Dialect: graphics for Charts, Diagrams, Graphing ?

- martin

Not exactly, but... I am working on a View project, to learn how to use it. The program has a practical purpose, so I would like to keep it moving along.

Ok. Is glass a dialect? I was never sure what it is. Does it work now, and where is it? -- ---===///||| Donald Dalley |||\\\===--- The World of AmiBroker Support http://webhome.idirect.com/~ddalley UIN/ICQ#: 65203020

I thought that was what View was supposed to be. What don't we know?

I am *trying*, but, because there are only about 3 VID examples in the library that are even remotely related to what I want to do, when my tests don't work, it's difficult to figure out why, with no documentation in the examples. This way, even the simple stuff is frustrating. And, since I would be blazing a new path,... I have been using REBOL/Core for years, but we all know that it can be pretty difficult to interpret other's REBOL code. (I would have used View much earlier, but I can't get it to run on my Amiga. Now I am attempting to learn it on a PC, so I tread slowly.) I'll have to try again, maybe over the weekend. I do have more View questions for the list, too. -- ---===///||| Donald Dalley |||\\\===--- The World of AmiBroker Support http://webhome.idirect.com/~ddalley UIN/ICQ#: 65203020

View comes with a Draw dialect - see info about it via the Desktop on RT's Rebsite - in the Docs section.

Here a quick example. Could obviously be shorter, (lots of cuts ands pastes:), but it should put you on the right track... REBOL [] view layout [ bar-chart: box white 100x100 effect [ draw [ pen black fill-pen red box 0x90 9x99 fill-pen blue box 10x90 19x99 fill-pen red box 20x90 29x99 fill-pen blue box 30x90 39x99 fill-pen red box 40x90 49x99 fill-pen blue box 50x90 59x99 fill-pen red box 60x90 69x99 fill-pen blue box 70x90 79x99 fill-pen red box 80x90 89x99 fill-pen blue box 90x90 99x99 ] ] button "Change Sizes" [ bars-blk: next next bar-chart/effect/draw forskip bars-blk 5 [ bars-blk/4/2: (random 100 - 1) ] show bar-chart ] button "Change Colours" [ bars-blk: next next bar-chart/effect/draw forskip bars-blk 5 [ bars-blk/2: random 255.255.255 ] show bar-chart ] ]

-- Carl Read

It is, or View + VID is anyway, (if not "complete"), but it doesn't mean VID's the last word in a GUI for View. So, using View, (decent docs pending:), you can create your own GUI dialect.

I hope you're being rhetorical there. (:

Yeah, because View's docs are spread out all over the place - some on RT's website, some on their Rebsite, some on RebolForces and so on, View's hard to begin with once you try to go beyond the simple layout stuff. So, it's slow, but is worth the effort.

Hopefully my little bar-chart example will help with your original question, but keep the questions coming either way. It's what the list is for. -- Carl Read

Ahh, now I get it.

Ha! You presume I can do this?! Now, THAT's funny! ;^)

No, not at all. Although I have seen references on the list about something called "Glass", until a few seconds ago, I had no idea what it is or what it does. I don't think I am the only one on the ML who doesn't know that, either.

No, I mean that most of the program samples that I saw on the REBOL site have no comments at all in their code, to document what *exactly* is going on. This makes it somewhat more difficult to learn by example. I can't write like that. Some programs don't need explaining, obviously; some parts, at least, do.

It's my training wheels that slow me down!

I'm sure it will. I'll have a look at it ASAP. Thanks! -- ---===///||| Donald Dalley |||\\\===--- The World of AmiBroker Support http://webhome.idirect.com/~ddalley UIN/ICQ#: 65203020

Ah, yes, I agree entirely. Just like my bar-chart script. (: There's the Catch 22 of being told "The script library is one of the best ways to learn REBOL" when you can't understand a script until you have a reasonable understanding of REBOL to begin with... As to non-commented scripts. Well, I find code easier to write than describe, which is quite common I think. The "HowTo"s on RT's website are well done though. It's just there's not enough of them, let alone ones for View and VID. -- Carl Read

Some one should port Ploticus to Rebol. Take a look at http://ploticus.sf.net/ .

Titling and Commenting are fine arts unto themselves. Apart from much needed in-line comments throughout the library examples, what would be really great is more 'live' documentation like: http://www.rebol.com/view/docs/../demos/easy-vid.r Being able to click on the gray highlighted source code examples and have the real results pop up like that while following a presenter's narrative thread is something teachers and computer literacy evangelists and developers dream of! REBOL could make itself incredibly attractive to schools and others if it were developed just even a little bit further in these directions. My wish-list suggestions: - shell integrated: make it easier to keep one's place while trying variations live also make it easier to more experienced Rebolers to add/edit comments - comments allowed [with hide/show/edit/add buttons] - publishing considerations [print to HTML, PDF, Vanilla {Snips} library, REBOLeasy-? format] - richer cut'n'paste features, for example the live gray boxes. - syntax color highlighting - "fold" option to expand/contract code the same way MS IE handles XML, Mathematica Notebooks and Scintilla all use - automatic hyperlinking of objects, code etc to allow one to explore code and contents. Preferably as named buttons showing source, probe, object-viewer info for whatever word is selected at the time button is clicked. yes one can fire up a test editor to get syntax highlighting and open multiple REBOL sessions, type 'source 'probe etc. But one has lost the presentation ability. I am looking forward to see how well Glass can make what I describe above easier to implement. I know the Python edu-sig folks are moving steadily down this road right now. They still lack the simple GUI though. They would die if they could see http://www.rebol.com/view/docs/../demos/easy-vid.r in action. Especially the clear hypercardi-sh structure it offers. Brilliant. wxPython does this already and PythonCard is simplifying wxPython use. But still a lot more code and obfuscation in the way relative to REBOL, even though Python is truly one of the most *readable* fun powerful languages anywhere. - Jason

Good point!

I didn't realize fast enough just how important this doc was, until you pointed out its benefits. Having tried to self-learn and even teach a small number of programming languages, over nearly 20 years, I can state you are 100% correct - instant, intelligent responses, from the point of input, makes learning much faster. It sounds as if you have "been there - done that", too. Good documentation takes time & effort, but it is important. Having a way for us users to add or modify RT's docs, might speed up this necessary process. -- ---===///||| Donald Dalley |||\\\===--- The World of AmiBroker Support http://webhome.idirect.com/~ddalley UIN/ICQ#: 65203020