As mentioned in the previous post a new version of Modellers Assistant is in development. As this is a technical blog I make no excuses for any technical and programming terms used in this and future posts.
The new version will have the same features and functions as the current version of Modellers Assistant. That is the lists (project, stock and shopping lists). You can view all the items from a manufacturer. You can associate PDF documents to a project or manage them as a collection. You can create and manage a Project of Projects to help break down large projects into smaller ones. You can create collections of Internet sites and associate them to a project or manage them in a collection.
So what of the new version? Well for starters the new version has a redeveloped interface. The use of the right mouse button and context menus for a control has been removed in favour of visual controls in the window. Whilst context menus are a great tool for removing clutter in the window it does not become obvious to the user what to do.
The new interface is developed in XAML or WPF which has been a steep learning curve from windows forms but the customisation that can be done is incredible. In future posts I shall be showing some screen shots so you can see what the new interface and features look like.
The base functionality of Modellers Assistant has been completed. The new interface is a custom tab control with tabs for the lists and toolbox items. These are linked to menu items for the same. Tabs can be opened from the menu item. Tabs can be closed either from the menu item or from the tab header.
The window has been enlarged to take advantage of newer screen sizes and giving more real estate space for controls. However, the window is now resizeable and scrollable to cater for smaller screen sizes down to about 1024 x 768. Does anyone really use a screen size of 800 x 600 or 640 x 480 any more?
The core functionality for the Project and Stock lists has been completed. Projects can be created and renamed. Projects can be opened and items selected in a project. The Stock list is opened and items are selectable. Manufacturers libraries can be opened and items selected. At present items cannot be added to or removed from the lists.
Four toolbox items have been written but the layouts need to be cleaned up. These are Manufacturers Libraries, Item Compare, Scale Calculator, and Web Links.
Manufacturers Libraries – this displays the items for a manufacturer.
Item Compare – allows for side by side comparison of items from either the same or different manufacturers.
Scale Calculator – well 3 calculators actually; a scale calculator (real size to scale and visa-versa), a scale converter (size from one scale to another scale), a percentage converter (percentage to convert between scales).
Web Links – manages and associates lists of websites.
That’s about it for now. As more developments happen and features become reality then I shall add posts here.
