New specialization plugin

Started by Hervé, June 30, 2017, 21:18:01 PM

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Hervé

I do not experience this kind of issue on my desktop (Windows).

But I've already been informed by JB that I do not do the things the right way regarding the standard icons. I replace them by images where the standard way is to draw them using lines.

The next version of the specialization plugin will correct this point. It will therefore solve as well the issue you describe in your post.

Best regards
Hervé

Phil Beauvoir

Archi does not render the icon in the top right of the figure as a bitmap image. It is rendered in code similarly to SVG (move to xy pos, draw a line, etc). This is so that the icon is drawn correctly at all zoom levels and when exporting to SVG image. If a bitmap icon is used instead then this will not scale and, while looking OK at 1:1 zoom level, will not look so good when zoomed in the editor or SVG image.

So if you are using the Specialization plug-in you need to be aware of this if you are setting your own icon.
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Hervé

Yes Phil, This is exactly what JB explained to me.

The next version of the specialization plugin will correct this point.

Best regards
Hervé

geoffrey

I now understand the difference in the way the plugin works. Thank you.

The only thing that is still is unclear to me is why the icon is shown as is without having the icon attribute set on the specific element.

Or does the plugin always redraw the icons regardless of whether something is specialized?

Hervé

The plugin replace the draw() method of Archi to handle the icon replacement.

When no icon is specified, the plugin gets and draws the icon of the element from Archi (while, as JB and Phil are saying Archi paints the icon with lines).

What I will change is that when no specific configuration is done, than I will not draw the element's icon anymore. I will ask Archi to paint the icon with lines as if the pugin was not installed.

newbie1234

Hi Herve.

Saw that there was a new specialization plugin available (1.0.9), from Archi, so tried it.  Copied "as is name" to plugins directory and it did not like it (icons replacement went away) on the Mac laptop. 

Tried again trick to rename the 1.0.9 version into the plugin directory as 1.0.7 and it WORKS.  Weird.  Let me know if you want me to a particular test against this.

regards.

Phil Beauvoir

Unsigned Mac apps can sometimes exhibit problems due to Apple's sandboxing. Try moving the Archi app to a different location and then installing the plug-in. Also, ensure that there is not more than one version of the plug-in in the "plugins" folder.
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newbie1234

Thanks Phil.

I have the Archi app on my desktop at present as I thought I saw mention of the sandbox issue was when Archi was somewhere other than the desktop. 

I will try another move to see what it does.

Thanks for the suggestion and will update after trying.

Hervé

I do not know about this sandbox issue. I never had a MAC and do not have the budget to purchase one  :-[

Unfortunately I cannot be of any help on this subject but I know that several people do have the same kind of issue so I would be interested if we could provide a definitive solution for MAC users  :)

Best regards
Hervé

newbie1234

To follow up on Phil's suggestion, I moved the Archi folder on my mac from the Desktop where I had been using it, back over to the application folder in the mac.  Started up Archi, and same symptom (no icon replacement) if I leave the name of the file as "1.0.9.jar" instead of "1.0.7.jar".  The Archi app identifies the specialization plugin as 1.0.9 so I know I am using the latest version.  Renaming a file is not awful, and cal utilize the plugin which folks liked.

Many thanks again for everyone's work on this!


chriswarbs

Hello,

I've tripped over an issue that may be related to the specialisation plug-in.

I've outlined the issue in a post on here called "undo broken"...basically if I remove the specialisation plug-in the UI focus and view menu and zoom toolbar all return to normal behaviour. With the specialisation plug-in installed, there is peculiar UI behaviour.

Interested in your view or if you can reproduce the fault, happy to talk via PM's if that's more appropriate?

cheers

Chris

Hervé

Hi Chris,

Version 1.0.7.1 had effectively an issue with actions in the icons bar (undo/redo, sizing, alignment, ...).

So I've got 2 questions for you :
   - Could you please confirm the version of the specialization plugin you're using (the latest version is 1.0.9) ?
   - Do you know if it happens with Archi 4.3 only or does it happen with Archi 4.2 as well ?

Thanks and regards
Hervé

chriswarbs

Hello Hervé

Thanks for the response.

I've checked and it was indeed version 1.0.7...I think what's happened is that when I reinstalled the newest version of Archi, I've managed to find an old copy of the plugins I use in my downloads folder and blindly copied them in. Whereas I'd been using "check for updates" in my previous 4.2 install of Archi, so my previous install was up to date.

I also had archi installed as a windows program and because the userid isn't an admin user, it's possible the lack of write under \Program Files also causes some confusion (eg. "check for update" needs Archi to be run with admin privileges.

All working fine now that I'm running the portable version of Archi and have up to date plug-ins.

Thanks for your help with this, it's great tool and plug-in.

cheers

Chris

Hervé

You're welcome.

Please do not hesitate to come back to me should you find other anomaly or request a new feature.

Best regards
Hervé

Jose-Carlos

Hi Hervé,
is there a way to set a variable name in a littera way?
I would like to set the label property through the form plugin. It means that label text must contain the variable name and not the variable value.
The result should be: label = ${documentation} for example.
But I'm unable to use some escape characters to avoid the replacement of variable name by it's value.
I tried using single quote, backslash,...
Thanks for your help.