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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Willy Tschager wrote:
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
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In lugnet.cad, Willy Tschager wrote:
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Hi folks,
as you might know LDraw’s history:
http://www.ldraw.org/Article11.html
hasn’t been updated for a long time. With permission from BrickJournal
publisher Joe Meno I’m going to mirror an article published in BrickJournal,
Spring 2006, Volume #1, Issue 4, which covers also the missing years ‘til
2004. This leaves us with 2005, 2006 and 2007. I browsed the various
newsgroups compiling a chart of the highlights, but the list is far from
being complete. Feel free to add the missing pieces. I’m gonna put it into a
fine reading once the highlights are complete.
|
...
Willy,
Good summary of the past couple years. Two things I’d love to see are:
1) A side-by-side timeline of development and milestones for various LDraw
tools. Somewhat like a Gantt chart.
2) A feature matrix of the various tools and the major functions they
perform.
I can put the graphics together if there’s a comprehensive tool list and
people can fill in release dates and associated summaries.
-Tim
|
Hi Tim,
any help is much appriciated and I’d love to see such a graphic along with the
history. Best would be if our code gods could reply to this post and list the
release dates of their tools.
|
Here’s a quick list of what’s on LDraw.org right now. The pieces of data that
will help make this chart are:
- Program Name (below)
- URL
- Author
- Release Date
- Version Dates
- Major Milestones
- Current Version
- Current Version Release Date
Here’s the list:
- LDraw 0.27
- 3DWin
- BrickDraw3D
- Bricksmith
- Coverer
- DAT2DXF
- DATHeader
- Fractal Landscape Generator
- Isecalc
- L2P
- l2rib
- L3Lab
- L3P
- L3P Launcher for Mac OSX
- Lcad Calculator
- LCX
- LDGLite
- LDLink
- LDList
- LDLite
- LDMerge
- LDPara
- LDraw Boxer
- LDraw Design Pad
- LDraw Parts Library - Linux and Mac OS Distribution
- Ldraw Primitive Generator
- LDraw Script Compiler (LDS)
- LDraw-Mode
- LDView
- LDXNA library
- LEGO Digital Designer
- Lego Sphere Generator
- Lemon
- LeoCAD
- LGEO POV-Ray Library
- Linetrim
- LPub
- LSynth
- MegaPOV
- Mesh-Enhancer
- MLCad
- MPD Builder
- MPD Workshop
- MPDCenter
- OLC
- OMRMaker
- Parts Catalog
- PartsList
- PlanarCheck
- POV-Ray
- PreL3P
- Progressive Fans Representation (PFRep)
- Seamhay DatCounter
- Spring2DAT
- SR 3D Builder
- STL2DAT
- txt2dat
- Voxel3D
- Ytruder
I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en
If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me know.
I admit the columns aren’t set up perfectly (as there could be any number of
release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better suggestion for
the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
-Tim
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w.
ps. I really should word the missing years but have to finish the L(EGO)Draw
part I’m fixing right now first: http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/40242 a
tricky little thing.
|
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en
If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me
know. I admit the columns aren’t set up perfectly (as there could be any
number of release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better
suggestion for the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
|
If you just have version and release date columns, authors can add one row for
each release. Please add me to the list, I will add the txt2dat info. Use the
email I used to post this reply.
ROSCO
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Ross Crawford wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en
If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me
know. I admit the columns aren’t set up perfectly (as there could be any
number of release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better
suggestion for the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
|
If you just have version and release date columns, authors can add one row
for each release. Please add me to the list, I will add the txt2dat info. Use
the email I used to post this reply.
|
Sounds good. Invite sent.
-Tim
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en
If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me
know. I admit the columns aren’t set up perfectly (as there could be any
number of release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better
suggestion for the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
|
LDView’s URL is http://ldview.sourceforge.net/. You can find LDView’s version
history here:
http://ldview.sourceforge.net/ChangeHistory.html
The major releases all have their version number in a larger font and bold, and
are x.y (as opposed to x.y.z). They are as follows:
0.1: 03 Jun, 2000 (Initial public release for testing.)
1.0: 17 Oct, 2000
2.0: 01 Jun, 2003
2.1: 03 Jan, 2004
3.0: 13 Dec, 2005
3.1: 09 Oct, 2006
3.2: 20 Aug, 2007 (Current)
Note that that’s just over 7 years worth of official releases, so I don’t think
having more than 5 dates is excessive. If you want to pare it down to 5, use
1.0 (first non-alpha/beta release), 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2.
--Travis
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en
If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me
know. I admit the columns aren’t set up perfectly (as there could be any
number of release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better
suggestion for the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
|
LDView’s URL is http://ldview.sourceforge.net/. You can find LDView’s
version history here:
http://ldview.sourceforge.net/ChangeHistory.html
The major releases all have their version number in a larger font and bold,
and are x.y (as opposed to x.y.z). They are as follows:
0.1: 03 Jun, 2000 (Initial public release for testing.)
