Advanced Graphics Programming, source code needed.

[GerrOrneq]

I am a hobbyist programmer and I program in AutoIt and VB6.

This is my second post, in the first I mentioned this request, but upon reflection I think that it should be in its own post.

What I need is a way to interactively display data in a graphical format (Flowchart, Network Diagram) very similar to the way its done in "The Personal brain" (www.thebrain.com).

I have data in a DB that I wish to display diagramatically and have the code return a value to indicate what action if any was taken on each node displayed, e.g. if I click or DblClick a node then return that as a value, so my app can take appropriate action.

It does not have to have loads of bells and whistles, just a straight-forward interface that I supply with the data for each node and what node/s it connects to, it then displays the nodes and their connecting lines and returns a value to my app if the node is clicked or dragged etc.

I have MS C++ so could compile a src code in that but I cannot program in C++.

Addflow by Lassalle would be overkill plus it costs big bucks and The Brain is not callable to do what I want, so if anyone has code or activex!

Thanks

[evilertoaster]

Hum... Maye you want to create GUI buttons and use GUICtrlSetImage()? Can you maybe be more specific or draw a quick stetch of what you want this to look like?

[GerrOrneq]

Hum... Maye you want to create GUI buttons and use GUICtrlSetImage()? Can you maybe be more specific or draw a quick stetch of what you want this to look like?

Hello, do you mean that I might want to create a lot of GUI buttons and place images & text on them and move them around? if so then, no, that is not what I want.

The following are images of sample output styles from Lassale Technology's Addflow activex:

(The images I tried to insert gave me an error = Sorry, dynamic pages in the tags are not allowed, [they are just .jpg's in root dir? what way should I add images to a post?)

I am archiving them and attaching them instead. Addflow_diagrams.zip

the site for Lassalle Technologies is here.

To get an interactive feeling for what I want to acheive go the The Brain website and see the way you can interact with the diagram.

Their diagram (they call it a 'plex') is implemented in Java which means that it can be exported to HTML.

I have no interest in learning another language to be able to do this, I am only a hobbyist programmer and there is no urgency or overwhelming need for me to get deeply involved in trying to get this to work 'at all costs', (if it comes down to it I will probably have to settle for a TreeList!) instead it is meerly an idea for an application I have, where a way to interactively display data would be a great advantage.

In fact the idea has not even gotten to the stage of preliminary programming, (just notes and scribbles, outlines etc.) I know what I want the application to acheive, and the flowcharting (plex) idea would be a great advantage in visually displaying the data and its relationships to the rest of the data, havinng said that there are probably other methods of interactively displaying data that I am unaware of.

Thank you for your interest, I greatly appreciate your input and anybody else who may have anything (+ or -) to add, awareness of other types of dynamic data display would be nice to know of, any ideas anyone?

Thnx.

[GerrOrneq]

Hello to everyone reading this, I am just wondering if this post is in the right place on the forum as it is not getting any replies?

I will appreciate any and all replies, positive or negative, I am especially interested in hearing from anyone who has ideas for an alternative method of interactively displaying data, all ideas will be considered.

Regards.

[GerrOrneq]

Hello, are there any persons reading this post?

Is it in the right place?

I know from reading others posts on this forum that ye prefer to be given a piece of code and it can be amended and improved as a way of helping the asker.

In my case I am not asking for help with coding (Yet!) but rather I have an idea and I am wondering if anyone here has code or knows of code that will perform what I have outlined?

I am not asking anyone to do my coding for me, I am just trying to gather as much information about what is possible and what is not before I actually start to code my app.

Any ideas for various ways of presenting interactive data would be appreciated, the usual Tree diagrams and such are okay in most cases but I want to make something different and the Flowchart type is a method I am interested in (but not exclusively.) so if any of ye have any ideas (workable or not!) for other ways to present data interactively it may give me a direction to investigate and who knows it may lead to something spectacular!

MODERATORS: I am new to posting and apologise if I am posting in the wrong place, if so please advise.

[ChrisL]

I think if your looking to draw stuff then you need to be looking at GuiCtrlCreateGraphic() and GUICtrlSetGraphic()

There is an Autoit program called GuiBuilder located in the full version of Scite C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\SciTE\GUIBuilder\GuiBuilder.au3 have a read through that for ideas on how to move controls around.

I think you will need to make each box an individual GuiCtrlCreateGraphic() control to capture clicks, it all looks as if it's going to get rather complicated to me

[GerrOrneq]

I think if your looking to draw stuff then you need to be looking at GuiCtrlCreateGraphic() and GUICtrlSetGraphic()

There is an Autoit program called GuiBuilder located in the full version of Scite C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\SciTE\GUIBuilder\GuiBuilder.au3 have a read through that for ideas on how to move controls around.

