I'd like to have an interactive floor map (so they're not huge) in my application. The maps will be different for every user, but contain similar elements which only differ by quantity and location. The application will show the map, identify certain elements and link them to information from the database.
To design and store the map, I'd rather not roll my own editor and/or come up with some custom file format. However, it would be nice if the format were open and easily readable. SVG seems to be the perfect candidate for the job. All there needs to be is a convention of how to name the elements to make them identifiable. But how to go from there? I need something that can render the SVG and distinguish between the different layers.
TSVG can do exactly this but depends on FireMonkey which I'd rather avoid - it's not even present in Delphi 2010, so I'd have to use another version and do DLL tricks.
Another option would be to use the Chromium Embedded Framework and create the map using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. That feels very bulky, and would be hard to get right.
Are there any simpler ways to do this that I overlooked, either using SVG or perhaps something completely different?
I'm not sure if a GIS system is appropriate for this. It may very well be overkill.
In the end I decided to go for D3.js using Chromium Embedded, to have a flexible and more portable solution.
Related
I want – as the title says – extract programmatically a shape from a Draw document through the api interface. Beside I want to import such a shape into a document as well.
I saw some predefined shapes in XML form and the document is stored as XML structure as well. Is there a known way to anybody out there to allow the storage and load of one shape?
What is this good for?
I want to, for example, enable the programmatic deletion of objects. But to enable the undo/redo functionalities I need to “store” the deleted shape. Beyond that this would allow me to add user-defined objects programmatically, e.g. arrow heads, UML structures or unicorns.
Thanks in advance for any ideas,
J
P.S.: I work with LibreOffice Version: 5.2.1.2 . Access the interface through C# (so java and C++ would do it as well) but any ideas are welcome.
I'm not entirely sure what you are trying to do, but here are some ideas:
Instead of deleting an XShape, you could use the dispatcher to Cut it. That will store it in the clipboard, so if it needs to be added back then the dispatcher can Paste it, as long as no other copy or cut was performed.
To create a shape, see the example at https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/Drawings/Shapes. This code will look different depending on what kind of shape it is. It sounds like you are asking for one code listing that will programmatically create any type of shape, but I do not think it is that easy.
Instead of using the UNO API, you could programmatically modify the XML files, which may make it easier to store and work with any shape. Be sure to use an XML parsing library, not just regular expressions.
I need to improve a screen in our Application that presents an HMI (Human Machine Interface) display embedded in our Delphi code. This screen provides our customer with the ability to perform a range of actions (run test, product report etc) and to expose and view key named data values. This customisation is required because our Application controls machinery that might be operated by a range of skill levels from simple operator (may not speak English and must have very limited control) through to a power user who wishes to 'see everything' and have max control.
Some years back I created a solution based on an embedded HTML viewer (Turbopower's as it was then) and TPageProducer to dynamically tweak an HTML template (that the user could customise) and which would display a simple set of controls and data tables. This works fine but is slow to edit (you have to tweak the template and look-see the effect) and I'm sure there are better ways now.
What I need is similiar to a Delphi form that can be customised at runtime. I need: buttons, labels and edits. Editable shapes and arrows are desireable as are fixed images over which controls and text can be laid. The layout should be saveable (like a DFM file) and text labels should be of two types - fixed text and those which update to display key values on an update notification (like a DB control would). The final layout should zoom its scale to fit a resizable layout.
This question is about the best tool for the job and I'm not coming into this totally cold, I've experimented with Greatis Form Designer and obtained a working solution but before I commit, I would apprecaite comments about whether a report tool (with built-in report editor) would be possible / useable / better since a print dump feature would also be useful. (Fast Reports? Quick Report etc?). Note though that this is a display requirement primarily. Comments re newer embedded HTML solutions would also be welcome as would anything to ensure max future-proofing of the layout format.
Any solution should be useable in Dephi 7 (for now!) and does not need to be unicode as long as there is a migration path to this for newer Delphi's.
Any other comments or observations would be very welcome. Thanks.
Have you looked first at the free JVCL stuff? There's a JvInspector (RTTI component property inspector, just like Delphi property inspector), and a form designer, and so on. You could roll your own solution based on these, and even use JvInterpreter for some scripting capability.
Secondly, if you can support ANY control that you have, in your designer, and you need some HMI specific stuff, check out IOCOMP: http://www.iocomp.com/
TMS Scripter Studio Pro provides a Delphi-like IDE and form designer with scripting, but it maybe overkill for your requirements.
What's the best way to draw shapes interactively at run time using Delphi? I need to be able to select, drag and resize the shapes. This will be used to mark up existing images and documents.
This looks like a good starting point, but I'm wondering if there's a more complete library (preferably free) available that will save some time.
Update:
If you're going with a custom solution from scratch, I've seen another example on Delphi Central that might be an even better starting point.
I will recommend you, read some links on my site. Are explained and all the source code is available; You can see and get some usefull for you.
Plugin system in Delphi - Part 2
Not directly what you need, is a plugin system for Delphi. But all the samples are based on a drawing tool that uses Shapes (Creating, selecting, resizing). You can review the code and extract what you need.
Sample manipulating of "Maps and Figures"
Sample of how to create, select and move components at runtime (in this case with TImage).
- Select shapes visually: Shows different ways to select shapes visually.
The web is in Spanish, but you can generate an authomatic translation on the web itself.
Anyway the code is commented.
Regards.
Excuse-me for my bad english.
One freeware option would be TssControlSizer. Just change the "control" property to the control you want to manipulate resize/move.
Not sure if you've moved on now with this Bruce but if you haven't, it might be worth looking at TMS Components Diagram Studio - it's certainly cheap, and looks quite powerful from the demo.