1.0: 17 Oct, 2000
2.0: 01 Jun, 2003
2.1: 03 Jan, 2004
3.0: 13 Dec, 2005
3.1: 09 Oct, 2006
3.2: 20 Aug, 2007 (Current)
Note that that’s just over 7 years worth of official releases, so I don’t
think having more than 5 dates is excessive. If you want to pare it down to
5, use 1.0 (first non-alpha/beta release), 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2.
--Travis
|
Travis,
Thanks for posting this info. I think it’s OK to have more than 5 dates, in
fact, since I’d like to take this and visualize it somehow complete info is
better. I can always cull it down to make it more visually presentable if
needed.
I just sent you an invite to the Google sheet, would you mind adding the above?
-Tim
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Travis,
Thanks for posting this info. I think it’s OK to have more than 5 dates, in
fact, since I’d like to take this and visualize it somehow complete info is
better. I can always cull it down to make it more visually presentable if
needed.
I just sent you an invite to the Google sheet, would you mind adding the
above?
|
OK, I added the info to the doc. I also created a Miscellaneous column, where I
entered the two release dates that I didn’t put in the other spots (for 0.1 and
2.1). Oh, and I resized the URL column to fit the URL I entered. Other people
should probably resize (within reason) if they’re longer.
For other people who want to use the Misc column: hit <Ctrl>+<Enter> to
start a new line in the same field (presumably <Command>+<Enter> on a Mac).
--Travis
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In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Travis,
Thanks for posting this info. I think it’s OK to have more than 5 dates, in
fact, since I’d like to take this and visualize it somehow complete info is
better. I can always cull it down to make it more visually presentable if
needed.
I just sent you an invite to the Google sheet, would you mind adding the
above?
|
OK, I added the info to the doc. I also created a Miscellaneous column,
where I entered the two release dates that I didn’t put in the other spots
(for 0.1 and 2.1). Oh, and I resized the URL column to fit the URL I
entered. Other people should probably resize (within reason) if they’re
longer.
For other people who want to use the Misc column: hit <Ctrl>+<Enter> to
start a new line in the same field (presumably <Command>+<Enter> on a
Mac).
|
Travis,
I’m filling in a little myself right now. You’re the only one who filled in data
in the “milestone” columns. You interpreted that as version numbers.
I think it makes more sense to name the colums “VersionNumber#” to correspond
with the “VersionDate#.” So I did this, and moved each next to the respective
version.
I also highlighted the Original Release Date, Current Ver. Release Date, and
Current Version Number columns as I believe they are the most important for
visualizing this information.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I’m filling in a little myself right now. You’re the only one who filled in
data in the “milestone” columns. You interpreted that as version numbers.
I think it makes more sense to name the colums “VersionNumber#” to correspond
with the “VersionDate#.” So I did this, and moved each next to the respective
version.
I also highlighted the Original Release Date, Current Ver. Release Date, and
Current Version Number columns as I believe they are the most important for
visualizing this information.
|
OK. I rearranged mine to make 0.1 the “Original Release”. I pushed other
versions over and replaced 0.1 in the Misc column with 3.1. Also, I didn’t like
the spreadsheet stripping of the .0, so I added a v prefix to all my version
numbers so they’d be treated as strings. If you know how to force them to be
strings without a prefix, feel free to make that change.
I would suggest swapping all the version/date columns so that the version column
precedes the date column. I think that would make the spreadsheet more
readable. I would do it, but since you setup the spreadsheet, I’m not going to
make that change, since it’s an opinion.
--Travis
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I’m filling in a little myself right now. You’re the only one who filled in
data in the “milestone” columns. You interpreted that as version numbers.
I think it makes more sense to name the colums “VersionNumber#” to
correspond with the “VersionDate#.” So I did this, and moved each next to
the respective version.
I also highlighted the Original Release Date, Current Ver. Release Date, and
Current Version Number columns as I believe they are the most important for
visualizing this information.
|
OK. I rearranged mine to make 0.1 the “Original Release”. I pushed other
versions over and replaced 0.1 in the Misc column with 3.1. Also, I didn’t
like the spreadsheet stripping of the .0, so I added a v prefix to all my
version numbers so they’d be treated as strings. If you know how to force
them to be strings without a prefix, feel free to make that change.
|
Thanks. Not sure on the string bit. For starters I’d like to get the data filled
out to the point where I can work on graphing it with Excel, Numbers or possibly
even Illustrator. I’m not as concerned with the string for that reason as I’ll
manually translate the info into a graphic with a callout or a mouseover
callout.
BTW - if anyone has ideas for illustrating this I’m all ears. I have a concept
in mind but open to ideas.
| |
I would suggest swapping all the version/date columns so that the version
column precedes the date column. I think that would make the spreadsheet
more readable. I would do it, but since you setup the spreadsheet, I’m not
going to make that change, since it’s an opinion.
|
Good suggestion. I’m typing this out right before heading to bed, you’re welcome
to make the swap if you like. I haven’t had time over the last few days to work
on this but hope to put some more into it in the next couple.
Just logged in and it’s filling out quite nicely. Thanks (and thanks Philo as
well) for the help!
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I’m filling in a little myself right now. You’re the only one who filled in
data in the “milestone” columns. You interpreted that as version numbers.
