Hi Marjorie,
The best all round IDE for web development in my experience is
Eclipse. http://www.eclipse.org/ Eclipse is an open source IDE supported by
a number of software vendors. The base platform is working toward adding the
new Eclipse WTP, Web Tools Project, but in the meantime something like the
MyEclipse add on will provide xml editors, Javascript editor, SQL editors,
JDBC connectors, and Tomcat servlet runner. Eclipse already has ant run
capability, a great Java editor, and even cvs. If I remember correctly there
is a project to add a visual editor using the Batik api as a start point but
it isn't very far along. I imagine the difficulty is moving Batik to the
Eclipse SWT graphics environment.
If Adobe goes ahead with making authoring tools inside Eclipse it
would be even more powerful.
One of the really interesting concepts is cvs. Since svg is just
another xml it can be part of the repository like any program or text file.
If CAD or GIS systems were based on xml, Eclipse cvs clients with an online
repository would be able to provide a no cost revision audit through the
entire design life cycle as well as a shared development repository. A nice
feature for those concerned with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
randy
-----Original Message-----
From: Marjorie Roswell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2005 6:29 AM
To: svg-developers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [svg-developers] Learning curve... and development environment
Hello SVG Developers,
I'm an eager learner. Bought a bunch of SVG books, am making my way
(for starters) through the O'Reilly SVG Essentials (I'm half done.)
It seems to me that, while learning about shapes is fairly
straightforward...that getting to interactive mapping with SVG
requires a boatload of expertise. So, I'm curious about the
development environments that people like to work in. I've tried
Inkscape, SVG Composer, and a slew of others, but even so, everything
out there seems geared toward the geometry and not the interactive
stuff. (These are great tools, for instance, to help me through SVG
Essentials!)
It looks like xtreme software has a tool for rapid SVG development,
but they don't have a trial on their site (I've asked if they could
put one up.)
Virtual Mechanics has an "Engine" that does sophisticated interaction,
but it appears only to export to SVG.
In my early understanding, it also appears that interactive design can
be done via javascript, and/or XLST (a term which was completely new
to me before delving into this)
BTW, I just sent the W3 tutorial to Kinko's, and noticed that the 75+
page PDF file has a good chapter on interaction. I'll be picking up a
bound copy after sending this email.
http://www.w3.org/2002/Talks/www2002-svgtut-ih/hwtut.pdf
Anyhow, just gut instinct, but it seems to me that the world needs
some good widgets for SVG interactivity built into a full program.
So: basic question is:
What development environment are you working in that most facilitates your
work?
(For folks writing in Javascript is there a javascript development
tool you use, for instance?)
(By the way, I'm in an environment at work where the management
doesn't like open source. I'm personally interested in using open
source tools, but for work, I'm expecting to be generating stuff from
ColdFusion, or ASP, or SQLServer, if/when I figure out how to do so. )
One question that most intrigued me on this list (and I never saw an
answer) was how to get data from XML generated by Excel into an
interactive SVG.
A note that I'm keeping a blog as I grow my SVG skills:
http://SVGMapper.blogspot.com/ ...
It's essentially a repository for great links, as I find them.
(I will be working my way through SVG tutorials on carto.net once I"m
done with the Essentials book. That, plus the pilat.free.fr stuff
looks great!)
So: your development environments please! (and any insight, especially
on tools for developing interactive maps.)
Sincerely,
Margie
P.S. One personal goal is to find a dataset on hospital-caused deaths
(the non SVG challenge, to get the data) and then map them with pie
charts sized by value on geographic entities such as states or by
hospital. (I'll be exporting geographic entities into SVG from
MapInfo.) A young friend of mine died of an infection, and if
workplace needs weren't enough to motivate me (and they are!) I'm also
highly motivated by the prospect of displaying data on "iatrogenic"
deaths. I'm "driven." Driving, but not qute there yet.
Wondering if you're working in a text-based environment for
interactive development, or something else... eager to know and
learn...
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