[Drawkit] Introductory demo ??

[Eric Jarvies]

graham,

that will be good having both a light and heavy dk demo in the  
official distro.

if you are willing to repeat a couple more times what you did this  
morning, when putting together the light version, then i will take  
care of all editing of the video, voice over, etc., as well as make a  
html and pdf version of the same tutorial.  i'll do a first-rate job  
on it i assure you.

however, i will need for you to take this morning's experience, and  
apply that towards a second put-together, wherein you avoid as many of  
the mistakes/time-consumers/etc. you encountered earlier.  recording  
the entire process using ishowu(d/l this app from macupdate.com, and  
i'll send you configuration settings that will best suite this  
tutorial, along with a loaner license for the app), and then ftp'g it  
to my server(i'll email this info to you too).

this way, in addition to having a dk tutorial on video, we will also  
have an x-code tutorial, which any number of x-code-centric sites will  
be happy to post for their members, meaning giving dk more exposure.

a few things we will have to address have to do with other apps/ 
windows you will need to open/access during the session.  the tutorial  
screen will be the xcode application/canvas, and so when there are seg- 
ways, i would prefer to cut out your realtime/video access of these,  
and cut in 1/4 screen insets of the same things being, but i'll record/ 
make those here on my desktop.

i will need you to narrate while you are building, but don't worry  
about the quality it will be for my ears only, using it to script text  
for a proper voice over without all the 'ums, uhs, oops, crap, hold- 
on, not this button/file' and so on.

what screen resolution do you have on your computer?  1024x768  i'd  
like to record it in that res, and then bump it down for the final/ 
master.  this will make all the elements smaller on the video, but  
it'll reduce the video file size, whilst allowing more elements to be  
on-screen during the tutorial.

in xcode, when editing code, use the lower tri-pane, instead of  
opening a new window.  resize the 'groups & files' pane so that all  
file and folder(especially sub-folder/file) names are visible, so that  
you are not having to re-size this during the tutorial.   when  
creating the xcode project, the install tri-window will likely open  
centered, hopefully this will be in-frame inside the recording area.   
in interface builder, make sure that your nib, main menu, library, and  
window windows are all organized to fit inside the recording area.   
also remember the top menubar needs to be inside the recording area,  
so that that into account when setting the recording area in ishowu.   
the less that has to be removed or resized... the better.  namely  
because those areas can be compressed as nothing is changing.  in  
ishowu settings, we do not want to use the 'follow mouse' settings,  
again, this is what everything must fit inside the record window, so  
the background/canvas stays fixed/motionless.  make sure to set mouse  
recording with each frame, and mouse clicks set to blob, and right  
clicks set to halo(so remember not to click down or right click on  
your mouse for no good reason, otherwise the video will display blobs  
and halos where they don't belong).  set slow capture rate when not  
moving mouse(but remember, during the recording, if you are using your  
keyboard to invoke things(like typing), then make sure to pause/hole  
for a second or two before closing a field/dialog/window or anything  
like that that will disappear... otherwise it may not be recording.   
the same thing applies when moving your mouse... it's ok to move it  
fast, but when you get o the button you want to click, let the mouse  
sit above the button for one second, and after clicking it another  
second... pausing during these parts is important, so try to remember.

after you've recorded it, and i've edited it, you can watch it and  
compose any narrative you feel you had left out initially, or  
explained incorrectly initially.  you can do this recoding your voice,  
or typing it, whichever way works best for you, so long was you  
reference in and out time points on the video so i know where that  
narrative belongs.  and of course, if you have a good narrative voice,  
and wish to narrate it yourself, then you can do so, so long as you  
have a mic.  i have good mic's for narrative setup here, so you can  
listen to mine first, and if you would prefer your voice on the video,  
then we'll get some test recordings from your mic and see what works  
best, then we'll go that route.  either way, so long as it's clear for  
the end user.

well, i hope you have the time to do this... i'll look forward to it  
if you do.  if not, no stress.  but you really are the best man for  
the job(all logical things considered) as it relates to the dk  
tutorial and performing the the process in xcode/interface builder/etc.

regards,

eric

this shows blip.tv preset being used ... but depending on your monitor  
res, i would prefer to you set it to 1200x900, or 1280x960, or  
800x600(minimum)
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On Jun 18, 2008, at 10:46 PM, Graham Cox wrote:

> I think you are right that there is a need for a simpler demo app  
> that keeps the UI interfacing to a minimum. With that in mind, I  
> spent a bit of time this morning creating one along the lines you  
> suggested - just a few basic controls which give you a very minimal  
> interface.
>
> Here's a screenshot:
>
> <Picture 1.png>
>
>
> Despite the simplicity (this has just one custom controller class,  
> with most stuff set up in the nib) this still took a couple of hours  
> to put together - not because DK is difficult but because it still  
> takes time to write and test the controller "glue code" (not using  
> bindings), and certain things, like layers, really require a table  
> to drive them sensibly (I couldn't think of an easy way to do it  
> with buttons that wasn't clunky).
>
> I'll attach the project file to this message, but I'll also put the  
> project and executable up on the website so you can download it. The  
> single controller class is: a) the controller between the UI shown  
> here and DK, b) the application's delegate (to get a few things set  
> up at launch) c) the table's delegate and datasource and d) the  
> window's delegate. So it wears a few hats which also add a little to  
> its complexity, but overall it's extremely lightweight. You can also  
> get to a number of features by right-clicking objects in the drawing  
> (that's just default DK behaviour).
>
> Project attached - note not sure how portable it is, depends on  
> DrawKit as a subproject and has paths to it that assume this is  
> located in the same folder as the top level DrawKit folder. It's  
> also assuming Leopard and Xcode 3, though doesn't use any Leopard- 
> only features. If this seems like a good way to go, I can fix up any  
> build issues that you report and it can be rolled into the official  
> DK distribution.
>
>
> <DrawkitSimplerDemo.zip>
>
>
> Tutorial Video.
>
> Regarding doing a tutorial video - I think that is a good idea in  
> principle. I'm happy to put time into this. But one thing that this  
> morning's exercise has shown is that anything with any sort of UI  
> will take a certain amount of time - it's not something that really  
> can be done in ten minutes. So we probably need to be clear about  
> what the scope of the tutorial would be - either something like this  
> but with a lot of steps glossed over, or something a lot simpler  
> with fewer features.
>
> Documentation Wiki.
>
> There already is one, here:
>
> http://gcdrawkit.jasonjobe.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
>
> This hasn't been updated for ages and there isn't much there - what  
> there is is likely to be out of date. I also plan to rehost it at my  
> own site rather than rely on this extra hosting. But feel free to  
> add to it if you wish, It'll all get moved over intact at some point.
>
>
> cheers, Graham
>
>
>
> On 19 Jun 2008, at 1:44 am, Troy Rollins wrote:
>
>> After spending some time with DrawKit and the demo app, I feel I'm  
>> slowly making a bit of headway with it. However, I feel what is  
>> missing is a simpler demo... almost a bare bones one. It would be  
>> easier to disassemble and "get your head around" than the current  
>> "monster demo", which has all the bells and whistles but is pretty  
>> complex, and includes a lot of IB bindings which need to be  
>> "untangled" mentally.
>>
>> I'd love to see a demo which...
>> 1) Was not document based
>> 2) Had no palettes
>> 3) Had only the default menus
>>
>> Basically a window, with a DKDrawingView, surrounded by a few  
>> buttons which demonstrate basic functionality...
>> 1) Layer changing
>> 2) Selection of a couple of different tools (maybe select/edit and  
>> draw box)
>> 3) Switching styles between a couple of pre-defined styles
>>
>> I think having something like this would lower the barrier to  
>> entry, and allow newer xcode developers (like myself) to get their  
>> heads around the fundamentals of the toolkit more quickly, and then  
>> be able to advance into deeper examination afterward, and as their  
>> application merits.
>>
>> From what I've seen, it looks as though this sort of demo could be  
>> put together in under an hour, and it would benefit the users and  
>> the community a great deal. Unfortunately, I don't know enough to  
>> create it myself yet, but I'd be happy to create the basic  
>> interface for it, if that would help.
>>
>> Would any more advanced users be willing to wire up such a project?  
>> Does one exist somewhere already?
>>
>> TIA!
>> --
>> Troy
>> RPSystems, Ltd.
>> http://www.rpsystems.net
>>
>>
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>
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