I think it makes more sense to name the colums “VersionNumber#” to
correspond with the “VersionDate#.” So I did this, and moved each next to
the respective version.
I also highlighted the Original Release Date, Current Ver. Release Date,
and Current Version Number columns as I believe they are the most important
for visualizing this information.
|
OK. I rearranged mine to make 0.1 the “Original Release”. I pushed other
versions over and replaced 0.1 in the Misc column with 3.1. Also, I didn’t
like the spreadsheet stripping of the .0, so I added a v prefix to all my
version numbers so they’d be treated as strings. If you know how to force
them to be strings without a prefix, feel free to make that change.
|
Thanks. Not sure on the string bit. For starters I’d like to get the data
filled out to the point where I can work on graphing it with Excel, Numbers
or possibly even Illustrator. I’m not as concerned with the string for that
reason as I’ll manually translate the info into a graphic with a callout or a
mouseover callout.
|
Good news - I found an XML based dynamic timeline generator. I’ve plugged in a
couple dates on my local machine, and I’m testing for how to deal with events
and spans aesthetically. I’ll post it when I have a bit more info filled in,
then we can start seeing it come together.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Good news - I found an XML based dynamic timeline generator. I’ve plugged in
a couple dates on my local machine, and I’m testing for how to deal with
events and spans aesthetically. I’ll post it when I have a bit more info
filled in, then we can start seeing it come together.
-Tim
|
Here is my working file of the timeline:
http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
It’s not 100% to what’s in the spreadsheet, but it gives a good idea of what’s
possible.
The system has some limitations. I’m not able to add the individual version
dates as points along a span, nor am I able to stick a point at the end, which
would be ideal.
It doesn’t appear to support user-defined fields, so having fields for version
numbers and people won’t work. This would allow the timeline to be searchable.
I sent the group that created it an email with questions on the above. I don’t
imagine it would be too hard to add support given the foundation they’ve already
built.
For more information on the timeline project, see:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Good news - I found an XML based dynamic timeline generator. I’ve plugged in
a couple dates on my local machine, and I’m testing for how to deal with
events and spans aesthetically. I’ll post it when I have a bit more info
filled in, then we can start seeing it come together.
-Tim
|
Here is my working file of the timeline:
http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
It’s not 100% to what’s in the spreadsheet, but it gives a good idea of
what’s possible.
The system has some limitations. I’m not able to add the individual version
dates as points along a span, nor am I able to stick a point at the end,
which would be ideal.
It doesn’t appear to support user-defined fields, so having fields for
version numbers and people won’t work. This would allow the timeline to be
searchable.
I sent the group that created it an email with questions on the above. I
don’t imagine it would be too hard to add support given the foundation
they’ve already built.
For more information on the timeline project, see:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
-Tim
|
With some further playing, I started adding a few events. That goes beyond the
scope of software tools. I don’t know how to create a separate band for events
or even if it’s possible.
I like the idea of having one for software only. It gives a clear picture of a
development timeline. However, I think it’s also cool to visualize events. I’ll
continue to fill them in as I go but may split it. Thoughts?
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Good news - I found an XML based dynamic timeline generator. I’ve plugged
in a couple dates on my local machine, and I’m testing for how to deal with
events and spans aesthetically. I’ll post it when I have a bit more info
filled in, then we can start seeing it come together.
-Tim
|
Here is my working file of the timeline:
http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
It’s not 100% to what’s in the spreadsheet, but it gives a good idea of
what’s possible.
The system has some limitations. I’m not able to add the individual version
dates as points along a span, nor am I able to stick a point at the end,
which would be ideal.
It doesn’t appear to support user-defined fields, so having fields for
version numbers and people won’t work. This would allow the timeline to be
searchable.
I sent the group that created it an email with questions on the above. I
don’t imagine it would be too hard to add support given the foundation
they’ve already built.
For more information on the timeline project, see:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
-Tim
|
With some further playing, I started adding a few events. That goes beyond
the scope of software tools. I don’t know how to create a separate band for
events or even if it’s possible.
I like the idea of having one for software only. It gives a clear picture of
a development timeline. However, I think it’s also cool to visualize events.
I’ll continue to fill them in as I go but may split it. Thoughts?
-Tim
|
Timeline of software tools and timeline of events should be in a separate
document. For the timeline of software tools I would like to have a point at
every version change (like the initial you have already in the spreadsheet) and
a blue background from one point to the other. So it is visible for everybody
that there will be a continuum (? right word). Every line should represent one
tool. Otherwise it implizits to the visitor that Bricksmith continues LDDP like
seen in the spreadsheet. Otherwise I like the look of the result.
cu
mikeheide
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Michael Heidemann wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Good news - I found an XML based dynamic timeline generator. I’ve plugged
in a couple dates on my local machine, and I’m testing for how to deal
with events and spans aesthetically. I’ll post it when I have a bit more
info filled in, then we can start seeing it come together.
-Tim
|
Here is my working file of the timeline:
http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
It’s not 100% to what’s in the spreadsheet, but it gives a good idea of
what’s possible.
The system has some limitations. I’m not able to add the individual version
dates as points along a span, nor am I able to stick a point at the end,
which would be ideal.
