Messages

141

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 12, 2015, 07:01:36 AM »

Just an update . THE WXSmith is used with Code::BLocks and Wx Widgets and WxFormBuilder BUT it does NOT output in LUA. It is only usefull IF you use the XRC method of screen building. THAT PART will work with LUA.

The Code:Block has a GREAT screen builder that is drop and drag and WYSIWYG .  BUT it does not output code in LUA (yet). It uses all the resources of all the screen building moduals to make it easy to create a GUI screen.

Hopefully we can get them to output in LUA .   It would not seem to be that hard BUT? (;-)

(;-) TP

Terry,

All of these GUI tools are great for making stand alone screens, but can they tie into the MACH4 screens?

Dredging data from MACH4 and displaying it on a nice screen in convenient for maintenance and setup, but those are utility functions.

My interest in in operational functionality and unless I am missing something (which is quite possible since I am just starting to dig into this stuff), that has to be done on the MACH4 screens.

Ultimately, what I would like to have is a mechanism by which a graphic could be made and integrated or overlaid on the MACH screen and hooked into the data. Maybe that is doable with one of the tools you have mentioned. I have not had time to look at them yet, although I have some ideas for work-arounds if there are not specific tools available.

In any case, I don't think I am anywhere near exhausting the tools provided by MACH. The graphics handler supports alpha channels, so that opens a barn door of possibilities. I just don't have much time available to play with the stuff at this point. I came back to the forum to get my controller ported over to MACH4 and that's done. There are lots of other torches at the castle gate. 

142

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Feature Request

« on: March 12, 2015, 06:33:26 AM »

Not a feature, per se, but the ability to turn off the borders around the image toggle buttons is needed.

143

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 12, 2015, 05:38:04 AM »

I should have been more clear. What I was referring to was using images for LED's. But as I sit here looking at Mach4, it looks like I could use "images" as LEDs. I can swap images on the fly, and have them linked to LED's, correct? So that answers that question.

If I am decoding this correctly, the answer would be Definitely yes . . sort of  

It depends on which direction you want the link to 'go'. There are not scripts available IN the LED type, however, you can manipulate an LED with a script from another type.

ex; you can use the scripts behind an image toggle (which satisfies both your dual state and image requisites) to turn on an LED (or change color, make it dance around the screen, whatever)

In my view, while doable, the above would be redundant since you can create a 'smart' checkbox or radio button out of the image toggle. Examples of each are shown in the last video I posted here. I may have neglected to point out that the button and checkbox are image toggles.

I don't see much use for the LED's . . and they are ugly anyway . . unless they fix the anti-aliasing. It does not make sense to have a border around an image toggle, but that is probably fixable.
 

144

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Feature Request

« on: March 12, 2015, 05:15:42 AM »

The one that comes with Mach 4 is the demo version.  Demo is not a good word, as it is fully functional as it is and does not time out or anything.  Unlicensed would be a better word.  The licensed version would have more features (not all of which I can remember at this time so please do not state that I'm being vague.) 

I hope you are not reading the word vague as 'evasive'. Vague just means 'not specific', or indistinct. There was no negative connotation intended.  But back at you, please don't state that I did not 'bother' to check for the feature. That was Negative Nancy . . ism . .  ness . . .       I checked the information that was available.

We don't have a demo version that enables the Pro features for a limited time or some such.  Not yet.  Because we simply haven't finished it yet.

Maybe a better way to ask is this: Are we looking at 'we have a short list, but it not finished yet' -or- 'we have not decided what features will be added'.

Also, I recognize that this task may not be on your plate. The question is directed at whoever has the information. You just happen to be person who is accessible . . . which is much appreciated, incidentally.

When it is done, I think Todd may be able to do a time limited license or something.

Just to bury the semantics on this topic, here is the description of the specific feature that I am interested in:

Ability to replace one line with multiple lines.

Existing working examples:

notepad++
   - control characters inserted in the 'replace' field will generate muli line replacement.

ex: find "G0A"
     replace with "M4008\nG0A"
   
result "M4008" is inserted as a separate line above an unaltered 'A' axis move
   
CNC cookbook G-code editor (I requested this feature and it was added).
     - this feature is more sophisticated and can recognize and apply context based rules.

My wish list enhanced feature :
     ability to grab the entire line that contains a 'find' string match
   
ex: find "G0A*"   would pull from the match to the EOL
     find "*G0*"   would pull the entire line (block) that contains the match

Together with the 'newline' feature described previously, this would allow insertion of code after every occurrence of the match.
 There are work-arounds for this, but it would be accessible to all users if it was made a feature.

This is just string manipulation stuff. Should not be that difficult to implement.

OK, that's my Mach4 feature request.

145

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach 4 Feature Request

« on: March 11, 2015, 08:14:06 PM »

FWIW, I have looked for a demo version of the 'Pro' Gcode editor for MACH4 and cannot find one.

If it is available somewhere, can someone post the link, please.

146

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 11, 2015, 08:08:11 PM »

I requested dual state LED's like mach3 uses about a year ago. This would let you do a lot of cool things.

Is the red/green dual state led going to work for you? 

I also requested more font options, but was told that they couldn't do it, because they someday will be making Mach4 cross platform, and couldn't support additional fonts. :-(

I'm not buying the cross platform reason, unless there is some Jurassic platform that I am unaware of that has a single font, but it might be worth playing around with renaming fonts as a 'trick' as can be done with the g-code editor.

Z Order brings items to the front, or sends them to the back, but it's quirky it seems.

This has not worked for me yet. Is there an example you can cite where this works?

147

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 11, 2015, 07:54:35 PM »

I think you would have to ask smurph that one

He is aware of the effort to spruce up the Mach4 screens. I asked for image toggle buttons and got them within something like a week!

I'm not inclined to bother him unless I an stuck  . . .  dead in the water . .  and that is not the case.

All I really want at this point is to get the boxes out from around the toggle buttons, but that does not hold up creating new buttons, check boxes, radio buttons or other stuff.  They will just not look their best until the border goes away, so I am not motivated to work on them at this point, which is an ill wind because I am Uber busy and don't have time for it anyway, so removing the temptation is a good thing . . . 

148

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 11, 2015, 05:31:57 PM »

For added help in screens you may want to look at WX.Smith. It is an addon to lua for screens. AND they actually have a manual and speak normal humon.

(;-)TP

This may seem like a silly question, but are the MACH4 screens actually Lua.  

I was assuming that the MACH screen was written in some flavor of 'C"  and that Lua was just hooked in as the scripting language.

There was no time to dig into that FormBuilder thing, but it looked like it was just a screen tool and separate from MACH.

Put another way, if something were written using WX.Smith, is there a mechanism by which to connect it or integrate it to the MACH4 screen?

Eventually I might understand how all the players fit together, buy I'm still feeling my way along the wall for the light switch at this point, so if you can shed some light on how these things fit together, it would be mucho helpful.

149

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 11, 2015, 05:26:46 PM »

With kudos to Bodini for the ides of reading out the values,

 I was just able to hone in on what you needed to hear this time. ;-)

My point exactly. 

150

Mach4 General Discussion / Re: Mach4 screen GRAPHICS -- makin' it Purdy

« on: March 11, 2015, 02:48:19 PM »

Here are some ideas for cool radio buttons and checkboxes.

Should be apparent why the button borders have to go.

No new stuff for a while. Slammed schedule as always.