I've got simple java-based ppt->swf sub-project that basically works. The open source software out there, OpenOffice.org and JODConverter do the job great.
The thing is, to do this I need to install OO.o and run it in server mode. And to do that I have to install OO.o, which is allot of software (~160MB) just to convert the source PPT files to an intermediate format. Also, the public OO.o distributions are platform specific and I'd really like a single, cross platform set of files. And, I'd like to not interfer with a system's current settings, like file extension associations.
As things are now, my project is not particularly 'software distribution friendly'.
So, the questions are:
Is it possible to create a custom distribution of OpenOffice? How would one about this?
How lightweight and unobtrusive can I make the installation?
Would it be possible to have a truly cross platform distribution since there would be no OO.o UI?
Are there any licensing issues I need to be aware of? (On my list of things to check out, but if you them already then TIA!)
I have no idea to accomplish such task, but Microsoft has its PPT viewer that is for free and very small, maybe in .NET (C#) you can use some kinda function to save into a intermediate file that you need...
and by the way, how are you handling slide transictions?
I found a software that does that but you need MS PPT installed.
this was just an idea, now regarding your actually question:
you can create your own installation of OO, just jump to the Installation project and follow the lines.
I did not read 'til the end, but from the 1st paragraph it seams what you are searching for.
No, not unless you are neck deep coding in the OpenOffice project.
Related
I have a large application to manage consisting of of three or four executables and as many as fifty .dlls. Many of the source code files are shared across many of the projects.
The problem is a familiar one to many of us - if I change some source code I want to be able to identify which of the binaries will change and, therefore, what it is appropriate to retest.
A simple approach would be simply to compare file sizes. That is an 80% acceptable solution, but there is at least a theoretical possibility of missing something. Secondly, it gives me very little indication as to WHAT has changed; It would be ideal to get some form of report on this so I can then filter out irrelevant (e.g. dates/versions copyrights etc..)
On the plus side :
all my .dcus are in a row - I mean they are all built into a single folder
the build is controlled by a script (.bat)(easy, for example, to emit .obj files if that helps)
svn makes it easy to collect together any (two) revisions for comparison
On the minus side
There is no policy to include all used units in all projects; some units get included because they are on a search path.
Just knowing that a changed unit is used/compiled by a project is not sufficient proof that the binary is affected.
Before I begin writing some code to solve the problem I would like to ask the panel what suggestions they might have as to how to approach this.
The rules of StackOverflow forbid me to ask for recommended software, but if anyone has any positive experiences of continuous integration tools that would help - great
I am open to any suggestion or observation that is relevant in this context.
It seems to me that your question boils down to knowing which units are contained in your various executables. Since you are using search paths, it will be hard for you to work this out ahead of time. The most robust way to find out is to consult the .map file that the compiler emits. This contains a list of all units contained in your executable.
Once you know which units are contained in each executable, you need to know whether or not anything has changed in those units. That information is contained in your revision control system. Put this all together and you have the information that you need.
Of course, just because the source code for a unit has changed, you might argue that re-testing is not needed. Perhaps the only change made was the version, or the date in a copyright label or some such. But it is asking too much to be able to ask a computer to make such a judgement. At some point you need a human to step up and take responsibility.
What is odd about this though is that you are asking the question at all. It seems to me to be enormously risky to attempt partial testing. I cannot understand why you don't simply retest the entire product.
After using it for > 10 years for commercial in-house and freelancer work in large projects, I can recommend to try Apache Ant. It is a build tool which supports dependencies, and has many very helpful features.
Apache Ant also integrates nicely with CI tools such as Hudson/Jenkins, Bamboo etc.
Another suggestion - based on experience with Maven - is to design the general software architecture as modular as possible. If modules (single or multiple source or DCU files in one directory) use a version number in the directory name as a version number, it is possible to control exactly how application are composed from these modules.
