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Hello all,
I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm wondering on
how to populate the partbin by default.
The general mechanics are done and I only need to 'sort' the library so it's
handy to use during editing.
I got the 'standard' by category groups but most of the more usable are huge
(300+ parts). So I think i should also provide a more sorted collection of bins.
I was thinking something like 'Plane bricks (no stickers patterns etc)', 'All
1x1 brick variants' etc. 'Techic pins', 'technic gears', 'technic bricks', etc
etc etc. these can then be organized in a tree manner.
But although my editor supports an unlimited amount of (extendability) bin
groups, this might generate too many groups.
'part bin groups' are generated by ini like files like e.g.
-example-
[options]
kind=filter
caption=Plaine bricks
description=Basic bricks without stickers etc
mascot=3003.dat
sortOn=description
sortDesc=false
sortCaseInsensitive=true
<rules>
include category brick
exclude descriptionPrefix ~
exclude descriptionPrefix _
exclude description duplo
exclude description pattern
exclude description pat.
exclude description spring
exclude description sticker
exclude description logo
---------
Above group is a filter group, but you could even use 100% handpicked content
for groups.
I'm also open for people wanting to help (dummy) test the 'basic basic' version
I'm hoping to finish this month.
If anyone is interested helping with ether testing or the part bin please
response here, or email me directly.
Thanks
Roland
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Roland Melkert wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm wondering on
> how to populate the partbin by default.
>
> The general mechanics are done and I only need to 'sort' the library so it's
> handy to use during editing.
>
> I got the 'standard' by category groups but most of the more usable are huge
> (300+ parts). So I think i should also provide a more sorted collection of bins.
--snip--
> Thanks
>
> Roland
Hi Roland,
Had you considered having sub-categories? I'd love to see the following if you
could.
Bricks
-Plain
-Patterened
-Modified
-Panels
Plates & Tiles
-Plates
-Tiles
-Patterned tiles
-Brackets
Round parts
-Cones
-Dishes
-Cylinders
-Bars
-Domes
-Arches
Slope bricks
-45 degree
-33 degree
-other
Technic
-Bricks
-Liftarms
-Axles and pins
-PFS and Electric
-Other
Other building parts
-Wheels
-Tyres
-Car parts
-Train parts
-Doors
-Windows
-Cockpits
-Plant parts
Wedges & Wings
-Wedges
-Wings
Minifig
-Heads
-Body parts
-Helmets
-Other
Other
That's based on my MLCAD list and how it would be if I could have sub-levels.
Currently a bundle quite a few of these.
Tim
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Timothy Gould wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.dev, Roland Melkert wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm wondering on
> > how to populate the partbin by default.
> >
> > The general mechanics are done and I only need to 'sort' the library so it's
> > handy to use during editing.
> >
> > I got the 'standard' by category groups but most of the more usable are huge
> > (300+ parts). So I think i should also provide a more sorted collection of bins.
>
> --snip--
>
> > Thanks
> >
> > Roland
>
> Hi Roland,
>
> Had you considered having sub-categories? I'd love to see the following if you
> could.
>
> Bricks
> -Plain
> -Patterened
> -Modified
> -Panels
> Plates & Tiles
> -Plates
> -Tiles
> -Patterned tiles
> -Brackets
> Round parts
> -Cones
> -Dishes
> -Cylinders
> -Bars
> -Domes
> -Arches
> Slope bricks
> -45 degree
> -33 degree
> -other
> Technic
> -Bricks
> -Liftarms
> -Axles and pins
> -PFS and Electric
> -Other
> Other building parts
> -Wheels
> -Tyres
> -Car parts
> -Train parts
> -Doors
> -Windows
> -Cockpits
> -Plant parts
> Wedges & Wings
> -Wedges
> -Wings
> Minifig
> -Heads
> -Body parts
> -Helmets
> -Other
> Other
>
> That's based on my MLCAD list and how it would be if I could have sub-levels.
> Currently a bundle quite a few of these.
