[VCDImager-GUI-devel] status of GUI projects / call for helpers

[Herbert Valerio Riedel]

hello

quite some time has passed, and nothing has been released although it was
planned too... i.e. the GUI has been available as vaporware only so far
:-(

there are two GUI projects officially supported so far; they are not meant
to fight against each other, but rather to complement and learn from each
other; by using the java VM and the python VM I expect/hope to cover as
much architectures as possible. Both projects are based on (more or less)
intepreted languages...

JAVA GUI (win32, macosx, unix/linux, ...)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
due to the usual problems with sparetime projects, the java GUI project
has been shifting its release dates considerably;

the programmer in charge for the java GUI has told me, that is right now
beginning to do the actual coding; he also expressed the desire for people
to help him with the project;
so if you want the GUI to become usable earlier, you are invited to get
into contact with

Martin Santner <address@hidden>

PythonGTK GUI (linux)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
the forwarded mails below concern a native linux/python based GUI;

this project aims at those systems which don't have the java runtime
available for some reason; the contact adresses are

Bob <address@hidden>
David <address@hidden>


-- 
Herbert Valerio Riedel       /    Phone: (EUROPE) +43-1-58801-18840
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 09:48:27 -0400
From: Bob <address@hidden>
To: Herbert Valerio Riedel <address@hidden>
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: GUI

> do you mind, if I forward this mail of yours as is to the gui list?
Forward away to the gui list.

> please make sure all of you are on the gui devel list, and tell me if you
> want to have the CVS on savannah.gnu.org or if you plan on rolling your
> own :)
We will probably maintain our code ourselves for now and then put it under
CVS on savannah when we have an initial version, if that is okay.

> just an idea: what about mixing glade and pygtk?
I thought about mixing glade and pygtk.  That is still possible.  I do look
at it however as extra file (the glade XML) that needs to be supported
externally to the base code.  I am not sure as well as to how powerful Glade
is.  I am not sure if it supports all the widget types, etc.  I haven't
looked in too much detail into this.

> as a whole great so far :-)
> just some details I have not understood completely yet;
> is the dialog-based creation something like a wizard (aka GURU in
> gnome jargon) mode? if so, is it possible to create a vcd without having
> to answer the questions in a specific order? e.g. set the PVD entries at
> last, while designing the pbc and adding items at the same time ?
I do agree with you about the possibility of not answering the questions for
the VCD creation in a specific order.  However, I feel that most of the
initial things may be good to set upon creation of a new project and then
have property dialog(s) popup to allow you to change them, if you want to
later.

> projectfile == XML conforming to VideoCD DTD?
Yes, conforming to the DTD.  The plan is to at the least verify it against
the DTD.


> ...have you already seen the svcd designer from philips? I'd really
> recommend you take a look at it, if you haven't done so yet...
>
> or even the vcd 2.0 toolkit... both are free to download...
>
Where can I find these?  Is there a link from the vcdhelp tools page?



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 09:02:53 -0400
From: Bob <address@hidden>
To: Herbert Valerio Riedel <address@hidden>
Cc: address@hidden
Subject: Re: GUI

Just wanted to update you.  I am still planning on creating the GUI.  I am
probably sticking with Python, but I may be switching to using pygtk instead
of glade.  The reason for this is that there seems to be better control over
the gui using pygtk (especially dynamic creation and destruction of GUI
objects).  I have several ideas now on how the interface will look as well as
several python/pygtk examples to work with.  I have gone through most of this
Python tutorial that I have, so I have now officially started on it.  David
Ethell (another avid vcdhelp reader) as well as another fan of vcdimager is
planning on helping by creating the XML parser/creator code (dependent on
time, etc).  When we have code to have you check out, I will pass it to you
for input.

So far, I am planning on bringing up a window that allows a user to create or
open a project file.  If they choose create, a dialog will pop up asking them
to choose what VCD type (VCD 1.1, VCD 2.0, or SVCD 1.0).  It will also list
the options that can be set for the OPTIONS part of the XML file.  The next
dialogs will have you set the INFO and PVD parts of the XML file.  After they
finishe with these, they will be asked to select the mpg files that they want
included in their project.  I thought about your flowchart GUI, but myself
and David believe that it may end up being difficult to create and a lot more
work.  I have ideas on the menu creation and playlist creation, but I am
still playing around with them.  For example, for the playlist creation, I
was planning on having a dialog pop up that allows you to select from option
menus:  the PLAY ITEM, the PREV, the NEXT, and the RETURN.  You can then
enter in the playtime in a text input field.  The same for the Wait and the
AutoWait.  This would be done for each individual PLAYLIST that you wish to
create.

Let me know what you think so far.