Visual Studio 2017 support and other questions

Anything other than problems and feature requests.

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AndrewS
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Visual Studio 2017 support and other questions

Post by AndrewS » Wed Sep 20, 2017 5:11 pm

Looking at VG.NET but have a few questions:

1. Are there any plans to add Visual Studio 2017 support? I assume I can't use the 2015 demo installer to get it up and running in 2017.
2. If I purchase the full product does it come with the source code?
3. Can the visibility of an object be changed via animation rules? Visibility is not present in the animation sample.
4. Is there a limit to the 'picture-in-picture' functionality? For example, can I create a text box which animates a particular way, then add that to a meter object, and then add the meter object to my main diagram?
5. It seems like there is a zoom and pan capability in the designer according to the help. Once the picture is displayed and animated via a Canvas, can the user still zoom and pan the display?
6. Is the picture designer only usable inside Visual Studio, or can it be modified and packaged up to run in a user application? i.e. to allow end users to draw their own pictures?

Cheers

Andrew

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Frank Hileman
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Re: Visual Studio 2017 support and other questions

Post by Frank Hileman » Thu Sep 21, 2017 8:41 am

Hello Andrew,
  1. Yes, it should be done this fall.
  2. No, source code is only included for samples and demonstrations.
  3. Animation is via imperative code in timer callbacks, not rules. The Visible property can be modified at any time for any Element.
  4. There is no nesting limit. I suggest to learn about GetBoundsCore and SetBoundsCore, as those are important when creating sub-components. We also have a layout framework that is not included in the samples currently. It is missing overview documentation but I could post it in the forum. It uses anchoring as you would find in windows forms, but overlap is allowed as you would expect with vector graphics.
  5. Zoom and pan can be implemented many ways, and there are 3 samples using it: Samples\PanZoom, Extras\BirdsEyeViewSample, and Extras\ImageZoom. If you implement your own zooming and panning by modifying the transformation properties of the top-level Picture, ensure its TransformationReference is set to Origin. This is done automatically when using the Canvas zooming and panning methods.
  6. No, the designer is only usable in Visual Studio. The designer in Visual Studio is too dependent on the infrastructure there to be used outside of it. We have a bare bones infrastructure package called the MicroDesigner SDK, which has only a small number of state machines (moving, creating, resizing). It includes support for undo and redo, zooming, panning, and a grid. Many people have asked us to enhance the SDK to include the same functionality as the designer in Visual Studio, but so far, we have not had the opportunity.The SDK is a source code license separately purchased.
Regards,

AndrewS
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Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:27 pm

Re: Visual Studio 2017 support and other questions

Post by AndrewS » Thu Sep 21, 2017 9:41 pm

Frank,

Some more questions about the MicroDesigner:

1. How much does it cost?
2. Is there a demo version available?

I am looking at replacing an existing C++ picture editor with this component and I would need to build an application that allows users to be able to do the following at a minimum:

- Draw pictures using basic shapes such as rectangle, ellipse, polygon, polyline, arc, text, spline
- Add pictures to other pictures and save them as binary files
- Move, resize and rotate objects
- Copying and pasting objects inside a picture and between pictures
- Group/ungroup, change alignment, bring to front/send to back
- Change fill colour/line colour/font size/font colour
- Interact with pictures in viewer by zooming and panning
- Click on picture objects which performs some sort of action (such as showing a popup menu or opening another picture)

Thanks

Andrew

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Frank Hileman
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Re: Visual Studio 2017 support and other questions

Post by Frank Hileman » Fri Sep 22, 2017 4:36 pm

Hello Andrew,

I will send an email regarding the cost but the other questions, I will answer here later. I sent you a private message for the SDK documentation download. The SDK is simpler than you imagine.

Regards,

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