SLIDESHOW–DIAPORAMA presentations without scripting

[Fenerit]

Hi Jo?l, what hell of images do you shows with Celestia? Your plug-in stay to become an images processing...

[Marco Klunder]

- The code is rewritten to load faster when Celestia is starting to avoid timeout problems if many other plugins should be loaded.

Always good such optimizations.
Probably better to also refer here to the prefered usage of Lua_Edu_Tools v1.2 Beta9.
Vincent has also made very important improvements here to also avoid those timeout problems.
I'm not sure how these are related with Lua_plugins, which can also be used to start Slideshow.

By the way, Slideshow 1.2 works perfect

Marco

[jogad]

Marco, Massimo, many thanks

Probably better to also refer here to the prefered usage of Lua_Edu_Tools v1.2 Beta9.

Of course with with this this version of Lua Edu Tools, my own optimizations are quite useless
As soon as it is released, I'll update the documentation of Slideshow to refer to that version of Lua tools.

I'm not sure how these are related with Lua_plugins, which can also be used to start Slideshow.

The Lua Plugings are very robust and are not affected at all with these problems. If a plugin fails, other plugins don't care and work anyway

[jogad]

Slideshow Version 1.2 is released.
If there is no more problem with it, this will be the last version.

It was not true! sorry
But it is the fault of Marco and Massimo who encouraged me.

And now here is the

version 2.0 of DIAPORAMA/SLIDESHOW

This version is bigger than the last one and I cannot anymore propose to load it from the topics of this forum.

The reason of this increased size is that it comes with

several fonts of different size and shape
a "demo" slideshow with its picture files.
some "clipart" pictures as arrows or frames to help the presentation of slides.
user's guides (in French and in English) with detailled and illustrated explanations.
(have a look at them)

This is all this stuff which takes a lot of place. Much more than the plugin itself.

The user's guide is also too big (24 or 25 pages depending on the version) to be exposed in the topics of this thread. Sorry.

This version is almost entirely new.
And even old things are new.
(but no change in the goal and the soul of the plugin:
it is designed for demonstrations and educational purposes)

Among the most important NEW features
(whithout any order of importance):

automatic run with overall or individual display time
simplified and more powerful usage
lot of new tools for text and picture formatting on the palette.
rotations and symmetries for the pictures
extended color and transparency feature.
magnetism (yes!) to align the elements of a slide in relation to the others.
alignment and resizing tool for complex layouts
placement grid
enhanced colors
new fonts
For texts and pictures, color and transparency are available individually for

foreground
background
borders

new deformables pictures
possibility to uses "cliparts" whose color may be modified in real time.
can launch HTML files
can run celestia scripts (cel and celx)

direct management of the slidewhows from Celestia
an "Edit mode" that allows to cut copy and edit the content of the slides.
absolute or relative paths for images and files to launch
management of the "time stopped" feature in the slides.
SLIDESHOW Remembers the last used slideshow and lauch it next time.
possibility to localize non only the plugin but also the slideshows.

and other things to discover...

The drawback is that now you have to read the documentation to be able to use all these features.
But with the demo slideshow and the examples in the documentation, you can practice with very few efforts

The present download place is a very temporary place:
Just the time to report cripping bugs (and maybe get some translation files )
If it is possible I upload it on the Motherlode very quickly.
This way it will be a "definitive version"

Cheers.

[Fenerit]

Hi Jo?l, great improvement! Thanks! Just downloaded, time to test it and then I'll tell you more. Anyhow:

(but no change in the goal and the soul of the plugin:
it is designed for demonstrations and educational purposes)

is riductive, being the multilayering (and now the grid? ) useful as GIS program-like.

[Marco Klunder]

Jo?l,

Following your comments above, this must be a great improvement of the SLIDESHOW-DIAPORAMA add-on

I already downloaded it (twice, to improve the statistics ), but unfortunately, the zip-file seems corrupt

10-7-2010 16-32-40.jpg

Are there also some additional translations to do in this new release?
If so, I'll send the NL-translations ASAP to you, so it can be integrated...

Hope to download the correct file soon to experience the improvements

Marco

[jogad]

Marco,

Your post comes just in time.
I was just thinking of uploading it to the motherlode to achieve the definitive version.
I'll wait a bit...

The file is not corrupted. I have downloaded it to vefify. Try again at another moment.

And yes, there are a few translations to do. It is very kind of you to think of that.

Cheers.

[Marco Klunder]

Hi Jo?l
Unfortunately it does not work here...
I downloaded it on 3 different computers and from 2 different Internet Service Providers, but all gave the same bad result.
The ZIP file cannot be opened...

Marco

[jogad]

Hi,

Hi Jo?l
Unfortunately it does not work here...
I downloaded it on 3 different computers and from 2 different Internet Service Providers, but all gave the same bad result.
The ZIP file cannot be opened...
Marco

This is very annoying and very stange. I have absolutely no problem with this link.
Anyhow that confirm the necessity to upload it on the motherlode as soon as possible.

Edit: obsolete link removed

[Fenerit]

No problems found on the first link you posted. Zip was corrected. 99 files in the zip.

