My Custom Frontend

**MOnline** · 05-26-2007, 04:16 PM

Thanks CdRsKuLL,

Only problem is that it isn't able to load my BeNeLux Map what map version should I use?

With Kind Regards,

FG van Zeelst

**CdRsKuLL** · 05-26-2007, 05:51 PM

Hi m8, it should work with any D3 map. The DLL included with FD is the one you need ;-)

**MOnline** · 05-26-2007, 09:23 PM

Thanks,

Now I can get back to programming the navigation again

. Btw I really must compliment you on the FreeDrive 1.0 Preview it looks great. Especially the fading

.

Will post some new screenshots monday. Hope to have the menu ready by then

.

With kind regards,

FG van Zeelst

*UPDATE*
There has been a bit of a delay

. Not that bad but I had a harddisk crash and lost all of my data. Luckely I had my backup system running and it made a backup for me. Just need to reinstall windows. So dont worry it will be fine but its a minor setback

.

**Firebird2** · 05-29-2007, 02:41 AM

What radio are you looking at using. Radioshark is a cheap and quite good. RadioShark 2 is better and there are rumors of a HD version.

Can not wait to test, I have a Mac Mini running Bootcamp and wouyld be happy to test compatibility.

Cheers

**MOnline** · 05-29-2007, 04:08 AM

Hi,

Thanks for your reply would be great if you could test compatibility. My pc is finally restored so now its time to speed up the coding process.

Have not yet decided on what radio to add. Still need to find a way to simulate the hardware because I don't have a radio to test it with :P.

*UPDATE*
So have finally got round to investigation the plugin's stuff. For as far as I can see it's pretty easy. So i am going to implent it from now on. Just a little information for all you coders out there. I am going to create a main application. This main application will exist off a Top Bar, Bottom Bar and (an invisible (of course !!!)) Kernel. The Kernel will handle of the current screen size and selected plugin position etc etc.

Another thing I have implented in the system is a skinning system. It resizes the 2 bars (only width and position, height stays the same) to fit your screens resolution the minimum resolution is 700 x 380 or something like that (custom resolutions supported). The center screen which contains the buttons etc etc will stretch. But how well that is done is up to the user that programmed the plugin. I will be sure my plugins work great with multiple resolutions.

Just as a guide line what resolutions are you all using???

With Kind Regards,

FG van Zeelst

**MOnline** · 05-30-2007, 05:42 PM

Hmm,

I ran in bit of a problem. It's about the skinning system. Because I can not know what plugins a user uses I can not create a single skin that works with all plugins. But because I do not want to limit other plugin designers I don't want to use default control the designers can use. So as far as I can see the only possible solution is to create a skin folder for each plugin seperately.

Any thoughts on this.

With kind regards,

FG van Zeelst

**Borte** · 05-30-2007, 06:17 PM

Still following your tread MOnline (since we're doing more or less the same thing)...

What I did to overcome this problem was to have two options available for the plugins:

- Have the plugins reply to commands and data request from the main application (since this application handles all the skinning)

- Giving the plugin an option to embed itself into the main application. Hence giving the person programming the plugin all options to do what he wants. But if this window should be skinned then the creator has to do this himself.

What do you mean with this:

Because I can not know what plugins a user uses

You have to load the plugins somehow so you should be able to know which plugins you're using.

Cheers
Borte

**MOnline** · 05-31-2007, 03:33 AM

Hi thanks for your reply again borte. As for that final sentence I meant I can't know what plugins a user wants to use in my application or what plugins will be available at this moment. I can however create the ini file to load the plugins.

Also would you advice I unload the plugins to save system memory when a user selects another screen.

With kind regards,

FG van Zeelst

**Borte** · 05-31-2007, 07:28 AM

Originally Posted by MOnline

Hi thanks for your reply again borte. As for that final sentence I meant I can't know what plugins a user wants to use in my application or what plugins will be available at this moment. I can however create the ini file to load the plugins.

Thats what I did, I just used a ini file that specifies which plugins to load (also giving any parameters to the plugin if needed at loadingtime).

Another aproach to this would be to scan a specific folder for plugin files and then build a list based on that.

Originally Posted by MOnline

Also would you advice I unload the plugins to save system memory when a user selects another screen.

This depends on how you're using the plugins. In my system the plugins are systemwide not bound to a specific screen. The embedding of a plugin is however bound to a specific screen. Other than that I can use any plugin command on any screen.
Maybe a solution could be to have both options (both system wide and screen based plugins). But this will depend on how the plugins are programmed and their functionallity. Saving memory will slow down your application too so its a tradeoff.

**MOnline** · 05-31-2007, 12:28 PM

A little update,

My main file is comming along nicely. Just a few more minutes and the main file is done. Then I can focus on programming the plugins. It's mainly copying files from one project to another and implenting the communication system to communicate between plugins and it's main file.

I guess I will have a program with 2 plugins on monday. The first one being the main menu plugin and the second one being the navigation plugin. I will post some of the config files etc to show you how easy it is to mod my skin.

After the plugins have been made (those 2 main and nav) I will first start working on my configuration manager. This way I can edit and change the program easily and configure the plugins properly.

With kind regards,

FG van Zeelst

*UPDATE 7 June 2007*

So it has been a while so thats why I decided to post another message. The program is comming along nicely had a bit of trouble with the plugins and am currently working on the navigation plugin. Which is pretty hard because it has a lot of features I need to think about.

Also the end of the school year is comming up so I have a lot of exams. After that I am going to work for TOPdesk a company that provides support software. But still this program will be ready soon. Will not stop working on it

. Will keep you update. Will try to post a screen of the new navigation screen as soon as possible.

Maybe another nice update my program supports multiple resolutions it can run on any resolution the top and bottom bar will be the same size every time but the center will strech so the larger your screen resolution the larger the navigation window

.

With kind regards,

FG van Zeelst