>
> Tim
Thanks this seems like a good starting point,
I there a (practical) reason you didn't put slope bricks under bricks e.g.:
bricks
- plain
- etc
- slope
- - 45 deg
- - 33 deg
The bin supports unlimited levels and you can use the same group in multiple
branches.
Roland
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Hi Roland,
> Thanks this seems like a good starting point,
>
> I there a (practical) reason you didn't put slope bricks under bricks e.g.:
>
> bricks
> - plain
> - etc
> - slope
> - - 45 deg
> - - 33 deg
>
> The bin supports unlimited levels and you can use the same group in multiple
> branches.
>
> Roland
There is a reason. I tend to sort bricks by function (give or take) and slope
bricks are rarely interchangeable with regular bricks.
With multiple levels I'd probably favour
Slopes
-45 deg
--1x
--2x
--other
-33 deg
--1x
--2x
--other
-Other
That way if you want to build, say, a roof you can simply select the category
with the correct angle and choose widths from there.
Obviously I'm not trying to force my own systems on you. But that's why I keep
them separate.
Tim
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Roland Melkert wrote:
> If anyone is interested helping with ether testing or the part bin please
> response here, or email me directly.
I would like to see something that lets parts be in many groups instead of a
strict hierarchy... so that, for example, a part could be in "circular",
"rounded top" and "stud on top" all at the same time.
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.dev, Roland Melkert wrote:
>
> > If anyone is interested helping with ether testing or the part bin please
> > response here, or email me directly.
>
> I would like to see something that lets parts be in many groups instead of a
> strict hierarchy... so that, for example, a part could be in "circular",
> "rounded top" and "stud on top" all at the same time.
Parts aren't limited to a single group, you can have the same parts in multiple
groups you can even use the same group in multiple places, e.g:
bricks
- 1 x n
- 2 x n
- technic bricks
- all
technic
- gears
- technic bricks
As you could imagine the possibilities for sorting are endless, And with that
also lies the problem, what kind of 'default' would please the most people.
Roland
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Roland Melkert wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm wondering on
> how to populate the partbin by default.
>
> The general mechanics are done and I only need to 'sort' the library so it's
> handy to use during editing.
>
> I got the 'standard' by category groups but most of the more usable are huge
> (300+ parts). So I think i should also provide a more sorted collection of bins.
>
> I was thinking something like 'Plane bricks (no stickers patterns etc)', 'All
> 1x1 brick variants' etc. 'Techic pins', 'technic gears', 'technic bricks', etc
> etc etc. these can then be organized in a tree manner.
>
> But although my editor supports an unlimited amount of (extendability) bin
> groups, this might generate too many groups.
>
> I'm also open for people wanting to help (dummy) test the 'basic basic' version
> I'm hoping to finish this month.
>
> If anyone is interested helping with ether testing or the part bin please
> response here, or email me directly.
>
> Thanks
>
> Roland
Hi,
I can suggest that using subcategories to filter out parts could be the right
way, even if you can first display all parts of a specified category, and let
the user refine the search by filtering on subcategories.
You may also consider creating your own (or user own sub category) by simply
specifying a word that must match in part description.
For example: when you show the "brick" category, then you can allow user to
choose among some subcategories like "round", "curved", "slope" and, even more
useful, by brick dimension "1 x", "2 x", "n x", or let the user search the
specified category by a word in the part description.
I use a mix of these methods in my SR3DBuilder application and, IMPO, it is
very, very useful.
The same way I find useful a simple search inside description, especially when I
don't know how a part is categorized.
Some consideration about interface also:
I have not seen yours, but I found very, very annoying having to scroll along a
listbox, or even worse a group listbox where you have to expand groups to show
subgroups and then collapse them or you can't understand where you are since the
list is too long!
The problem, in both cases, is to balance the number of click you need to find
the required part and the amount of the screen required to display items.
Also consider that the most frequently used parts should be the more accessible:
it doesn't mind if you need 15 secs or more to find the "trash-bin", but you
must need no longer than 3 sec to find the 1 x 1 plate round.
