Want to know what's going on with the next release of FlySource? Wondering why version 2.0 is taking so long? Wondering what Kevin is thinking? Here is where you may find the answers to all your FlySource questions! May 31, 2010It's back to work tomorrow so I moved the FlySource source code over to my Macbook to get it ready for coding-fests on the bus during the commute to and from work. I like developing on the Mac during the work week because it allows me to work on FlySource whenever I have some free time wherever I happen to be. The screen shot below is FlySource V2 running on Mac OS X. I was pleasantly surprised that all the FlySource work I did on the weekend on my Windows 7 PC "just worked" when I ran it on OS X. Java is amazing. I'll post some pictures of FlySource running on Linux too next week.
May 30, 2010It's been raining and snowing around home today so I had a chance to stay indoors and do some more V2 programming today. Today I added the fly tying functions from V1 into V2. The only new feature I added was the ability to add more than one picture to the material file. The sample screen below shows a Mustad hook with two pictures; one of them is being displayed in a pop-up window. This isn't too exciting I know... I wonder if anyone is even using the materials feature of FlySource?
If you have a keen eye, you may notice there is a problem with the thumbnail images shown on the screen; part of the pictures are being cut off. I'll fix that up later. Oh the joys of object oriented programming... When I fix this bug, it will automagically fix the problem on all the screens :)
May 29, 2010 Well, I am in a real coding frenzy now and just finished re-coding the Fly Pattern editor from the ground up. This has been a week long effort of coding during lunch hours at work and *gasp* geeking out at the back of the bus on the commute to work (don't laugh, I get almost 2 hours of coding time on the bus!). I've built a good foundation that can be used to quickly implement the materials screen and the other new screens too. Behind the scenes I'm really happy with how things are being built.
Here is the latest screen shot of the fly pattern editor. Click on it for a larger view. The Elk Hair Caddis pattern shown in the example below has 31 step-by-step pictures that I shamelessly scraped from a website. The elkhaircaddis.fly file size is about 974KB. If you look closely, you'll notice some new html-ish tags that have be entered into the detail text. Look for "[picture 1]" or "[picture 2]". What these tags do is link the detail editor to the picture list. As you use the cursor or mouse to move around the Tying Instructions section for example, the matching picture will scroll into view and will be highlighted. This is really neat stuff! I'm sure I will make some improvements over the next while, but for now I'm going to move on to coding some other features. I've seen enough of the fly pattern editor window for a while...
In case you're wondering what the main FlySource screen looks like, here it is so far. It has changed a bit from the previous version, hopefully for the better. I'm aiming at providing a simple uncluttered user interface that is as easy to use as possible. Soon I'll start posting images of FlySource running on Mac OS X and Linux. So far most of the development work has NOT been done on Windows.
May 25, 2010The most requested new feature has been to add the ability of adding more than one picture to a fly pattern. This is a fantastic idea because it will allow for tying instructions to be included. The screenshot below shows the first idea for this new functionality. On the right side of the window is the scrollable "list" of pictures. This is where step-by-step instruction pictures can be added. (Note: The fly pictures you see are only test images.) I am also planning on adding a slide-show function to help walk through the pictures and the tying instructions. This will be really neat. Thanks to all who suggested these features :)
May 24, 2010A while ago Kevin decided that underneath the hood, FlySource could have been built way better. He also things the user interface is "clunky" in some places. So, he decided to rebuild FlySource from the ground up in order to provide performance and make it even easier to use. Finally, he has finished the new application framework and can now start implementing new features and enhancing existing ones. FlySource is now database driven and even with several thousand fly patterns it is lightning fast. With that many patterns, FlySource will start up almost instantly! Don't worry though, the fly patterns are still being saved in XML format for easy sharing via fishing forums and email.
Mac OS X and Linux users rejoice! Kevin has been developing FlySource 2.0 on Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows 7 and will be released on all three platforms simultaneously! Kevin has promised this in the past but this time he is making more of an effort to make it so. He's also a Mac-keener now, so you can be assured there will be something special added for Mac users. (Hint Hint to iPhone/Touch owners!)
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