If you want to program such a tool yourself the approach would be something like this:
First you need to detect wheter there were any changes made to seperate source files. As you already figured out comparing the file size is bad idea as the file size can stay the same despite lots of changes made to it (as long as there is same amount of text in pas file its size won't change). So instead you could check the last modification time for specific file or create some hash value like MD5 hash for comparison (can be quite slow).
Then you need to generate yourself a dependancy tree which will tell you which files are used for which project/subproject.
Finally based on changes detected in seperate files you check the dependancy tree to see which projects needs to be recompiled.
The problem of such approach is that you would probably have to update the dependancy tree manually each time when new unit is added to the project or an existing one is removed from the project.
But the best way would be to go and use some version controll software istead of reinventing the wheel. I myself like the way how GIT works and I belive that with proper implementation of GIT into the project mannager itself could be quite powerfull do to GIT support of branching/subbranching (each project is its own branch, each version of your software can be its own subbranch).
Now latest version of Delphi does have GIT integration done though SVN but this unfortunately limits some of best GIT functionality. So if you maybe decide to go and integrate GIT support directly into Delphi I'm first in line to use it.
I want to open libraries, because currently I want to see the algorithms used for drawing, modify them and implement them in my program. For example: I have tried to create an algorithm on my own for lines. But I failed. And even if I had succeeded, I fear that it might not give the same result as the algorithm in the libraries. And I don't want this to happen. That's why I want to copy the algorithms used for the methods in libraries. And I really hope that this will help me create the application I'm currently working on and with other applications in the future.
I tried to open the libraries with a code editor. But I had troubles finding the libraries- I don't really know where are they placed nor in what files are their codes stored.
How to open a Java library? Or is there a place in the Internet where the code is uploaded?
It sounds like what you want is to get inside the standard Java libraries (so you can see the code for methods like Graphics.drawLine()).
You can download the source files from the same place you got the JDK, if you are on Windows or Linux. For the Mac, see this question. You can even set up Eclipse so that you can debug into that source as if it were your own code.
However, you will probably not find line-drawing code in Java in these libraries - the Graphics implementation will almost certainly use native methods, and may just call existing methods in the OS.
If you are specifically looking for line drawing algorithms, another option would be to look at the Wikipedia page for the Bresenham (aliased) or Wu (antialiased) algorithm.
Edit:
The part of a Graphics2D call that actually puts pixels on the screen is probably inside a system call and therefore the source would not be available.
A java vector graphics library like Batik might have source for some of these algorithms, but probably relies on the Graphics2D calls for most of them. So, you might look for a comprehensive vector graphics library written in a language other than Java, where those graphics calls do not already exist by default.
Alternately, checking the table of contents for a computer graphics book might point you at a variety of algorithms that you could look up on Wikipedia.
For any given library:
Make sure to obey all licenses when using another's code
If you are referring to the Java SDK source code, you can find it here: http://grepcode.com/
If the project is open source, you can usually just get the source from the project website. No problem, though make sure to obey their license.
If the project is NOT open source, well, then you're in a pickle licensing wise, so I do NOT endorse this, however, you would need to use a Java Decompiler such as JD-Gui
As far as what drawing algorithms to use, there are so many different ones (obviously, people have been trying to draw quickly for many many years), your best bet is to figure out exactly what you need to do and then search for that specific need separately. There isn't really a good repository of ALL of them, except maybe wikipedia.
If you are using the libraries they are on your classpath. Check out how to figure out your classpath in whichever IDE you are using and you can find the JARs you depend on. If they are packaged with sources all you need to do it unjar them and look at the sources.
If you don't have access to the sources you can get the code using a Java Decompiler.
If you are trying to look at a standard Java library, see the other answers about getting the source to the JDK.
If you are interested in an open source library (such as something maintained by the Apache project), look on the site of the project for a 'source jar' which you can open with a standard zip utility.
If the library you want is not open source or you cannot find the source for it, you can try to decompile it. If you are using Eclipse, try this decompiler.
Searching with '[Delphi] "source control"' didn't return much, so here goes: For those of you Delphi programmers working on your own, what source control do you like? I know about TortoiseSVN (which can be used without a server), but I'd like to know if there are better options before choosing it.