I would use Flex Graphics (commercial, $499 for one developer, with sources, $1500 for site-license, with source code). When I bought it, it was a lot less than that. So I guess, I wouldn't pay that now. It's a lightweight 'drawing/cad' package.
But as I already own it, I could import a page from the original document as an image, perhaps rendered in PNG or WMF, and then mark it up with lines, etc.
You could think of it as a light "cad" package. It has most primitive shapes, and you can easily create your own new objects or shapes in Delphi classes, that could be "smart shapes" like the ones in Visio.
http://www.flex-graphics.com/
Another commercial component set that I have heard only good things about is TRichView. They have a TRichViewEdit that looks like you could emulate a document markup environment easily with it.
Please check here:
TCAD -2d graphics component for delphi
http://www.codeidea.com
wish can help you.
As the question states: how is it possible to process some dynamic videostream? By saying dynamic, i actually mean I would like to just process stuff on my screen. So the imagearray should be some sort of "continuous screenshot".
I'd like to process the video / images based on certain patterns. How would I go about this?
It would be perfect if there already was (and there probably is) existing components. I need to be able to use the location of the matches (or partial matches). A .NET component for the different requirements could also be useful I guess...
You will probably need to read up on Computer Visual before you attempt this. There is nothing really special about video that seperates it from still imgaes. The process you might want to look at is:
Acquire the data
Split the data into individual frames
Remove noise (Use a Gaussian filter)
Segment the image into the sections you want
Remove the connected components of the image
Find a way to quantize the image for comparison
Store/match the components to a database of previously found components
With this database/datastore you'll have information on matches later in the database. Do what you like with it.
As far as software goes:
Most of these algorithms are not too difficult. You can write them yourself. They do take a bit of work though.
OpenCV does a lot of the basic stuff, but it won't do everything for you
Java: JAI, JHLabs [for filters], Various other 3rd party libraries
C#: AForge.net
is there a vcl or a project (in delphi) that would allow me to download OSM tiles and display them on an app?
I have tried embedding an browser and it worked great but i need a way to display the maps offline.
As I see it, there is 3 ways to do this :
Save all displayed tiles as a single image (could be done easily with a TWebBrowser, or TEmbeddedBrowser component) : you would navigate to the map address (OSM Mapping Server) based on given coordinates (top left corner), and then take a snapshot. You need to recalculate the base coordinates (top left corner) after each snapshot.
You need to understand how tiles are generated, wich is not quite difficult :
basically, the scheme of osm tiles generation is as follow http://osmserver.org/tiles/tile/x/y/z.png
Once you understand how it works, you could calculate tiles url by code and download'em one by one.
For more info on the tiles generation scheme look here :
good thread on manifold forum : http://forum.manifold.net/forum/t71011.13#75206
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Slippy_Map
http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tiles%40home
or if you need to go further : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OSM_Protocol_Version_0.5
download the entire OSM maps (available on the web) and use a VCL component to display them (Tatukgis DK...)
Best Regards,
Mo3ez
I don't know the OpenStreetMap project very well, but there's a chance that the project itself has the software to "view" the maps inside a page.
You can accomplish your goal: show the maps off-line using the same basic construct you have now for the user interface: a embedded browser.
What you change is the url the browser will connect to to something like (http://localhost:3458), making your application her own web-server, for example, with Indy TIdHTTPServer binded to port 3458 (just an example port).
That way, you can serve the content for the embedded browser from inside your application, in the same way Delphi IDE (>= 2005) itself provides content for the main page you see when you start it (in fact, a embedded web browser).
To that browser, you serve the viewer page, all it's dependencies and the OSM file. The only restriction to this idea is the viewer MUST do all the things on the client side (for example, it could be javascript, flash, etc.). No server side scripts, unless you are willing to "mimic" the server side behavior or to integrate your application with the script engine (not too easy).
Other chance is to use THBImage, who offers OpenStreetMap integration with Delphi and a (not working) site demo.
Oops! I tried to provide a few hyperlinks in my message but as a new StackOverflow user I'm limited to just one. You might checkout the "Need solution to display map" message thread (25-Jan-2010) on: embarcadero.public.delphi.thirdpartytools.general
I'm trying to solve a similar problem. I need to display a county-wide or city-wide map using Delphi and then put custom icons on the map. I do not need routing or a very detailed map. In the past I've used a TMS "hotspot" component for the custom icons on top of a TImage. Now I need a way for the client to select their own map for the static background image.
A freeware MFC GUI control class (with source) which implements display of OpenStreeMap tiles:
www.naughter.com/osmctrl.html
The zip there has an executable that shows how it works.
This unit is to calculate URLs for the OpenStreetMap Project's TileServer, and other useful utilities as may be needed. If you want to use OpenStreetMap in your pascal programs, then this is for you.
http://code.google.com/p/openstreetmap-fpk/
I'm also considering using the free Tiger/Line maps. Those look pretty good in a free Linux program (xastir).
TatukGIS looks very good (and expensive). I certainly don't need a full GIS solution so this seems to be way overkill just to display a map. But if I don't find a simpler solution this still might be better than integrating MS MapPoint.
TGlobe seems like what I need but sadly it is no longer available.
look in StelMAP for Delphi with OSM
Component to view a map of the project OpenStreetMap for Delphi 2010 without using browser or scripts.
You can view maps offline. Support for proxy servers for work online. Multi-threaded loading tile map speeds up the process to download and view maps.
The set of procedures and property allows you to add a component to map an unlimited number of layers, shapes and images.
Don't know about OSM files, but if you can open them in a browser, you can always embed a TWebBrowser in your Delphi application and load the files within it.
Not the most elegant, but should work...(requires IE)