[Marco Klunder]

OK, the link above works fine for me, I got the correct ZIP file now.

The original ZIP file always terminated at 5,47 MB.
This one is 8,48 MB with indeed 99 files as Massimo already mentioned.

I will test later on this week ans send you an update of the NL translation files.

Marco

[Marco Klunder]

Well Jo?l, it works great here

The added documentation is also of a very good quality.
I only have a few remarks here, (at least concerning the English version):
1)

french.jpg

The second paragraph in the shown section above, is still left in French
2)

button.jpg

Missing explanation of this button
3) Minor typo in "Color and transparency palette" section, last alinea: But it if extremely --> But it is extremely

Attached my new localized Dutch file:

locale_slideshow_nl.zip

Probably another suggestion for your new version 2.1 which will be released quite soon
As it becomes easier and easier to to change things, it also becomes easier to make a mistake.
Actually, I had it myself a few times that changed something wrong and I wanted the previous situation back again (especially when testing all the new possibilities). I think there may be 2 things welcome here:
a) When starting edit mode, automatically make a .bak file of the current slidecatalog
b) usage of an "undo" and/or "redo" function, to automatically go back to the previous situation, when in edit mode

Marco

[jogad]

Hi,

I only have a few remarks here, (at least concerning the English version):

Marco, thank you to read so carefully the manual.
It is indeed a very important part of this program.
I correct this right now.

this button is the "copy format" button. The format of the reference object is copied to the selected object. This works from a picture to another but it is more useful to harmonize the format of the texts. The copied elements are the colors and transparencies of the foreground, bakground and borders. For the texts the font and the margin are also copied.

Attached my new localized Dutch file:

Thank you again.
But there is a little mistake in the file
Other files than French are incomplete. Particularly the "en" file.
Please take the local_slideshow_fr.lua as template. Otherwise some translations are missing.

Anyone can translate the locale_slideshow that resides in the locale directory. This is a quick and easy job to do and I will be very happy if you send me such a file.

Probably another suggestion for your new version 2.1 which will be released quite soon

My hope is that this version is the last
The difficulty is to add new functions without increasing to much the number of buttons (for the user) and the length of the code (for me). slideshow.lua is yet 3700 lines of code.
I wanted a little addon and it seem I missed my goal.

I see that my system of colored buttons to cancel an action is not enough
So I propose this little workaround.

The _slideshowcatalog.txt or _slideshowcatalog_xx.txt is saved when you click a first time on the "Edit" or the "Cat." button.
You did notice that the "edit" button (not the "Cat.") saves the current slide before editing.
The backup of the catalog takes place just before.
If you want that the backup of the catalog integrates the changes of the current slide before editing, you must save them in the usual way. (quit the design mode)

to recover the last backup of the current slideshow, just type the character < and validate in the directory box.

Snap1.png

The last backup is not deleted and you can use it later, even after restarting the computer. So if you type < after a while, you may have a surprise.
Fortunately this action itself is reversible: type < again and you return to the previous situation.

Now I have to update the manual again. Ah la la...

[Marco Klunder]

Hello again...

Other files than French are incomplete. Particularly the "en" file.
Please take the local_slideshow_fr.lua as template. Otherwise some translations are missing.

Well, this is not completely true.
Missing the ["Image"] = entry in the French version, which is on the other hand translated into French exactly the same, but as a reference for other languages it is missing.
Further it contains a duplicate entry for: ["Stealth mode OFF"] = "Mode furtif d?sactiv?";
Advice to also adjust the en version for other translators (Massimo where is your version 2 translation )

Attatched the new nl locale version:

locale_slideshow_nl.zip

Furtheron, the proposed recover meganism seems to work great, but I will look further in detail in the coming days.

Marco

[jogad]

Hello,

Marco, thank you very much
Your comments are very insightful

Furtheron, the proposed recover meganism seems to work great, but I will look further in detail in the coming days.

Take your time Your help is very precious

Now if someone wants to help for the translation, the best file to use as a template is the last file sent by Marco
locale_slideshow_nl.zip
At this time it is the only file which is complete and without duplicate.

[Marco Klunder]

Hello Jo?l,

I'm back from a little holliday now, so it is Celeatia time again and I continued searching the new facilities of Slideshow 2.0.

I have a few remarks left on the (further perfect ) documentation and I have an issue with playing an MP3 file:

Remarks:

Change slideshow section
SLIDESHOW remembers the current slideshow and will launch it next time.
Yes this is true, but only within the same Celestia session. When Celestia is restarted, the slideshow as defined in the config will be started by default.

Copy, Cut and Paste slides section
When I copy/paste a slide to a new slideshow (so another directory), the images (and I think also other files like MP3) are NOT copied. The result is a new slide with an empty image. Probably it is the way it is designed, but I think a remark in this section on this point may be appropriate.

Creating a new slide section
Little text mistake: The same than --> The same as

Slides description format section
You mention a "Modif" button here. I do not know or see it
Probably you mean the "Edit" button here?

Defining a picture section
I miss the description of the "no.jpg" option here, to produce a new slide without a new image or without displaying the previous image.