Thank you.
SVN will be more than enough as you'll mostly use it for backing up and diff'ing versions.
You can use VisualSVN Server and TortoiseSVN with Delphi IDE Integration. All of these are freeware. If you wish to use any other freeware SCM with Delphi IDE integration you'll need to buy SourceConneXion or Athlant. Also, if you're using D2009 you'll need to convert strings to ansistrings in order to get TortoiseSVN addon for delphi to work.
I use Mercurial, and have used Bazaar and Perforce (free for small teams). All are good, but nowadays I tend to prefer Mercurial. Mercurial comes with its own tortoise
which, while not quite as polished as TortoiseSVN, is perfectly usable:
(source: sourceforge.net)
For users of RAD Studio XE or XE2, Uwe Schuster has published an IDE add-on called Version Insight Plus that adds Mercurial and Git support to the IDE's built in version control support.
For all the systems I have mentioned, no central server is required.
I would recommend Git which is free & open source and:
Doesn't require you to even set a central server even if you want add more developers or machines.
Is Extremely Fast (imo)
Encourages the use of branches
I use it for almost every new project, even when it's just me on the project. It's an extremely fast distributed version control system and was written by Linus Torvalds and is now used in high profile projects like the Linux Kernel and Ruby on Rails.
Git isn't hard to use from the Command line but also has it's own "Tortoise" package (TortoiseGit - albeit not as polished as it's SVN cousin).
SourceGear Vault is free for a single user. I like to use the external client because I work in different environments, but If you want Delphi IDE integration, you can use Source ConneXion (not free).
You might look at some of the responses here (Stack Overflow) if you do have Delphi in mind. As mentioned in the answers there, I use Team Coherence which integrates very nicely with Delphi's IDE, and is aware of Delphi file groups (.pas with .dfm etc). I think it's written in Delphi too.
Having said that, the other comments already made are true - you shouldn't really let your choice of language dictate your choice of VCS.
Even though you've said single user, I would look for a solution that allows you to easily host it on a server/other desktop machine, so you have separated your development machine from your source repository. I'm probably teaching granny to suck eggs but you ought to check that whatever you choose can be easily backed-up too (even to a USB key or external drive would be fine). :-)
I know you have asked for Source Control, but if you are always planning to be a 'single developer' you might like to consider an automatic backup solution like AJC Active Backup instead. Yes, you lose the ability to check in and out specific versions, but at the same time you avoid the need to check stuff in and out all the time when it is only you working on a project. And you can recover or diff any previous source files by date for as far back as you care to configure. It's very much a set-and-forget solution, until you need to recover something, when it is invaluable. And the archive itself can be backed up in the normal way.
I use TortoiseSVN, but store my repositories as files on my laptop (on a share that can be accessed by mutilple VMs), not managed by a server. This means that I have full access to the repository regardless of server access, but also allows me to easily backup the repositories to the company file server when connected.
Since I am the only programmer I have not needed a separate server so far. I have seen Nick Hodges (Delphi Development Manager) say very nice things about VisualSVN Server, and I aim to check this out, to see how easy it is to backup/restore the repository: if that can be automated, and done very quickly, then I will probably adopt that.
Longer term I am going to look at the various flavours of distributed VCS, as that may be better suited to multiple laptop-based developers; I'm not sure yet, as I've not reached that page of my to-do list ;-)
One of the things supposedly in the pipeline for Delphi is integrated support for VCS. I've no details on that, or on any implications for current users of the various traditional or distributed VCS.
The language you use doesn't really matter in the choice of the SCM you will use.
It can matter if your favorite IDE supports or not this SCM.
TortoiseSVN is just a svn client, if you choose svn you can have several client.
I use Tortoise, and subclipse for committing in the same svn repository.
I would suggest using SVN server on a separate machine (either VisualSVN as suggested before or CollabNET Subversion Server) and TortoiseSVN with JVCL integration expert (also as suggested before).
