I'm currently developing an application that allow the user to program some scripts. I've developed a "compiler" to analyse the script made by the user, but now i want create a visual editor with all the possibilities that the user have, something similar to this: Blockly - A visual programming editor .
I am currently using C# and I have no idea how to develop something like the above. I thought about doing my own draggable UI on top of my DSL, but not sure how to start.
Thanks
For other Wpf developers trying to do something similar, I would not recommend doing this yourself but actually use a webpage within Wpf and then communicate with Blockly through that. I promise you that this will be a lot easier than actually trying to do this yourself.
Use Blockly inside a WebBrowser
If you don't feel like recreating all your script generation code you could also create a custom xml generator for Blockly and then just print out which blocks are connected so like :
<block>
<whileblock repeat="20"/>
<block/>
Then decipher this and generate your script from c# depending on the connected blocks.
Blockly is open source, so feel free to use it for your editor. You don't really need to know much JavaScript in order to use the Blockly libraries, and there's a support group.
You can do it with WPF.
Using Drag and Drop you can get real closer.
Watching this video will help you get sense hou this mechanism works.
Try improving it slowly and playing with it.
2nd step will be to play with lists and drag and drop
Like shown here .
Improve it even more by using data you get from your mouse position,
a good way to do it demonstrated here.
Related
I've been running around the web for a while now looking for a solution to this problem, but I'm quite disheartened by now to find something that will fit all of my requirements. So here goes.
I'm trying to build a desktop application that uses the Kinect for Windows sensor to control a visualization of digital library (as in, the place you go to for books) assets. I'm quite versed in using the official MS Kinect SDK and already have a neat utility framework for prototyping at hand, so I'd obviously love to make use of it. This plus the desktop app theme of things says the whole shebang will need to be in C#, which is fine by me.
On the other hand, the visualization part already exists and looks gorgeous, but it's JavaScript (and specifically, JIT i.e. javascript infovis toolkit). It has all the bells and whistles I need and it's neatly animated. Also, I'm a noob at JavaScript.
The point is, how do I avoid rewriting either one into the other's language while still allowing them to talk at runtime?
So, do you know any way to either
A) embed a JIT visualization (e.g. radial tree visualization) in a windows application in a way that allows me to manipulate the graph at runtime from a C# class (e.g. selecting a new node to be animated into focus) or
B) send C# events to JS to react to gesture input at runtime? Is this something ASP.NET can do?
I have a feeling the result will be a weird mix of desktop and web technology, but any pointers to the right sort of technology is greatly appreciated.
Maybe you should look at this projects about using Kinect with JavaScript:
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kinectedbrowser/
http://kinesis.io/
I'm wanting to create an animation in C# such as what you would see in a slot machine where the pictures spin round. I know I could manually move the location of a PictureBox or something like that but that seems like not a good idea to me.
How would you guys do it? It doesn't actually matter whether its in standard forms or WPF or anything else similar. Possibly using XNA?
I suggest you use WPF.
With Expression Blend you can easily do the animation you need.
I think I've already seen a slot machine WPF sample somewhere on the web.
I'll search for it and post it if I find it again
Edit
Nope it was a silverlight application, but code is almost the same. Here is the link:
http://www.dolittle.com/Silverlight/SlotMachine/SlotMachine.html
Anyway, if you find that approach to difficult I suggest you read a bit about simple WPF programatically driven animations. They're very easy to do, and with a few lines of code you can accomplish your needs.
Best regards
So... I want to make a game, and I want to write it in C#. In the past, I've made a mario clone using C++ and OpenGL. I quite like OpenGL, but I don't know how well it's supported inside C#/WPF. Also, it might be beneficial to use an actual game library? I guess XNA is the game library for C#, so maybe I'll invest a bit of time learning that.
However, I want to use WPF form controls for my level editor... is there any way that I can embed an XNA (DirectX?) window inside a WPF app?
Specifically, I don't need any buttons or things inside the XNA/DirectX widget, just around it, so no mixing required...just need to get a graphics widget in my WPF form.
Nick Gravelyn explains how to do it on his blog.
Although, if it's just for an editor, you may find using WinForms is easier and better supported.
First of all, you should ask this on gamedev.stackexchange.com. But I've seen a tutorial embedding XNA.
You should check this question and this page. They are on Windows Forms, but they'll help.
Also check this and this articles.
Keep in mind one thing. XNA is meant to be used for the whole game, integration would be useful on making level editors like you say, but not for a full game.
WPF uses DirectX, and you can do direct "interop" here is a codeProject article on the subject. Here is an article i dug up where the author is using win-forms and WPF controls in an XNA project. Might be worth a look for you.
I can place a couple of buttons in Silverlight, but I'm not that experienced with the Silverlight tools and capabilities.
What do you think I should use to create something like this?
The control would have to pull and ID from the database and according to that place an image asociated with the record.
I need it to be animated with some crispy movement.
How can I achieve this?
It's all possible, but you need to break the task down into smaller steps.
Once you've done that you should find that you can solve some of these with your current knowledge, others will resolve themselves with a little more research, but there will be some you need to ask questions about here.
I'd suggest you start that break down and try to solve the little problems. Then if you get stuck come back and ask more specific questions.
Well, with Silverlight and c# you can make the animations needed and such, and you can set a Silverlight Image control with a data bound source, so it loads the images dynamically, but Silverlight can't talk with databases directly, you'll need to use a webservice to interact between Silverlight and the database. Don't know how much you know but to not leave anything out, with Expression Blend you can make the graphical part of you're app fast and easy, and with Visual Studio you'll add the code-behind and functionality.
In this link you can find a example of how to make an image slide show with Silverlight, it may not be exactly what you're looking for, but it should give you a heads start.
I am about to write a front end app, which will be used as a media center app. It will plug directly into a high definition TV. Essentially transforming my laptop into a media player. While this concept is not new, I want custom functionality, so this is why I am not reusing existing products.
I'm a C# developer, so the app should ideally be written in C#. And there is 1 other consideration, I need to accept input via the MCE Remote.
I was considering using Silverlight for this. Would you recommend this? Or any other recommendations for frameworks before I begin planning around this.
Thanks in advance.
This is the type of stuff that the Windows Presentation Foundation was meant for. You'll get a lot more access to the hardware than Silverlight would provide (I.E. that MCE remote you mentioned). You mark up your UI with vector graphics/XAML, and then perform the logic with C#.
EDIT: WPF also has support out of the box for animations which can make your UI a lot more interactive.
EDIT 2: Scott Hanselman has written a really cool application called BabySmash and posted the source online. It basically intercepts keyboard input and shows shapes and sounds on the computer. It's a good "child-proofing" method for your PC. The code could provide you with some insight into WPF and how to do the animations and interactivity that you're looking for.
Is this a desktop app? If so I would use WPF. Silverlight is a subset of WPF, so using WPF you could potentially do more.
Silverlight or WPF, if you want some extra power. Both have a similar programming model (with XAML and code-behind) so you might be able to start with Silverlight and move up to WPF if you need.
The VLC api might be useful for playing your media, someone has created a C# wrapper for it:
http://wiki.videolan.org/.Net_Interface_to_VLC
WPF is certainly the way to go, and for playing media check out the excellent WPF MediaKit: http://wpfmediakit.codeplex.com/ I've used it successfully in many projects.