It doesn’t appear to support user-defined fields, so having fields for
version numbers and people won’t work. This would allow the timeline to be
searchable.
I sent the group that created it an email with questions on the above. I
don’t imagine it would be too hard to add support given the foundation
they’ve already built.
For more information on the timeline project, see:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
-Tim
|
With some further playing, I started adding a few events. That goes beyond
the scope of software tools. I don’t know how to create a separate band for
events or even if it’s possible.
I like the idea of having one for software only. It gives a clear picture of
a development timeline. However, I think it’s also cool to visualize events.
I’ll continue to fill them in as I go but may split it. Thoughts?
-Tim
|
Timeline of software tools and timeline of events should be in a separate
document. For the timeline of software tools I would like to have a point at
every version change (like the initial you have already in the spreadsheet)
and a blue background from one point to the other. So it is visible for
everybody that there will be a continuum (? right word). Every line should
represent one tool. Otherwise it implizits to the visitor that Bricksmith
continues LDDP like seen in the spreadsheet. Otherwise I like the look of the
result.
|
I agree with you on each tool being a line, or at least groupings of tools being
together. However I haven’t figured out how to get the timeline to do that just
yet. It seems to me that it takes the next available space for a line.
You post helped me clear up how to add versions - it would require a separate
event w/start/end for each version. Lots of extra coding, but definitely more
informative.
I’m going to start by continuing to fill the large spans just to get the big
picture. Then, we can play with how to get everything nicely in the rows we want
and at that point add individual versions.
Feel free to look at the Timeline documentation and see if you can find ways to
accomplish this. I’ve poked around quite a bit and yesterday I sent their team
an email, so we’ll see. I’ll look around some more myself, too.
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Michael Heidemann wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
Good news - I found an XML based dynamic timeline generator. I’ve plugged
in a couple dates on my local machine, and I’m testing for how to deal
with events and spans aesthetically. I’ll post it when I have a bit more
info filled in, then we can start seeing it come together.
-Tim
|
Here is my working file of the timeline:
http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
It’s not 100% to what’s in the spreadsheet, but it gives a good idea of
what’s possible.
|
|
|
|
snip
snip
| |
I agree with you on each tool being a line, or at least groupings of tools
being together. However I haven’t figured out how to get the timeline to do
that just yet. It seems to me that it takes the next available space for a
line.
You post helped me clear up how to add versions - it would require a separate
event w/start/end for each version. Lots of extra coding, but definitely more
informative.
I’m going to start by continuing to fill the large spans just to get the big
picture. Then, we can play with how to get everything nicely in the rows we
want and at that point add individual versions.
Feel free to look at the Timeline documentation and see if you can find ways
to accomplish this. I’ve poked around quite a bit and yesterday I sent their
team an email, so we’ll see. I’ll look around some more myself, too.
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
-Tim
|
I could not get the prog to do what I want.
It places the events on the line it wants, not like I want. I did not find a way
to tell the prog that I want some events on the same line.
I think for what we want to do this prog is not the right choice!
cu
mikeheide
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
I agree with you on each tool being a line, or at least groupings of tools
being together. However I haven’t figured out how to get the timeline to do
that just yet. It seems to me that it takes the next available space for a
line.
|
Can’t you just make the end date of the current release of any software be some
point in the future? Then, make the end date of each previous version one day
before the release date of the next version. If it’s doing what it sounds like
based on your description, won’t it then automatically get everything in the
“right” place?
--Travis
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
| |
Can’t you just make the end date of the current release of any software be
some point in the future? Then, make the end date of each previous version
one day before the release date of the next version. If it’s doing what it
sounds like based on your description, won’t it then automatically get
everything in the “right” place?
|
Never mind. After playing with it, I see that it doesn’t want things that occur
in sequence to be at the same vertical location.
--Travis
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
This was the best I could come up with:
http://www.halibut.com/~tcobbs/ldraw/private/timeline.html
I created one big event for LDView spanning from its original release until Dec
31 2010, and then created a point event for each release.
--Travis
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
Hmm, yeah I’m a bit disappointed in how it doesn’t let you group events so they
show up in the same place horizontally. So, if we want to use this in its
current state, we’d have to drop the version dates which isn’t good.
I hope the group that put this out gets back to me. There was no one contact for
Timeline, so I sent one of the professors over the project page the note.
Hopefully he’ll get the message to the right person and I’ll hear back.
It would be nice if you could just contain events within a group tag and that
would force them to the same line provided they don’t overlap.
I found this alternative, but it’s a bit simplistic. I added a single event and
a span event to test. I’m not sure if it works out visually the way we’d want.
http://www.beedocuments.com/
It publishes to the web if you get the license ($40).
This one may have some promise:
http://www.learningtools.arts.ubc.ca/timeline.htm
I still prefer the aesthetics and functionality of the first choice. If we could
get it to behave.
Anyone have alternative suggestions?
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
Hmm, yeah I’m a bit disappointed in how it doesn’t let you group events so
they show up in the same place horizontally. So, if we want to use this in
its current state, we’d have to drop the version dates which isn’t good.