Besides getting all the good stuff from the version control, you'll also automatically have backup on a different computer, which is always a good thing.
I know this will get down voted, but I feel it has to be said.
I've used Version Control software for many years at my job, and it is required when multiple people work together - to make absolutely sure that no two people overwrite one-another's work.
But for my personal development at home I don't use one. I find them overbearing and inconvenient for a simple one-person project. And I've tried several packages including Source Gear Vault and some others that other people have mentioned.
What I do instead is at every significant change to my program that I might want to go back to, I make a copy of the entire program directory. If I screw up in the next change, I can go back to the copied directory.
I also permanently keep copies of all my directories of every release of my program. If I ever need to do comparisons between my current version and previous releases, or between two different previous releases, I use Beyond Compare by Scooter Software - a simply great tool for diff-ing and copying changes between versions. If you use Source Control software, Beyond Compare will integrate into it nicely.
So I mention this simply because I have often heard everyone pushing Version Control Software, even for the individual developer. For some of us, it's overkill.
You may want to consider this simpler solution.
I use Bazaar with Delphi and it works well, especially for solo developer workflows. It has it's own TortoiseBzr but it isn't as good as some of its cousins so I recommnend the excellent Bazaar Explorer instead. One of the great things about Bazaar is it's flexibility and the ease with which you can change workflow or include another developer in a project that started off solo.
A lot of articles about Bazaar will tell you it is a lot slower than Git or Mercurial. They are out of date, now it takes a similar time to acomplish operations as they do and is faster on some operations.
My team use StarTeam and I have never used something else like SVN so it is hard for me to do a good compare. Starteam has both positive and negative sides.
Pros:
You can register Change requests and
connect them to checkins. This make
changes more trackable.
I feel more comfortable with a real GUI compared to commandline or some Shell
extension.
Cons:
Expensive, as most products from
Borland...
Latest version use Java. It is almost like the previous Win32 version and they have added more features, but I still feel that it is some slower and more memory hungry than before.
GUI could be a bit more intuitive.
I'm not big on version control, but use SVN/Tortoise and am quite happy with it. The main benefits that I see for a single developer is being able check out older versions of the application, and use multiple computers for development (desktop / laptop) - other than the obvious backup benefit. I tend to not need it for diffing files, as I find the version control tools within the Delphi IDE fairly good for this - provided the "bug" was introduced recently.
I think most Delphi developers use SVN/Tortoise (making it a fairly safe choice) - but there are trendyer options such as Mercurial and Git.
As a single developer, I have used Perforce for a number of years. It has been great. Aside from a CLI, you can use the P4V client. There's also an explorer plugin available, as well as Delphi IDE integration. I actually just found this free integration on Torry yesterday:
p4delphi
I've installed it in Delphi 2010, and it works pretty good.
Perforce is free for two user, it would require you to install perforce server, but the server footprint is very, very small. you can use P4V (Perforce visual client) which is far more convenient than tortoise, it also provide Windows explorer extension to be have just as tortoise (but you could skip this installation). Delphi integration could be done using P4Delphi.
I am using subversion, bug tracking and simple to use project planning for my latest delphi project from an web service provider. http://www.unfuddle.com has a free account for projects less than 200mb with 1-2 developers and the user interface is easy to use.
I was originally going to frame this question around TextMate, which is by all accounts an amazing editor, but only available on OSX. I was curious how those who have spent time learning to use TextMate efficiently deal with the situation where they have to edit on a non-OSX platform. But it's really a more general question. How do people deal with situations where you can't use your preferred text editor?
I use gvim and vim primarily, and I know that these editors have a rather esoteric set of keybindings, so when I'm editing in another editor I'll often mistakenly type things I didn't want to type while trying to navigate. This can be very inefficient.
So how do people deal with these kinds of situations? Just swallow the inefficiency? Try to avoid the situation or go to great lengths to get the file that needs editing into your preferred editor? Do you have one or two editors you're proficient with that you can switch between without problems? Do you change the keybindings of other editors to more closely match your preferred editor?
