Visual Design Studio [Initial Release]

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#1

Motif has had a big upgrade to the front-end along with a name change while leaving the plug-in module virtually untouched.

What’s new besides the name?

Remembers window state, size & location
Resizeable panels
Tabbed interface
Update control z-index
Support for container controls
Load multiple Windows/Forms in a single project
Instant change tracking (reflected in tab title & property grid)
Clix plug-in added
Build method builds all your Windows/Forms at once (including binary build for Clix/Tinkr)

This will become open source just like Motif but I’d like to have some people play around with it first.

Wanna play? http://www.skewworks.com/public/beta/vds.exe

4 Likes
#2

After I installed the app and run it first thing was the attached error.

[em]Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Thom\Documents\Skewworks\VDS\ClixTest\Clix[/em]Form.frm

More exactlly:

It seems that it expects that we all have a Thom user on our machines… :slight_smile:

#3

After the first save, even if changes are made to the form, they cannot be saved anymore.

#4

Except for the above, I would say: Great Work!

Thank You!

P.S.

I expect to see the code because people (like me) might want to contribute.

#5

One more thing:

#6

This is why I have a beta first. :slight_smile:

[quote]After I installed the app and run it first thing was the attached error.

Could not find a part of the path 'C:\Users\Thom\Documents\Skewworks\VDS\ClixTest\ClixForm.frm[/quote]
Stupid me left a debug line in; this was there to check some parsing stuff.

Hm, I’ll have to dig around to find this one. Is it giving an error saving or just not enabling the save option?

You can look at Motif for now in CodeShare and CodePlex the plugin is virtually unchanged (I just added 2 items). The update will be released when this is stable.

How big a combobox are you making??? Never seen that before.

#7

I’ve uploaded a new exe that should solve at least a few of your issues.

#8

Looking forward to trying it out as its a huge improvement, thanks!!!

#9

I’ve been playing around with the Clix side of VDS, and ran into two issues with creating multiple forms in a project.

If you create a second form in a project, using File – New – Form, and then double click on the form in the tree menu on the right side. A new (third) form is created instead of the (second) form being activated. If you keep double clicking, more forms will be created.

Also if you click on the tab of the second form and then click on the tab of the original form the exception in the pic is thrown.

Can’t wait for the released version!

#10

@ charlieHustle - thanks, I’ll look into it. :slight_smile:

#11

This is looking good. I was getting fed up having to either scroll the window around or go to full screen with the online editor when working with larger screens.

Will it have the abilty later to import existing designs? I am guess for now I can just drop the form into the same directory and it shoud pick it up?

PS… I see that the 32 size font is not included.

#12

@ Skewworks -

Actually the question should be [em]How small a combobox are you making???[/em]

It seems that the error happens during resizing and if the combobox gets to have only a few pixels in height…

#13

@ Dave McLaughlin - Yes, I can’t believe I forgot to put in a menu item for that. The file formats are exactly the same I just use a .frm extension to separate it from a “completed” state where it “builds” as an XML in a bin directory.

@ Allex - Gotcha. I’ll put in some code to handle that, thanks.

#14

Tell you what would be nice is to be able to select an output directory for the final XML when you hit build. You could then set this to your projects resources folder and save the trouble of copying the files over by hand.

The import of existing designs will be great.

Keep up the good work. :slight_smile:

#15

Stumbled upon 2 errors.

######################################################################
1st one popped up while I was attempting to exit VDS:

************** Exception Text **************
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Cannot write to the registry key.
at System.ThrowHelper.ThrowUnauthorizedAccessException(ExceptionResource resource)
at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.EnsureWriteable()
at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.SetValue(String name, Object value, RegistryValueKind valueKind)
at Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey.SetValue(String name, Object value)
at Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.frmMain.SaveRegistrySettings()
at Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.frmMain.frmMain_FormClosing(Object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnFormClosing(FormClosingEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmClose(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.296 (RTMGDR.030319-2900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll

VisualDesignStudio
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/VisualDesignStudio.exe

System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1002 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll

System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1001 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll

System
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1001 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll

System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll

System.Xml
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.233 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll

Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Clix
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/Plugins/Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Clix.dll

Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Core
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Core.DLL

Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Glide
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/Plugins/Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Glide.dll

System.Drawing.Design
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 built by: RTMRel
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing.Design/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.Design.dll

Accessibility
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 built by: RTMRel
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll

######################################################################
2nd error occurred when I was clicking the tabs for each form in a 2-form project:

************** Exception Text **************
System.ArgumentException: Item has already been added. Key in dictionary: ‘GlideImage’ Key being added: 'GlideImage’
at System.Collections.Hashtable.Insert(Object key, Object nvalue, Boolean add)
at System.Collections.Hashtable.Add(Object key, Object value)
at Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.frmMain.AddAllChildren(Control obj)
at Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.frmMain.tdForms_SelectedIndexChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TabControl.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.TabControl.WmSelChange()
at System.Windows.Forms.TabControl.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.296 (RTMGDR.030319-2900)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/mscorlib.dll

VisualDesignStudio
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/VisualDesignStudio.exe

System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1002 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll

System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1001 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll

System
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1001 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll

System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll

System.Xml
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.233 built by: RTMGDR
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll

Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Clix
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/Plugins/Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Clix.dll

Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Core
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Core.DLL

Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Glide
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///C:/Program%20Files%20(x86)/Skewworks/Visual%20Design%20Studio/Plugins/Skewworks.Win.VisualDesignStudio.Glide.dll

System.Drawing.Design
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 built by: RTMRel
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing.Design/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.Design.dll

Accessibility
Assembly Version: 4.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 4.0.30319.1 built by: RTMRel
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/v4.0_4.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll

#16

@ Dave McLaughlin - I’ll definitely look into that.

@ Iggmoe - Hm, not authorization to write to local user to save your settings? That’s odd. 2nd error is mine, I’ll look into that.

#17

For what it’s worth, I got the same registry error:
System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Cannot write to the registry key.

Using Win7Ultimate 64-bit

#18

Thanks! I think I have everything sorted now. I just need to complete the upgrades to Clix & Tinkr to accept VDS files before release. The next couple of days are booked solid but hopefully there will be some time this weekend. I’ll need a full 2-3 days to complete everything.

#19

@ Skewworks - Will you be releasing a User Guide to Tinkr 2.0 like you did for 1.0? It’s my understanding that Tinkr 2.0 completely overhauled the core, breaking backwards compatibility, so I wonder if the Tinkr 1.0 User Guide is still relevant to a newbie like me.

#20

@ Skewworks. Any update on this project?

I am keen to get away from using the online Glide designer as the webpage layout is not really ideal for working with 480 x 272 and 800 x 480 displays. I know I can go full screen but it keeps changing back to normal when I switch back to the Visual Studio app.

Cheers
Dave…