I hope the group that put this out gets back to me. There was no one contact
for Timeline, so I sent one of the professors over the project page the note.
Hopefully he’ll get the message to the right person and I’ll hear back.
It would be nice if you could just contain events within a group tag and that
would force them to the same line provided they don’t overlap.
|
The alternative timelines I’ve checked out have either fewer features or don’t
display as nicely as we’d want for this. The original seems to be the best so
far, and is really only lacking a couple features to make it ideal.
Is anyone here good with javascript? I looked at the source .html file for the
timeline and it references this JavaScript file on the project server:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/api/timeline-api.js
I wonder if someone could go in and modify this and build the grouping
funcionality, and we can host the .js files on a web server and further build
out the timeline?
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
Hmm, yeah I’m a bit disappointed in how it doesn’t let you group events so
they show up in the same place horizontally. So, if we want to use this in
its current state, we’d have to drop the version dates which isn’t good.
I hope the group that put this out gets back to me. There was no one contact
for Timeline, so I sent one of the professors over the project page the
note. Hopefully he’ll get the message to the right person and I’ll hear
back.
It would be nice if you could just contain events within a group tag and
that would force them to the same line provided they don’t overlap.
|
The alternative timelines I’ve checked out have either fewer features or
don’t display as nicely as we’d want for this. The original seems to be the
best so far, and is really only lacking a couple features to make it ideal.
Is anyone here good with javascript? I looked at the source .html file for
the timeline and it references this JavaScript file on the project server:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/api/timeline-api.js
I wonder if someone could go in and modify this and build the grouping
funcionality, and we can host the .js files on a web server and further build
out the timeline?
-Tim
|
I entered the MLCad dates that Willy posted into the XML building off of Travis’
LDView input. I also grouped LDView and MLCad items within comments. The idea
would be to push out a new version of the script that renders the timeline to
support our requirements. This is the most extensible timeline of the ones we’ve
seen so I think it’s OK to capture the data in it.
This updated timeline looks ugly because it doesn’t handle consecutive events in
a straight line well, yet.
http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Hey, before this history thread drops completely outta site...
Is there any way to restore the historical LDraw and LEdit tutorial
that used to be available here?
http://www.ldraw.org/Article58.html
Thanks,
Don
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Don Heyse wrote:
> Hey, before this history thread drops completely outta site...
> Is there any way to restore the historical LDraw and LEdit tutorial
> that used to be available here?
>
> http://www.ldraw.org/Article58.html
>
> Thanks,
>
> Don
Orion or Willy may be able to. I don't believe I have a local copy of the files
and don't know what happened with the article. If all else fails, I hope Bram
has an archived copy.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Don Heyse wrote:
> Hey, before this history thread drops completely outta site...
> Is there any way to restore the historical LDraw and LEdit tutorial
> that used to be available here?
>
> http://www.ldraw.org/Article58.html
The link is still valid. I'm not sure why it's not resolving. I'll look into
it.
-Orion
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Orion Pobursky wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Don Heyse wrote:
> > Hey, before this history thread drops completely outta site...
> > Is there any way to restore the historical LDraw and LEdit tutorial
> > that used to be available here?
> >
> > http://www.ldraw.org/Article58.html
>
> The link is still valid. I'm not sure why it's not resolving. I'll look into
> it.
Fixed.
-Orion
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Travis Cobbs wrote:
Hmm, yeah I’m a bit disappointed in how it doesn’t let you group events so
they show up in the same place horizontally. So, if we want to use this in
its current state, we’d have to drop the version dates which isn’t good.
I hope the group that put this out gets back to me. There was no one contact
for Timeline, so I sent one of the professors over the project page the
note. Hopefully he’ll get the message to the right person and I’ll hear
back.
It would be nice if you could just contain events within a group tag and
that would force them to the same line provided they don’t overlap.
|
The alternative timelines I’ve checked out have either fewer features or
don’t display as nicely as we’d want for this. The original seems to be the
best so far, and is really only lacking a couple features to make it ideal.
Is anyone here good with javascript? I looked at the source .html file for
the timeline and it references this JavaScript file on the project server:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/api/timeline-api.js
I wonder if someone could go in and modify this and build the grouping
funcionality, and we can host the .js files on a web server and further build
out the timeline?
-Tim
|
Nothing can be found in that file that helps us. You have to go to the project
page and then you have all files for download and there are a lot. As far as I
understand the code the file that has the code that we have to change is here,
but I do not understand all from that complex programming.
http://simile.mit.edu/repository/timeline/trunk/src/webapp/api/scripts/detailed-painter.js
But this is only a suggestion. It is a mighty project and javascript is very,
very bad to debug.
cu
mikeheide
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Michael Heidemann wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
|
| |
| |
The alternative timelines I’ve checked out have either fewer features or
don’t display as nicely as we’d want for this. The original seems to be the
best so far, and is really only lacking a couple features to make it ideal.
Is anyone here good with javascript? I looked at the source .html file for
the timeline and it references this JavaScript file on the project server:
http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/api/timeline-api.js
I wonder if someone could go in and modify this and build the grouping
funcionality, and we can host the .js files on a web server and further
build out the timeline?
-Tim
|
Nothing can be found in that file that helps us. You have to go to the
project page and then you have all files for download and there are a lot.
As far as I understand the code the file that has the code that we have to
change is here, but I do not understand all from that complex programming.
http://simile.mit.edu/repository/timeline/trunk/src/webapp/api/scripts/detailed-painter.js
But this is only a suggestion. It is a mighty project and javascript is very,
very bad to debug.
cu
mikeheide
|
I did some more digging on the project homepage and found the name of the
creator. I sent him an email directly (vs the prof. over the project). We’ll see
what happens there. Otherwise, I’ve been meaning to have a friend or two look
into the .js file and will when I can.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Michael Heidemann wrote:
| |
Nothing can be found in that file that helps us. You have to go to the
project page and then you have all files for download and there are a lot.
As far as I understand the code the file that has the code that we have to
change is here, but I do not understand all from that complex programming.
http://simile.mit.edu/repository/timeline/trunk/src/webapp/api/scripts/detailed-painter.js
But this is only a suggestion. It is a mighty project and javascript is
very, very bad to debug.
cu
mikeheide
|
I did some more digging on the project homepage and found the name of the
creator. I sent him an email directly (vs the prof. over the project). We’ll
see what happens there. Otherwise, I’ve been meaning to have a friend or two
look into the .js file and will when I can.
-Tim
|
Here is the response I received via email:
| |
Hi Tim,
That improvement is not being planned for, though we always welcome patches. >
We’ve moved some projects over to Google Code hosting:
http://code.google.com/p/simile-widgets/
You can check out the code and play with it yourself.
Cheers,
David
|
If anyone wants to take a look at the code, please do. I’ll have some friends
look when I have the opportunity.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
To keep moving this forward, I asked a LinkedIn question on the topic seeking
help from a JS developer. This gentleman was kind enough to put a few cycles
into it. Here are the results. I’m posting the question/answer thread in reverse
chronological order, his most recent reply on top.
My current line of thinking is this: It looks like MLCad’s band is so tall
because of the length of the text associated with each dot. What if it didn’t
print the text next to the dot but displayed when the dot was clicked on and the
overlay balloon comes up? I asked him if this is possible, and I’ll see what he
says.
Comments welcome.
-Tim
--
Question text:
Tim,
Please have a look at the following example (based on your own sample):
http://www.jmf-ds.fr/timcourtney/timeline.html
If you have a look at the source code of the page, I commented each step, should
be easy to follow.
Getting more in depth into the API, I realized it’s been very neatly designed,
and there is no need at all (well, for this purpose) to change anything in the
code itself.
Sure the method I suggest requires to handle several XML files, but they are all
derived from the full, original XML, so it is just copy/paste tasks.
Note: when creating the ‘eventSourceldview.xml’ file, I noticed the ‘duration’
span did not appear on top: this is due to the way the API optimises the events
spacing. To have it on top, you just have to make it start before any other
event. As the first LDView event had the exact same start date, I just added 1
second to it (please refer to the ‘eventSourceldview.xml’ on my site), and all
is done.
Any question, please let me know (my email address: jean-marc@jmf-ds.fr)
Hope this will help.
Jean-Marc
On 5/12/08 6:02 AM, Tim Courtney wrote:
--------------------
Jean-Marc,
Thank you for your quick and detailed reply. I hadn’t thought about using the
“band” object, I had stated “band” thinking of the blue time span. But, if using
actual band objects is easiest, this may work. I have not looked into adding a
third band object to the timeline to see how this would work, if it’s possible
at present.
I think this is worth exploring. But what are your thoughts on having timeline
objects appear along the same horizontal space within a single band? Provided
the dates don’t overlap each other, this should be possible. I can only
understand the XML and the setup page where you instantiate bands, though, not
the main JavaScript code.
Thanks again,
-Tim
On 5/11/08 8:26 PM, Jean-Marc Fraïssé wrote:
--------------------
Hi Tim,
Just had a quick look at the documentation and code, and, if you can ideed
instantiate several Band objects into the same Timeline, all of them will
contain the same events (displayed accordingly to their respective scale and
parameters).
If I did get what you aim at (grouping similar events into ‘dedicated’ Band
objects), the trick would be to introduce a new parameter that you could specify
in your XML file for items you would want to sort. For instance, let’s call it
‘appearIn’: if stated, the event would only appear in the selected Bands
(accordingly to their index number), default would be all bands.
To improve this approach, and turn it into somehting more intuitive, a Name
attribute could be assigned to each Band when instantiated, to avoid the index
handling (always a source of mistakes, especially if you don’t have the
instantiating functions in sight when you write the XML code). Then, you would
just have to mention, for instance, “appearIn=’MLCad, General’ ” for each MLCad
event (‘MLCad’, obviously, would be the MLCad Band’s name, and ‘General’, the
10-year increment Band at the bottom of your sample Timeline).
To improve this again, a new attrbibute could be added too to the Bands, such
‘displayAll’, to avoid mentioning ‘General’ for each event. And, the recognition
of the minus (-) symbol, as an indication that you want an event not to be
displayed in the specified Band (and also to contradict the defauld ‘displayAll’
attribute if active), for instance: ” appearIn=’MLCad, -General’ “.