I think you will need to make each box an individual GuiCtrlCreateGraphic() control to capture clicks, it all looks as if it's going to get rather complicated to me

Hello, Thanks for the reply, I have just given a quick search for the GuiBuilder program, but it does not exist on my PC? is it a separate download?

I am using the latest ver of Autoit (3.2.12.0)

and the version of SciTE is Version 1.76, Mar 30 2008 21:05:14.

However searchig the AutoIt help file for GuiCtrlCreateGraphic() came up with a result and a sample script which I ran, it only appears to let me place graphics

on the 'page' and click on them producing their coordinates as a msg (I realise that it should be possible to make it do more than that, like move them around and

draw lines connecting the 'nodes', can it do that? as a function or will it require much manipulation = making it insanely complicated? and slow)

But it is not exactly what I am looking to do, (To get an interactive demonstration for what I want to acheive go the The Brain website and see the way you can interact with their diagram.

[Has anybody done that yet?] it will save hours of my trying to explain the concept.)

They appear to have done it using Java(script?) as it exports to HTML and works fine, but I don't know if those type of flowchart graphics functions are in-built into Java(script?)

or if it is something that can be emulated in AutoIt (Hopefully so!).

Bye.

[ChrisL]

Hello, Thanks for the reply, I have just given a quick search for the GuiBuilder program, but it does not exist on my PC? is it a separate download?

I am using the latest ver of Autoit (3.2.12.0)

and the version of SciTE is Version 1.76, Mar 30 2008 21:05:14.

Go to the download page and download the full veresion of Scite. The one that is packed in with Autoit is a lite version

[GerrOrneq]

Go to the download page and download the full veresion of Scite. The one that is packed in with Autoit is a lite version

Hello, Thats the version I got, and just to be sure I downloaded it (from http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/scite/downloads.shtml ) again and installed it, still no GuiBuilder app?

CODE

(This text copied from the SciTE About box.)

SciTE

Version 1.76

Mar 30 2008 21:05:14

by Neil Hodgson.

Updated: Valik & Jos...

Is it now also a defunct app that has disappeared in the newer versions?

Thanks again for your time and interest.

Till next time, Bye.

[MrCreatoR]

Have you tried to search on the forum for Gui Builder?

[ptrex]

@all

I don't think AU3 is equipped for this job.

You better buy a version of MS Visio, the has an ActiveX interface.

And you can do all the visiualisations you want using AU3.

I did not run into any other Free Visualisation apps yet that have a COM interface.

Look for "FreeMind" in google, it is free but does not support all diagrams and is in Java. (Basically used for mindmapping)

regards,

ptrex

[GerrOrneq]

@all

I don't think AU3 is equipped for this job.

You better buy a version of MS Visio, the has an ActiveX interface.

And you can do all the visiualisations you want using AU3.

I did not run into any other Free Visualisation apps yet that have a COM interface.

Look for "FreeMind" in google, it is free but does not support all diagrams and is in Java. (Basically used for mindmapping)

regards,

ptrex

Hello all,

@ MrCreatoR (Thank you for your input.)

I have tried searching this forum using "GuiBuilder" and "Gui Builder" and other variants but there have been no hits?

@ptrex, Yes, I suspected that Autoit would not be up to the task of handling the display and interaction of the data, hence my request of an activeX or suchlike, If one had been available (like lassalle's Addflow, but open source/freeware) then AutoIt should be more than able to handle that.

Your suggestion of Freemind is good but as you say it is basically for mindmapping and as for Visio, I have that (ca. 1999), again it is more for diagramming than creating interactive data visualisations aka 'The Brain', (going back to their site I see that they are doing an SDK, so I shall investigate that further and hopefully it will be affordable enough!)

Another app I came across is uDrawGraph (freeware from Universitat Bremen, Site) but it is beyond me to interact with it! (lots to learn!).

As I said I have this great idea and even have it in my head roughly what it will look like and the visualisation part is what I wanted, but it looks like that part will have to be put on the back boiler, I have yet to start coding the main part and hopefully I will be more up to the mark when it comes to that portion.

I would like to thank everyone for their input and appeal to everyone else to please keep sending in any ideas you may have (workable or not) for ways to visualise/display information, as I hope I can come up with a spectacular visualisation method based upon any ideas sent to me. (Yep! I know, I'm a dreamer...)

Once again, thanks and when I get to doing the actual coding it is a great comfort to know that there are people like yourselves that one can call on when stumbling blocks arrive.

