortoiseSVN is can be used as the interface, as well as batch scripts so we need to do some reading up on SVN and make some decisions. We also need to get Mark involved now and either get access/user account/etc setup or opned to us...

Mark, if your reading this, get your a55 in this thread and make some noise.

The last item to be addressed is comunication. Im not sure a thread will work; should we create a new forum (a group under the AutoLISP forum or something)? Should we get an IRC or chat channel. At least one "meeting" -e.g. "project kick off" would be nice.

[Lee Mac]

Just thought of one more thing for the brief:

• Should the Dialog 'remember' the last selected option? [My Preference: Yes]
  
  If Yes, store Layer Name [to be checked each time for existence of layer, else first item in LayerList is used] as:

• Global Variable in active drawing namespace [My Preference since in most cases, layers differ between drawings]
• Blackboard Variable in Blackboard namespace
• Registry key
• In text file

Your thoughts?

[JohnK]

I am on the fence about that one Lee but if "yes" i vote txt file (so it would be avail after a restart).

...to add to the `yes options' (this thought just came to me): what about if we re-write the program file (append a function to it something like: "(defun globalvar ( / ) "my-last-layer")" or something like that). Of course we would have to build some error proofing on that but you get the idea.

[Lee Mac]

I am on the fence about that one Lee but if "yes" i vote txt file (so it would be avail after a restart).

I was just considering that the layer setup may be quite different from file to file, so a simple global would be the least intrusive (and easiest to code), whilst still aiding the user.

...to add to the `yes options' (this thought just came to me): what about if we re-write the program file (append a function to it something like: "(defun globalvar ( / ) "my-last-layer")" or something like that). Of course we would have to build some error proofing on that but you get the idea.

That could be another option, yes - I suppose one would have to weigh the coding needed to read/write the lsp file coupled with testing for existence of the globalvar function against a single read/write to another (separate) text file but with the baggage of an extra file (albeit small).

Another option could be to define a subfunction as a list, i.e.:

Code: [Select]

(defun-q MySub ( / x )

  (setq x 1)
  (setq x (cond ( (getint (strcat "\nEnter a Number <" (itoa x) "> : ")) ) ( x )))

  (setq MySub (cons (car MySub) (cons (list 'setq 'x x) (cddr MySub))))
  (princ)
)
This would behave in the same way as the use of a Global Variable, but removes the need for a Global Variable floating around.

Lee

[gile]

i vote txt file (so it would be avail after a restart)

the layer setup may be quite different from file to file,

Why not an Xrecord in a Dictionary ?

[dgorsman]

i vote txt file (so it would be avail after a restart)

the layer setup may be quite different from file to file,

Why not an Xrecord in a Dictionary ?

My preference.  Establish a dictionary under the named object dictionary, with a sub-dictionary for settings like last-selected layer, last dialog selection, etc.  Safe, doesn't require extenstive permissions like registry keys might, doesn't rely on search paths and their possible write permissions like a text file, and stored per drawing.