SolOTility #3 – Beta
In the previous post I wrote regarding SolOTility I mentioned that I expected to be able to release a beta-ish-version of this program within a week’s time. Needless to say I misjudged the time estimate, alot of time this week has been spent working on Demox, and on top of that I found some bugs in SolOTility that needed to be fixed before releasing the first version aswell as some new features that were added!
Appending Images to Work Items
I’ve added functionality to append images to work items within the user’s solution. It can be either added manually by writing the filepath to the image within tags ( eg. <img>C:\Program\SomeDir\myImg.png</img> ) or by clicking the “Add Image” button in the Item Editor, which will auto-generate the previous code.
There’s also been alot of fixes for the Item Editor, most in order to make it a little more user-friendly and help the user avoid making wrong decisions by mistake. (Such as closing items without saving changes, etc. )
Solution Interim Goals
I added a feature to allow the user to set up their own interim goals, it’ll be useful in cases if the user would like to keep track of progress of the project, a specific build or of a group of work items.
It’s a quite simple system, the interim goals are set up to compare the amount of closed items ( completed, obsolete & deprecated ) against other items ( inactive, active, prioritized ). When all specified items are closed the interim goal is completed.
The user can currently set up interim goals to either track items with a specific build name or items with a specific item tag.
Work item control’s appearance has been updated to make it easier to identify item type, and the catalogs shown in the Solution Outliner panel are now color-coded aswell. The Dashboard is colored red, Navigator nodes are colored blue and common catalogs use one of four available green colors. ( The green color is shifted depending on at what level within the catalog node tree a catalog is placed. )
Last but not least, another widget was added called “Message Board”. The message board will display the most recent messages or comments that have been left in an item, the idea is to have these messages act as a reminder.
All that remains before I upload a beta release now is to figure out how to create a setup / installer file. I’ve created such files before but all of them have been sort of broken in one way or the other, so this time I was thinking that I probably should do some research and get things right for once .__.’
And before we part ways, don’t forget to follow me on @Twitter for more news, artwork and whatnot!
Solotility Mashing
Spent ridicilous amount of time, mashing code like a madman, for my new program SolOTility this weekend. I did make some good progress though! I’ve begun some more intense testing of the program today and I think that I’ll have a functional build released next weekend. I’m going to resume work on Demox this week aswell though, and I still got my day-time job so I’ll make no promises! 😉
Mindmap Node Editor
The user can now create and edit mindmaps with the built-in Node Editor.
Start Screen
Created a Start Screen for the application. At this time the user can chose to either create a new project or load an existing from this screen, In the future I’ll add Template Projects that the user can use as a solution setup for a new project aswell as some Tutorials and documentation.
Widgets
I’ve created widget control objects that the user can add/remove to the solution’s dashboard for a more personal work flow.
Currently there’s only three types of widgets but I intend to add more as need be.
“Search Widget” that allow the user to search for items with matching date keys or tags.
“Item Chart Widget” to give the user a better overview of the project.
“(Advanced)Item Filtering” that allow the user to only load items with matching states or types.
Solution History Log
Added options to allow the user to save more item-change log messages, the full history log can be read by clicking the “History” button in the Dashboard screen.
( Previously only saved 3 change-log messages for display on the Dashboard, now the user can select to save everything between 3 messages to up to 500 )
SolOTility
I’ve had a break from working on my primary project “Demox” the last two weeks in order to work on a side-project that I call “SolOTility” (or Solution Organizer Utility).
I’ve wanted to try create a non-game application for quite some time but haven’t really made the effort to actually start, or decide what the program’s purpose should be either for that matter, until now, that is!
So what can SolOTility do and what are my goals with the project?
It’s basicly a program to maintain order for my personal projects and my (and anyone who find interest in it aswell, for that matter.) game design documents along with concepts, ideas, issues and tasks. My goal is to make it easy to use and with a fast workflow. There already exist a whole lot of great programs and web applications that serve the same and/or similar purpose though, so to double back, my main purpose with this program is to code something else than a game- in case anyone would find use for my application aswell that’s a bonus!
Solution Catalog Tree
The project/solutions are structured with tree-node lists, the user has full control of catalog management.
Work Item Editor
A text editor for managing and creating work items. The user can add tags to the text to format or colorize encapsulated parts of the text with customizable controls. The editor also include a dialog to link related work items for quick access from within the editor dialog.
Work Item List
The list that display all items placed within the selected catalog. Work items are color-coded depending on the type of item and the item icons also display what state/progress the work item is in. (eg. Inactive, Prioritized, Completed etc.) The user can also filter items by item type(s) and item state(s)
Work Items
So what are these work items actually? There are currently two primary types of work items- text files and mind maps.
The text file work similar to regular text files, you enter text into the “Content Writer” panel- the text can also be colorized by certain special characters. The text-type work items are split into four sub-types aswell, “Bug“, “Feature“, “Task” and “Note“. While the editor does not handle these types any different from one another, the sub-type help identify the item in lists by changing icon of the file.
Mindmap items are node-based objects that allow the user to draw mind maps! (… who could’ve guessed? -__-)
The editor will allow the user to drag and drop shapes into the editor panel, add some descriptive text to them, and connect them with one another.
I’m soon done with everything that I’ve intended to implement for v0.0.1, and will implement the tool into my workflow for “Demox“. A beta version will be available to download when I feel that the program work good enough! I’ll also create a page here on my website dedicated to this program soon, for further updates aswell as more in-depth information regarding the program’s features etc.
Until then, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter!