ThinkingRock Forum

I'm a programmer and would like to develop new modules (addons) to TR (which BTW rocks!). High on my list is a module to synchronize the data file to a website/ftpsite so that it can be used at home and work on different computers.

I could not find any documentation on the mechanics of creating a module. Is there a How-To or some manual that shows how to accomplish this? Thanks for your help,

MPX

Hi

TR is now built on the NetBeans ( http://www.netbeans.org ) platform - or in other words its a NetBeans Rich Client Program (RCP). There is documentation on this at http://www.netbeans.org/kb/trails/platform.html

Basically you need to get NetBeans 5.1 and the TR source then open the top level tr project. To create a new module click the ThinkingRock main project (in NetBeans) and go File, New Project, then choose NetBeans Plug-in Modules, then Module Project. You then give it a name and a few other things and you have a new TR module.

Have a look at the "TR Data" module/project for some actions dealing with opening the data file etc, to get started.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

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ThinkingRock Developer

Hi mpx,

Nice initiative!
Personally, I always thought of ThinkingRock modules as parts working *on* the data, and not *with* the data. That's why I created my own very simple (Windows) batch script to copy the XML data file before and after working with ThinkingRock to a central location. It works with Unison (open source, cross platform) to distribute the XML file across multiple locations so that everywhere I want to use ThinkingRock, I can.

Let me know if you're interested.

charlieMOGUL

charlieMOGUL, Excellent idea. It's always better to divvy up the responsibility to individual tools ala unix style.

BTW, I had not heard about Unison - wow the joys of opensource - it always amazes me the amount of quality open source software available. Thank you for letting know of that software.

Would you mind sharing your script?
Also any tips on which public accessible central location (website/ftpsite) to save the data?

-mpx

Ok, maybe a bit off-topic, but here's my setup.
Use with care at your own risk: it's not very user-friendly.
Suggestions/additions etcetera are always more than welcome.

What this does:
The batch file ThinkingRockWrapper.cmd is executed when you want to run ThinkingRock. It starts the UnisonWrapper.cmd script which on it's turn synchronizes the ThinkingRock XML files with a central location.
After synchronizing, it starts up ThinkingRock.
After ThinkingRock finishes, it starts the UnisonWrapper again to make sure all changes are synchronized.
Unison works by looking for changes in files, it doesn't work with a master-slave setup between files. This way, you can run ThinkingRock on all your different computers and know that you're always using the right XML file.
Unison stores previous versions of the XML file as well, so you can use a backup in case something goes wrong.

Note that you'll have to have a central repository where you can store the XML file on (eg. a Networked Attached Storage server or a server where Unison runs as server).

How to use (Windows OS):
*) Copy all the needed files to your computer
*) Adjust the paths in ThinkingRockWrapper.cmd and UnisonWrapper.cmd where necessary
*) Adjust the paths in ThinkingRock.prf where necessary
*) Create a shortcut with the ThinkingRock icon pointing to the ThinkingRockWrapper.cmd exe script

Unison (to synchronize files) is a GNU-licensed free download at http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/download.html
It's cross-platform, so this can be used on non-Windows OSes as well.

* ThinkingRockWrapper.cmd is the main script which starts UnisonWrapper .cmd and ThinkingRock
* UnisonWrapper.cmd is a wrapper around Unison
* ThinkingRock.prf is a Unison profile where the paths to synchronize are stated


Good luck,

charlieMOGUL