tutorials for programming plugs for WINGS??

[howardt]

No, I don't think anyone has done the step-by-step tutorial you are asking for.

There are two aspects to learning how to make plugins for wings:

1) Learning its implementation language, Erlang
2) Learning the wings 'internals': how it represents geometry, how its event loop is organized, how it uses ESDL (and via it, OpenGL) for graphics, its e3d library for aiding import/export, and various utility functions meant for plugin programmers.

As yet, there is not really a concrete 'plugin API' with good documentation, as it is still a work in progress. But brave programmers can dive in and figure out how to do things (I've done a few - the original tweak, text objects, AI import, AM export, triangulate/quadrangulate).

To learn Erlang, read the book on www.erlang.org. You might first want to read this quick intro for C, C++, Java programmers:

http://www.earlyriser.org/Erlang_tutorial.html

To learn how to do plugins, start with a simple existing one that does something like what you want, and modify it. I know clacos found the tweak plugin a good starting point for his wonderful and useful plugins.

I do hope that the sort of step-by-step tutorial you are asking for shows up some time.

[clacos]

A while back, KayosIII did some very useful tutorials :

Erlang primer:
www.midcoast.com.au/~rgco...rlang.html
Lesson 1: a plugin skeliton --
www.midcoast.com.au/~rgco...lugin.html
Lesson 2: getting data --
www.midcoast.com.au/~rgco...sson2.html

I know clacos found the tweak plugin a good starting point for his wonderful and useful plugins.

invaluable indeed; not being a programmer myself, i would have never managed to get one working without it. imo, this is the place to start ( after learning erlang basics) if you want to make event-handler plugins ( meaning having real-time interaction with the user; just in case you start from scratch as i did).

side note : when i started tweak source was also a lot simpler than it is now.

please don't hesitate to ask questions on the programming section of the main forum. We need to share our tips&tricks ;)
(which really means i'd sure learn a lot from other's tricks)

Good luck :thumbsup:

about my plugins, in case some are wondering : i'm on it, but this will be very sloooowww :shrug:
(wings 1.0 is my aim, nothing else).

[SheepFactory]

Originally posted by clacos
about my plugins, in case some are wondering : i'm on it, but this will be very sloooowww :shrug:
(wings 1.0 is my aim, nothing else).

:cry:

[somlor]

Is there a possibility your plugins will be integrated into wings to prevent incompatability with point releases?

(s)

[clacos]

Is there a possibility your plugins will be integrated into wings to prevent incompatability with point releases?

That's what i am working on; instead of my usual 'duct tape' update (which can be quite fast to do) , i'm recoding them (euh... one only at the moment) as cleanly as i can, going back to erlang fundamentals and wings source study, so that i have a better source to propose to bjorn; my code will obviously never be on par with his, even very remotely, but this should make integration&maintenance of the code easier/possible.

When i'll have done that, i'll send the source to him, and he'll make the decision of integrating those he wants.
I'll maintain (loosely) the plugins that won't be integrated.

[somlor]

And I guess also as the plugin API itself matures, plugins will remain compatible or just require a recompile as opposed to actual code tweaking/rehauling.

All this programming talk really makes me want to dive into Erlang as well, and learn how to hack out my own wings plugins. It's been awhile since I did any coding ...

(s)

[markdc]

Originally posted by clacos
A while back, KayosIII did some very useful tutorials :

Erlang primer:
www.midcoast.com.au/~rgco...rlang.html
Lesson 1: a plugin skeliton --
www.midcoast.com.au/~rgco...lugin.html
Lesson 2: getting data --
www.midcoast.com.au/~rgco...sson2.html



invaluable indeed; not being a programmer myself, i would have never managed to get one working without it. imo, this is the place to start ( after learning erlang basics) if you want to make event-handler plugins ( meaning having real-time interaction with the user; just in case you start from scratch as i did).

side note : when i started tweak source was also a lot simpler than it is now.

please don't hesitate to ask questions on the programming section of the main forum. We need to share our tips&tricks ;)
(which really means i'd sure learn a lot from other's tricks)

Good luck :thumbsup:

about my plugins, in case some are wondering : i'm on it, but this will be very sloooowww :shrug:
(wings 1.0 is my aim, nothing else).

The links don't appear to work. Any chance you saved those pages?

[joorce]

Hi
Right links. KayosIII made them, you can ask him. Also, you can search in the programming forum for past threads.

http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rgcoy/exps/learningerlang.html

http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rgcoy/exps/wingsplugin.html

http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rgcoy/exps/lesson2.html

[markdc]

Originally posted by joorce
Hi
Right links. KayosIII made them, you can ask him. Also, you can search in the programming forum for past threads.

http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rgcoy/exps/learningerlang.html

http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rgcoy/exps/wingsplugin.html

http://www.midcoast.com.au/~rgcoy/exps/lesson2.html

These work. Thanks.

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