 |
Author |
Topic: change sketchbook location / open sketchbook... (Read 420 times) |
|
adrien
|
change sketchbook location / open sketchbook...
« on: Dec 1st, 2002, 2:23pm » |
|
I will be teaching with P5 starting in feb, and already I can spot one huge problem on the horizon: where / how do students save their work?
I know that P5's 'easy as you can get' system is meant to solve this problem, but I think it also creates problems. (it breaks the now standard document / application model which my students are used to, it makes it a problem to share documents, it makes use in a multi-user lab / classroom / shared computer situation a little difficult.)
For now, the only solution will be that each student keep a whole copy of P5 (with their sketchbook tucked away in there somewhere...) in their posession (zip, HD, iPod, network...)
but a few little changes would make things a lot smoother...
1. P5 should, on first run, ask where the user want's to save their work. Default would be /User/Documents/Proce55ing/, and that's where P5 puts user created data.
examples would still be stored in a folder with the main application, so it can be updated with the app, and since it's stuff the user didn't create, it 'came with the app'.
so basically, get the sketchbook outside of the /Applications folder and into the /User/Documents/ folder where it belongs, with the rest of the users data.
2. then, there needs to be a 'Define My Sketchbook...' function where the user can change the sketchbook location. A flag in the preferences file could have P5 ask this each time it starts up, for a computer lab / classroom situation where each time P5 starts up it's probably a different user.
3. then, and "Open Sketch..." function to open a sketch from anywhere on the computer/network without having it necessarily be in the sketchbook ("OK, students, take a quick look at this file, it's on the network...")
|
Signature: Signatures are displayed at the bottom of each post...
|
|
|
fry
|
Re: change sketchbook location / open sketchbook..
« Reply #1 on: Dec 1st, 2002, 7:34pm » |
|
yeah, i realize that this can become a problem. i'd like to have a default setup (i.e. always install sketchbook into /User/xxx/Documents) and then allow people to change it. and at least be able to move the sketchbook without p5 crashing, like it seems to be now (based on some recent bug reports).
when running in a lab situation, however, are the /User directories generally somewhere on the network?
as for the other bits.. i'm hesitant to add ui, but i think the suggestions are sound, so we'll be trying to figure out how to add that sort of functionality for a future release (hopefully before feb?)
fwiw, part of the idea (not yet realized in 0046) behind the sketchbook was that it would also synchronize to a network location. that is, other directories would be added, i.e. 'course' or 'p5 web site'. for a course, the 'course' directory would contain subdirectories for the people in the course, along with another for the lecturer/whoever is running the workshop. in the 'p5 web site' case, that would be a directory with some user subdirectories that could pull things off the web (like the examples people post here) in a standard-ish way.
so the sketchbook becomes a sort of publish and sync scenario, where you can push out sketches to other locations (the p5 web site, or to your course instructor) or pull them in from other places.
|
| « Last Edit: Dec 1st, 2002, 8:38pm by fry » |
|
|
|
|
adrien
|
Re: change sketchbook location / open sketchbook..
« Reply #2 on: Dec 3rd, 2002, 12:15am » |
|
I like your P3P publish / sync scenario... The logic is sound, but a comfortable UI for the functionality might be difficult to come by. I will give it some thought and probably chat about it with reas in milan. For instance, what happen if I 'subscribe to a sketch' on a site and the author makes a change, and all of a sudden my copy of the data changes. eek! But then again, the idea of a collaborative sketch hosted on a site where users can have write permission and things get weird, could be fun!
as for the setup in labs: WHO KNOWS!?! lab admins are stragne creatures, and often the labs (those where I teach anyway) are in no way clear and logical and standard!
Maybe the best route, as far as my suggestions would be to:
standard location un /Users foobar bla bla.
upon first launch, asks user where they want it.
a flag in the config / preferences to have P5 ask where on each lauch, so a lab install could be configures this way if necessary, but no need to impliment a 'Define Sketchbook Location...' function in the UI.
But then again, if the sketchbook is NOT in a precise given location (and the only possibility for this would be in the app folder where it is now, which, yes, crashes for me too, etc, bugs, yadda yadda) ... there should be some easy way to define the location if it gets confused somehow (the user moves it from /Users/Foobar/P5/ to /Volumes/data/programming/P5/, for instance, without asking Fry for prior permission too so... 
and if you're going to impliment a whole UI for publish / subscribe / whatnot, well, Open Sketch and Define Sketchbook Location can be in that menu too...
|
Signature: Signatures are displayed at the bottom of each post...
|
|
|
adrien
|
Re: change sketchbook location / open sketchbook..
« Reply #3 on: Dec 3rd, 2002, 12:21am » |
|
yes, the previous post was incoherent and simply restated what had been mentioned in the previous two posts. Yeah! I'm Proud to have ADD!
|
Signature: Signatures are displayed at the bottom of each post...
|
|
|
|