Defining a text section:
Little text mistake in first line, missing word "much" --> as mauch as




Than I came to the Defining a file to launch section.
Here I got stuck

I do not know what I'm doing wrong but I don't manage to get an MP3 started.
This is how I changed the config:

Code: Select all

------------------------------------------------------
-- command line to lauch a file
-- wich is associated with one of the above extensions
-- PLAYFILE will be automatically replaced
-- by the actual file. Keep this name (in uppercase)
-- You must adapt these lines to suit your OS
-- or to start files with other programs
------------------------------------------------------
running_OS = "Windows"
--play_file_command = '"PLAYFILE"'
play_file_command = [[start "" "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" "PLAYFILE"]]

This is part of the slideshow (I also tried it without the path defenition)

Code: Select all

...

--nog een nieuwe slide

no.jpg
C:\Celestia Programs\Celestia160\extras\slideshow\asterix\HungUp.mp3
==
iets anders zonder image maar met muziek
# 0 0 -592 -429 0 1 100 1 0 1 0 1 0

It results each time in a very quick shown DOS window which I cannot read that quick, but no MP3 starts.

I tried the same line as defined in the config in a DOS window, and there it all works perfect
Any advice for me on what I'm doing wrong

Marco

[jogad]

Hello

As I didn't see remarks I thought naively that my plugin was perfect. Big mistake.
And because I was impatient to have at last my final version, I have uploaded it on the Motherlode this weekend. Even bigger mistake.

SLIDESHOW remembers the current slideshow and will launch it next time.
Yes this is true, but only within the same Celestia session. When Celestia is restarted, the slideshow as defined in the config will be started by default.

This is absolutely NOT the expected behaviour.
Slideshow MUST remember the last session even if the computer is unplugged.
In this version, the default slideshow is the last slideshow.
If you define a special slideshow in the config, this override the default behaviour.
Just delete or comment out the line in the configuration file.

When I copy/paste a slide to a new slideshow (so another directory), the images (and I think also other files like MP3) are NOT copied. The result is a new slide with an empty image.

Yes. This is to avoid duplicating files if not necessary. And not to risk to delete them in an aborted cut/paste operation.
After copying a slide you have several possibilites that take effect without restarting celestia.

- copy the files to the new directory. (in my opinion this is not the best choice)
- deplace the pictures in the "commonPictures" folder so they are shared by the two slideshows. (but after a while this folder won't be so clean)
- make an "alias" from the second slideshow to the first one.
For example you have an image idefix.jpg in your "asterix" slideshow and you want to copy the slide in an "obelix" slideshow.
In your "obelix" slideshow, change the
idefix.jpg
to
../asterix/idefix.jpg
You can do that with the "Edit" button but if you want do keep its formatting my advice is to use the "Cat." button.

You mention a "Modif" button here. I do not know or see it

Of course it is the "Edit" button. "Modif" is the French version.
But now and before you ask , there is no "Dump" button. If you want to translate it you must replace "Dump" with "Cat." (for Catalog)

I do not know what I'm doing wrong but I don't manage to get an MP3 started.
This is how I changed the config:

Code: Select all
------------------------------------------------------
-- command line to lauch a file
-- wich is associated with one of the above extensions
-- PLAYFILE will be automatically replaced
-- by the actual file. Keep this name (in uppercase)
-- You must adapt these lines to suit your OS
-- or to start files with other programs
------------------------------------------------------
running_OS = "Windows"
--play_file_command = '"PLAYFILE"'
play_file_command = [[start "" "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" "PLAYFILE"]]

You are doing nothing wrong*. It was a "last minute improvement" which is actually a bug.

*Oh yes there is a thing that is wrong with this line

Code: Select all

play_file_command = [[start "" "C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmplayer.exe" "PLAYFILE"]]

This line is for "exotic OS" and has no effect at all if you are running Windows.
In Windows files are launched by their associations. This lets launch many different types of files with their own associated program. If you specify a particular program the choice of files to launch is much more restricted.

For cons the "slide_edit_command" may be useful for the text editor.

There are certainly many things that are not in the manual. This leaves things to discover and questions to ask...

I have updated the download link on the first page with a debugged version and improved manuals

Cheers

[BobHegwood]

Jogad,

I have already approved your slide-show add-on for use on the ML.
Do you now NOT want it posted? Let me know.

Thanks, Brain-Dead

[jogad]

bob,
Thank you for being so attentive.
As you have understood, the version I sent to the ML has a small error.

Please reject this version until I send a new one.

Marco is doing the hard bug tracking job.
After that I think you can save your own time and approve the addon without even testing it.

Take care
Jo?l

[BobHegwood]

bob,
Thank you for being so attentive.
As you have understood, the version I sent to the ML has a small error.

Please reject this version until I send a new one.

Marco is doing the hard bug tracking job.
After that I think you can save your own time and approve the addon without even testing it.

Take care
Jo?l

As far as I know, Ulrich has not posted it. However, it will be a while until
any more add-ons do get posted as Ulrich will be on vacation for two weeks.
Just FYI...

Love your work by the way.
Thanks, Brain-Dead