Hope these hints can help you.
And I'm very interested in testing your software ;-)
Sergio
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Sergio Reano wrote:
> In lugnet.cad.dev, Roland Melkert wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm wondering on
> > how to populate the partbin by default. • <snip>
>
> Hi,
> I can suggest that using subcategories to filter out parts could be the right
> way, even if you can first display all parts of a specified category, and let
> the user refine the search by filtering on subcategories.
> You may also consider creating your own (or user own sub category) by simply
> specifying a word that must match in part description.
> For example: when you show the "brick" category, then you can allow user to
> choose among some subcategories like "round", "curved", "slope" and, even more
> useful, by brick dimension "1 x", "2 x", "n x", or let the user search the
> specified category by a word in the part description.
>
> I use a mix of these methods in my SR3DBuilder application and, IMPO, it is
> very, very useful.
Yes that's what I was thinking too, but eventually I decided to make it 100%
customizable, all groups are defined by ini files users themself can extend or
change. All those groups are based on filtering rules or static part references.
The problem is getting a nice 'default' collection of groups for the 'out of the
box' usage.
I might add aditional gui filtering to the group display later though.
> The same way I find useful a simple search inside description, especially when I
> don't know how a part is categorized.
>
> Some consideration about interface also:
> I have not seen yours, but I found very, very annoying having to scroll along a
> listbox, or even worse a group listbox where you have to expand groups to show
> subgroups and then collapse them or you can't understand where you are since the
> list is too long!
I don't like to scroll ether, that's why made the bin hierarchical, so you can
use 'small' groups.
> The problem, in both cases, is to balance the number of click you need to find
> the required part and the amount of the screen required to display items.
> Also consider that the most frequently used parts should be the more accessible:
> it doesn't mind if you need 15 secs or more to find the "trash-bin", but you
> must need no longer than 3 sec to find the 1 x 1 plate round.
Indeed not finding parts can be very annoying, especially if you don't know the
name of it. The bin also includes a special history group, so over time often
used parts can be found there as well.
> Hope these hints can help you.
> And I'm very interested in testing your software ;-)
Thanks, but I suspect my way of editing stuff is more like mlcad then your
sr3dbuilder. But the more the merrier :)
> Sergio
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Roland Melkert wrote:
> I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm
> wondering on how to populate the partbin by default.
>
> The general mechanics are done and I only need to 'sort' the library
> so it's handy to use during editing.
Not exactly sorting and subclassing, but what about an edit box where you
could enter filtering critera, like "1 x 2" or "diver" etc. By coincidence,
this is exactly what my LDList program does :-)
http://blockcad.net/ldlist.htm It allows search by number, name,
description, KEYWORDs or studcount (not completely reliable, it is really
the studxxx.dat count of the parts).
I find it a great way to quickly find parts, and it would (IMO) be super to
have that functionality *inside* the editing program.
(The Delphi source is available at the above adress)
--
Anders Isaksson
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In lugnet.cad.dev, Anders Isaksson wrote:
> Roland Melkert wrote:
>
> > I've been working on my LDraw editor during my vacation, and I'm
> > wondering on how to populate the partbin by default.
> >
> > The general mechanics are done and I only need to 'sort' the library
> > so it's handy to use during editing.
>
> Not exactly sorting and subclassing, but what about an edit box where you
> could enter filtering critera, like "1 x 2" or "diver" etc. By coincidence,
> this is exactly what my LDList program does :-)
> http://blockcad.net/ldlist.htm It allows search by number, name,
> description, KEYWORDs or studcount (not completely reliable, it is really
> the studxxx.dat count of the parts).
>
> I find it a great way to quickly find parts, and it would (IMO) be super to
> have that functionality *inside* the editing program.
Current groups mostly work with filters, you can 'include' or 'exclude' stuff
based upon category, keywords, description and name. But I'm open for other
criteria, like stud count is very interesting :)
> (The Delphi source is available at the above adress)
Thanks
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