I work as a support technician, which means I'm frequently working on customer systems remotely. The unfortunate side effect is that I rarely have any choice over what editor I get to use in those situations. Generally speaking there's not a whole lot you can do about it unless the situation is one where it's feasible for you to install a new editor or bring a USB thumb drive or something similar with your editor pre-installed on it. In such a situation, by all means, if you plan to be working for an extended time period, take advantage of the opportunity. You'll work faster and more efficiently and it will be less frustrating.
In an environment (e.g. webex/RDC) where you cannot install software or use temporary media, you have two choices: live with whatever editor they have, or copy files back and forth from your system. Typically if I'm doing very minor editing I just suck it up and use whatever editor is available. If I know I'm going to be doing an extensive amount of editing, I find a way to transfer the file I'm working on back and forth. This still stinks, forcing you to interrupt your editing flow with file transfers, but I find my sanity makes it worth not struggling with something like notepad to do real editing or programming.
The advantage of using either vim or emacs as an editor is precisely that it's available on virtually any decently configured Unix platform (and this includes more esoteric systems as well, e.g. Darwin/OS X). Combined with the fact that you can store your configuration online (e.g. Dotfiles) this makes for a very strong argument, because the problem you described simply doesn't exist.
Since I work primarily in a windows environment, I keep Notepad++ installed on a flash drive. That way I can just pop the usb drive into a machine and have a quality editor, without having to install anything.
On machines I'm using for longer periods, I use SciTE. I also use Dvorak keyboard. When guesting on machines, everything is different anyway as the keys are in illogical places. I just edit with what's there, or pass the file to source control and edit on my machine.
I resort to using notepad on win machines at client sites. Especially since I know that installing anything is not an option and I know that notepad will always be there.
For me the only time this happens is when I'm using someone else's system since I typically install a text editor that I am reasonably familiar with on each system that I own/use regularly. In that case, if I'm struggling too much, I move over and let the other person take the wheel (keyboard). FWIW, I use TextMate (sometimes vim) on OSX, TextPad (sometimes Notepad or even Edit on servers not under my direct control) on Windows, and vim on Linux.
I got comfortable with a couple different editors - vi, eclipse, and PFE. If I'm using some other editor short-term, I just deal with it. If it's longer term, Google is my friend, and I go download one I like.
On windows i convince everybody to install notepad++
On mac TextMate rules
On linux vim
I use vi under linux and Ultraedit under Windows.
Vi is a must if you are doing some linux administration or if
you are working directly in a shell.
A mouse oriented editor is useful if you are working under a
windowing system.
Anyway, I think you need to know the basics of both.
I work regularly on Linux and Windows, and occasionally on OS X. Having to switch editors between them is a pain, so the obvious solution would be using some cross-platform editor. Right now I'm experimenting with Komodo Edit, which looks pretty promising.
If there's no decent editor in the machine, it doesn't take long to download and install one.
If you are programming under windows you might want to take a look at e text editor its basically TextMate for windows and supports the bundles and everything.
Is there are any open source or free-ware library to display PDF file in my Delphi program?
I had looked for one, but most of them are commercial or not fully functional.
PS: this solution need to be cross platform by using wine.
One possible solution might be to include the open source SumatraPDF viewer with your program and use it to display the pdf's.
http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/index.html
One nice thing about SumatraPDF, other than it being open source, is that it doesn't require an install. It consists solely of a single .exe, so you could just stick the .exe in your app's folder and call it to display pdf's. SumatraPDF is a pretty bare-bones viewer, so it may be one of the ones you've already looked at and rejected as "not fully functional", but I'm not sure whether you're going to find any perfect open source solution.
As others brought up in the similar thread that was linked from this one, you might consider using the Gnostice library or the WPCubed wpdfviewer component. You have to purchase a developer's license for those, but then can incorporate them in your app and deploy as many as you want with no runtime licensing fees.
My answer to this question discusses the Adobe API.
I missed the PS. Some other answers to the same question may help.