These are just clues. I don’t have much time currently, but I will have a proper
look when I have a moment; it should take long to achieve this, just a little
remodelling of the existing methods.
Let me know if you have other ideas/requirements I could think over.
Jean-Marc
On 5/11/08 8:26 PM, Jean-Marc Fraïssé added the following clarification:
Wanted to write ‘it should NOT take long to achieve this’. Sorry about that.
Question Details:
--------------------
JavaScript Programmers - want to help add a couple features to this open source
project?
Hi,
I’m using the MIT Simile project’s Timeline to chart out the version history of
some open source developments in a community. The timeline is great, but it
lacks a couple key features. Most notably, you can’t group events to string them
along in one horizontal band.
Are there any good JavaScript programmers out there who wouldn’t mind taking a
look at this code and publishing a version that does this?
Here is the main Timeline project: http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/
The project on Google Code: http://code.google.com/p/simile-widgets/
My sample timeline (I want, for example, all MLCad versions to appear in the
same horizontal band): http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html
Please contact me if you are willing/interested in helping. This could be
resubmitted to Google Code, so everyone using Timeline can benefit.
Thanks!
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
> To keep moving this forward, I asked a LinkedIn question on the topic seeking
> help from a JS developer. This gentleman was kind enough to put a few cycles
> into it. Here are the results. I'm posting the question/answer thread in
> reverse chronological order, his most recent reply on top.
>
> My current line of thinking is this: It looks like MLCad's band is so tall
> because of the length of the text associated with each dot. What if it didn't
> print the text next to the dot but displayed when the dot was clicked on and
> the overlay balloon comes up? I asked him if this is possible, and I'll see
> what he says.
>
> Comments welcome.
>
> -Tim
Jean-Marc came back to me today with an interesting solution I think might work.
See http://www.jmf-ds.fr/tim_courtney/timeline_2.html. Click on MLCad's ball,
then "Details" within the window. The specific versions will appear in the large
band below.
What does everyone think about this?
Below is Jean-Marc's response with explanation. I think it's a good compromise
and is getting very close to working for our purposes -- if not, good enough we
can go with it and finish fleshing out the timeline.
-Tim
--
Hi Tim,
You're welcome. I've just realized now what you wanted to do: have all spots
appear in the first event's blue span.
I'm affraid it is not possible, because this span is part of an event (just like
its purple dot and title), and the Timeline API is designed not to mix things up
(for legibility reasons, obviously).
It seems you have quite a few events to display into the same timeline, which is
tricky as soon as you want to sort things neatly. OK, I've thought of another
approach, please let me know your thoughts.
Have a look at : http://www.jmf-ds.fr/tim_courtney/timeline_2.html
You can see a Timeline object with 3 Bands:
* the Band on top refers to an XML I made from your original file, and that
is supposed to contain only 'duration' events or single events that won't fit in
any kind of group.
* the Band in the middle appears as empty first.
* the Band at the bottom is the same as in the previous version, a general
Band that contains all the available events.
You can see what I tried to suggest if you click on the MLCad or the LDView
'duration' events on top: in the popup layer that appears, you'll see a
"Details" link. Click on it.
Detailed informations on releases and versions should appear in the central
Band. They have been retrieved from another (either the "mlcad_details.xml" or
the "ldview_details.xml") XML file that just contains the events related to the
project you clicked on.
I suppose it's one of the most simple ways to have a legible timeline (in terms
of lifespans) still able to show a complete historical reference.
I tried another approach, but IE7 didn't like it when I instantiated more than 4
Bands in the same Timeline object, whereas Firefox had no problem (JavaScript
browser implemention issue, I suppose...)
I actually wanted to use one Band as the "title band", where a 'duration' event
only was stated, and right under, another band which contained the related,
detailed events. Defauld (launch) display showed the 'title bands' only,
and when clicking on the Detail link, the underlying Band appeared, pushing down
all subsequent bands except the bottom, general one. And reverse back to normal
position.
Worked fine until I got this issue with IE7, which I couldn't get rid of, so I
gave it up.
I have no other idea at the moment, but I see your point, and actually I'd
really like to find a nice idea to bend the Timeline API 'our' way (as I'd like
to use it too now I got more into depth within it).
Please let me know.
BR
Jean-Marc
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
>
> Here's a quick list of what's on LDraw.org right now. The pieces of data that
> will help make this chart are:
One great tool is missing from this list: Quad2dat
(http://www.geocities.com/calano/lego/download.html). BTW, it would be fine if
it was added to LDraw download list!
Philo
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Philippe Hurbain wrote:
> >
> > Here's a quick list of what's on LDraw.org right now. The pieces of data that
> > will help make this chart are:
>
>
> One great tool is missing from this list: Quad2dat
> (http://www.geocities.com/calano/lego/download.html). BTW, it would be fine if
> it was added to LDraw download list!
>
> Philo
Philo,
I added a line for Quad2DAT and also gave you access to edit the sheet. Please
fill in pertinent info.
