Subject:
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Re: Inventory Helper app
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.db.inv
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Date:
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Fri, 6 Apr 2001 13:43:56 GMT
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Viewed:
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1074 times
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In my ongoing quest to keep an archive of our discussion,
and with Dave's permission, I'm posting his response to the group.
Regards,
Hakan
Hello Tobbe,
> I see a nifty program that looks like the "select piece" part of MLCad
> (perhaps Ldraw too, never tried that one).
> When you select the piece you want it get's added to a list in the
> main window where the user can specify number of pcs. and color.
> Then there is a "make parts list" function where one can save the list
> in a number of formats and a similar function for opening these up.
> The program should be ported to a number of platforms including
> Linux/UNIX, Windoze and Mac.
> Now if I only had the knowledge to write such an app and not just
> seeing it in my head...
> The problem would be new parts, but it's solved for Ldraw so why not
> for such a program I dream about? It should be easy to add new pices
> since a .gif or .jpg photo of the piece would do just fine until the
> piece is available for Ldraw (you only need a 2D photo/pic to
> recognize a piece). Then the user of the program downloads the new
> parts database from lugnet or where ever.
As a matter of fact, what you describe here is almost precisely what I had
in mind when I designed the helper app, and a lot of that functionality is
already in place. I'm making the .exe and source code available at my
site soon (I'll let you know the URL later) if you want to explore it, but
I'll give a quick synopsis of how it works here.
Choosing "new inventory" from the File menu runs the user through a series
of questions about the basic info (set name and number, piece-count
listed, instructions, etc.). Currently the opening salvo of data
collection is done by modal input dialogs but I am dissatisfied with this
method and will change to tabbed panes in some future incarnation. Then
the main screen opens, with a data entry line and a window to see what
data has been entered so far. The data entry line is a box to type the
qty, then a drop down list to choose the piece-type, and then a drop down
list to choose the color. The list of available piece-types is created
from an LDraw parts.lst file, so as you pointed out the updates of new
pieces is never a problem. New parts files can be imported when updates
to LDraw are downloaded. Custom or unknown pieces are handled by adding
new parts to the parts file on the fly, which are then optionally
available for future inventories.
> When a Ldraw .dat is availible for the piece that previous had a photo
> the photo get's replaced with the .dat image. Or perhaps there should
> be two ways of viewing these images? Either by photo/ldraw .dat image
> or only photos?
Off to the right of the data entry region is a big blank pane where
ultimately I'd like to have a .gif of each part pop up when that part is
chosen from the drop down list. Currently I enter my inventories with the
helper app open in one window and LEdit running in a DOS box, so I can
switch back and forth to see the pictures, but clearly this is not the
best solution. Graphics are one of the frontiers in VB that I have yet to
tackle, though, so for now it's just a plan. Perhaps there could even be
an option to get the graphics files from online using URLs that link to
LUGNET partsref and others.
An example of the data in the inventory file might look like this:
<iml><head></head><num>2536</num><name>[Shell promo
2]</name><count>22</count><calc>0</calc><instruc>4133255</instruc><stick>411
7692</stick><box>9x9x4</box><data></data><notes></notes></iml>
The <data></data> field is where the actual line item inventory of pieces
will be. As I mentioned, the export options could be just about any
configuration one might imagine, including the standard tab-delimited
table we are familiar with from Peeron. Export is not implemented yet.
These are all aspects of the project that could be collaborated on.
I hope that helps paint a picture of what I was babbling about. :)
Dave L.
immortus@iname.com
http://immortus.freeservers.com/
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Too low they build, who build beneath the stars."
-- Edward Young
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
--
"Any sufficiently advanced bug is indistinguishable from a feature"
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