Bye.

[GerrOrneq]

Hello again everybody!

@ MrCreatoR

I have tried searching this forum using "GuiBuilder" and "Gui Builder" and other variants but there have been no hits? and if I use the link you supplied above it gives the following error:

The error returned was:

Sorry, but we did not find any matches to display. Try again and broaden your search criteria. If you were searching for new posts since your last visit, it's possible that there are none to show.

I have the full SciTE installed and yet there is no app called GuiBuilder? any further infos would be appreciated.

@ All

The reason I am writing this is to keep the request alive for "appeal to everyone else to please keep sending in any ideas you may have (workable or not) for ways to visualise/display information, as I hope I can come up with a spectacular visualisation method based upon any ideas sent to me. (Yep! I know, I'm a dreamer...)"

]

In one of my earlier posts (or should that be threads?, What is the difference?) I tried to insert some images (JPG's) and got an error so I ended up attaching them as a ZIP file, what is the correct method of inserting images, please forgive me if this seems too basic a question but I am unused to posting and am perhaps missing some obvious method of creating the post!)

BTW has anybody visited "The Brain" Click Here, I would love to hear what others think of the method they use for displaying data (It is the closest that I have come across as to what way I would like my own visualisations to be like.) [Feel free to suggest your own!]

Has anyone any experience of Word Frequency Diagrams or Tag Clouds as they are commonly known? (Did a search on forum , no hits!)

Looking forward to your replies, thanks.

[ChrisL]

GUIBuilder You'll have to edit the #includes at the top to support the latest AutoIt version as it won't know what some of the Constants are

[GerrOrneq]

GUIBuilder You'll have to edit the #includes at the top to support the latest AutoIt version as it won't know what some of the Constants are

Hello to all,

@ ChrisL, Thanks for your reply, but now I am confused, from your link above I now know what GuiBuilder is, a defunct app (ca. 2005) that has been superceeded by Koda, what would the reasonong be for going back to it instead of Koda? (Funnily enough, when I realised what it was, I then remembered that when building GUIs in earlier versions of AutoIt that is what was available on the tools menu, then Koda started appearing as well (Didn't like it as much as GuiBuilder!) and finally only Koda was available.)

As Ptrex pointed out, AutoIt may not be suitable as the visualisation method I need so my requirements are now (in this thread?) just focussed on getting visualisation ideas, well and good if someone can come up with a method I can use in AutoIt to do it or maybe an activeX etc. but I won't hold my breath on that...

@ All

Again, has anyone got any rating/points of view on "The Brain" visualisation method or can you suggest your own favourite method or describe what you think might be a good way to visualise data.

TIA and looking forward to all replies.

[ChrisL]

Hello to all,

@ ChrisL, Thanks for your reply, but now I am confused, from your link above I now know what GuiBuilder is, a defunct app (ca. 2005) that has been superceeded by Koda, what would the reasonong be for going back to it instead of Koda? (Funnily enough, when I realised what it was, I then remembered that when building GUIs in earlier versions of AutoIt that is what was available on the tools menu, then Koda started appearing as well (Didn't like it as much as GuiBuilder!) and finally only Koda was available.)

I only suggested you look at GuiBuilder to see the AutoIt code on how the author created controls and dragged them round, then you could apply that to what you want to do. Possibly off the mark somewhat am I ?

[FastHelper]

GUIBuilder You'll have to edit the #includes at the top to support the latest AutoIt version as it won't know what some of the Constants are

and also search and try Koda. i think Koda is better then GUI Builder.

[GerrOrneq]

I only suggested you look at GuiBuilder to see the AutoIt code on how the author created controls and dragged them round, then you could apply that to what you want to do. Possibly off the mark somewhat am I ?

@ ChrisL

Thank you, as I said I had forgotten what GuiBuilder was and then when it dawned on me what it was I was confused about why I should look at it! as for being off the mark, I wouldn't say so entirely as I find it is always good to examine others well written code (Understanding it, another matter...) , but it is not specifically dragging controls around that I'm after (at least I don't think so!) it is very hard to explain the effect I want, thats why I suggest that you take a look at the The Personal Brain and see what they are doing as a visualisation technique. (When you go to the site there is an interactive visualisation on the top of the screen that you can play about with, it showcases the 'Plex' without you having to download or install anything.)

FYI there is another visualisation technique employed in TopicScape but I personally think it is inferior to The brain's!

@ FastHelper, Thanks for your input.

@ All, Please keep the ideas coming and any comments will be greatly appreciated.

Till next time.