To submit to the LDraw downloads, I believe you can enter that yourself once
logged in to the site. Then one of the site admins will review/approve it for
you. It's been a while since I've touched that, but Willy, Orion, or TimG should
know the procedure.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Willy Tschager wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad, Willy Tschager wrote:
| |
Hi folks,
as you might know LDraw’s history:
http://www.ldraw.org/Article11.html
|
|
|
|
I have just put a spreadsheet online with the datas for
DATHeader
MPDCenter
OMRMaker
You can found it
here:http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pntrtac3XuPE5aMnruIlJg
cu
mikeheide
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Michael Heidemann wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Willy Tschager wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad, Willy Tschager wrote:
| |
Hi folks,
as you might know LDraw’s history:
http://www.ldraw.org/Article11.html
|
|
|
|
I have just put a spreadsheet online with the datas for
DATHeader
MPDCenter
OMRMaker
You can found it
here:http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pntrtac3XuPE5aMnruIlJg
cu
mikeheide
|
Thanks, Mike.
I’ve copied/pasted the data over, and also filled in info for a few of the rows
myself. I also sent you an invite so you can be a collaborator on the
spreadsheet. Feel free to research and fill in info for other programs!
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
| |
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Michael Heidemann wrote:
Thanks, Mike.
I’ve copied/pasted the data over, and also filled in info for a few of the
rows myself. I also sent you an invite so you can be a collaborator on the
spreadsheet. Feel free to research and fill in info for other programs!
-Tim
|
Seriously, who is highlighting these posts? Look at the .cad sidebar. Weird.
-Tim
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
> I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
>
> <http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en>
>
> If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me
> know. I admit the columns aren't set up perfectly (as there could be any
> number of release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better
> suggestion for the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
This is a list of MLCad's release dates (there is little chance that Mike would
post it himself):
3.20 - 2-Jul-2005
3.11 - 6-Jul-2004
3.10 - 13-Jun-2004
2.12 - 2-Mar-2002
2.11 - 1-Dec-2001
2.10 - 17-Sep-2001
2.00R4 - 10-Jul-2001
2.00R3 - 28-Jun-2001
2.00R2 - 24-Jun-2001
2.00 - 23-Jun-2001
1.99R1 - 10-Nov-2000
1.99 - 17-Oct-2000
1.9R4 - 28-Jun-2000
1.9R3 - 31-May-2000
1.9R2 - 8-May-2000
1.9 - 5-May-2000
1.8 29-Mar-2000
1.7R2 - 4-Jan-2000
1.7R1 - 31-Dec-1999
1.7 - 30-Dec-1999
1.6 - 11-Dec-1999
1.5 - 24-Oct-1999
1.4 - 7-Sep-1999
1.3 - 14-Aug-1999
1.2 - 1-Aug-1999
1.1 - 23-Jul-1999
1.0 - 14-Jul-1999
w.
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Willy Tschager wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Tim Courtney wrote:
> > I pasted these into a Google spreadsheet here:
> >
> > <http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pmqiRvqnStwRrj34KCn9eQA&hl=en>
> >
> > If anyone wants to be invited as a collaborator so you can edit it, let me
> > know. I admit the columns aren't set up perfectly (as there could be any
> > number of release dates/milestone dates to capture), if anyone has a better
> > suggestion for the one:many nature of those dates feel free to suggest it.
>
> This is a list of MLCad's release dates (there is little chance that Mike would
> post it himself):
>
> 3.20 - 2-Jul-2005
> 3.11 - 6-Jul-2004
> 3.10 - 13-Jun-2004
> 2.12 - 2-Mar-2002
> 2.11 - 1-Dec-2001
> 2.10 - 17-Sep-2001
> 2.00R4 - 10-Jul-2001
> 2.00R3 - 28-Jun-2001
> 2.00R2 - 24-Jun-2001
> 2.00 - 23-Jun-2001
> 1.99R1 - 10-Nov-2000
> 1.99 - 17-Oct-2000
> 1.9R4 - 28-Jun-2000
> 1.9R3 - 31-May-2000
> 1.9R2 - 8-May-2000
> 1.9 - 5-May-2000
> 1.8 29-Mar-2000
> 1.7R2 - 4-Jan-2000
> 1.7R1 - 31-Dec-1999
> 1.7 - 30-Dec-1999
> 1.6 - 11-Dec-1999
> 1.5 - 24-Oct-1999
> 1.4 - 7-Sep-1999
> 1.3 - 14-Aug-1999
> 1.2 - 1-Aug-1999
> 1.1 - 23-Jul-1999
> 1.0 - 14-Jul-1999
>
> w.
THANK YOU. I used the start/end for the beginning/end of MLCad in the current
timeline.
Want to code these up in the XML format and email or post for me to include?
Mike Heide suggested using start/end points for each version so there's a line
with dots along the way.
If you can't, no big deal, I can when I get another chance. I spent a couple
hours last night getting to where we are now. It'll be nice when it's done,
though!
Here's the XML file:
<http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/events.xml>
and the timeline:
<http://www.timcourtney.net/ldraw-timeline/timeline.html>
-Tim
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