I finished my first game, I and I want to export it. But, I do not want to do one of the options that was given (Website, Chrome Web Store, Kongregate (might actualy do), and some others). Is there a way to create a .EXE file for my game? If so, how?
I am using the free version.
I guess you're using Free edition, so the answer for you is no. You have to upgrade to at least Personal license (€99.99).
Compare features
Related
My question should be very simple to answer for anyone not being a self-taught newbie like me...
On this page is a cheatsheet concerning a function to be used in GIS/DB environnement : http://www.bostongis.com/pgsql2shp_shp2pgsql_quickguide.bqg
I would like to create a script allowing users to just have to click on it to launch the process, given the proper datas. But I don't understand how to use this. It obviously doesn't work in a Python console, nor directly in the windows console. How is it supposed to work ? What language is this ?
Thanks
shp2pgsql is indeed a command line tool. It comes with your PostgreSQL/PostGIS installation (usually) and, if not accessible via PATH-variable, can (usually) be run from within the /bin-folder in your PostgreSQL-Installation. You can also always 'make' the programm from source in any location yourself, if needed.
EDIT:
One way to set up a script (independent of whether you use it within qgis own python environment or not) would be to use Pythons subprocess (or os.system) module (check related question here) to write to shell and execute shp2pgsql.
A slightly more sophisitcated solution to (batch) insert (multiple) shapefiles via script could be to implement ogr2ogr via gdal/ogr module within python (check this blog). That, however, would require a working installation of the gdal core library, and the respective Python bindings (at least to use outside of QGIS Python environment, where it is pre-installed AFAIK), which can be tiresome at times. Once installed correctly, it offers a powerful (I dare say almighty) toolset for geodata management and manipulation via Python, though.
Apart from that, the blog link I provided also states the implementation of a batch insert script/tool (which operates ogr2ogr) in qgis 2.8 toolbox...maybe that can help you, either with your work directly or (via sourcecode) to point you in the direction of creating your own tool.
I recently released a software to our customer, it will be installed on one machine at one location and maybe later at two other locations. It is a prototype and has to be tested.
This is a compiled Matlab GUI which runs scanning, does some image analysis and produces report. All is fine here. But I've got a complaint that batch-file I use is a thing from past DOS times, should not be used and looks unprofessional... Currently, the user should set up one path in batch file before the first use and then always run batch file. This bat-file kills some processes to avoid conflicts, including any running instances of the GUI, sets the path for results and runs the GUI. I proposed them to create a shortcut to this bat-file with a nice logo (such that they don't see the .bat extension ;)), but they are still unhappy.
What to do is probably not the main question here - client is always right and I should remove .bat somehow to make them happy. But is it really so unprofessional to release technical, not mass software using bat-files? Or is it just one person's opinion?
Personally I think if you already have a GUI, then use that to do the pre-processing. There is nothing wrong with using batch files, but using one when you have a GUI doesn't seem like the best way to do it.
Alternatively create a GUI with the same look as the main program to ask the user for the details it needs. For me it's not about professionalism, but how easy it is for the user to do what they need to do.
I see nothing wrong with using a batch file for small projects (especially during the testing phase if that is easier for you and delivers something to the client quicker). However, depending on the size of the project, it is nice to have an EXE to deliver to the client with a proper icon and what not.
I would agree with the customer that an EXE looks more professional. Whether it is or not... I'm not sure. The .bat files just seem a little slapped together whether that is true or not.
I would say this is similar to when people call PHP programs scripts because a lot of the times they are simple scirpts. But, then there are frameworks out there like Cake and Kohanna that are more than what someone would typically classify as a script but, since it's PHP there is still that connotation.
A batch file is not unprofessional. The batch "language" has disadvantages and outright problems (error handling!!) but it gets the job done and that's the point.
The problem is that it shows the internals of the program and some people are scared by this. They don't want to see anything like this and so try to find a disapproving label. The quickest solution is to hide the batch file behind a "vanity cover", or in this case an exe that hides the working from terrified eyes.
One simple possibility is to use an self-extracting zip file eg: http://www.7zsfx.info/en/
I know that some of the Microsoft employees are members of StackOverflow like the famous Raymond Chen to Larry Osterman (enginner of the Vista's audio stack and per-application sound controlling mechanism) and we know Jeff Atwood is here too. So maybe we can learn some lessons about managed code in core Windows componenets straight from the horse's mouth.
I have downloaded all leaked Windows Longhorn builds (from the "obvious" sources) and poked around to find managed code with tools like "dotPeek" and ".net OR not". I found that managed code was declining in every build after the august 2004 "longhorn reset". But i even find "windows movie maker" written in managed code.
So, here is the question: What are the diffuculties of writing core os components in managed code?
I'm sure there's other considerations, but this is a reasonably obvious one that springs to mind:
Managed code components require a specific version of the managed runtime, and, IIRC, a process can have only one instance of the managed runtime in it. Right off the bat, this rules out using managed code for shared components - since an app and one or more of its components could require different versions of the runtime, and limits its use to application-style components.
Also keep in mind that more parts of Windows are actually 'shared components' than might be immediately obvious. While you might think of Explorer as a form of application, as soon as an app opens a File/Open common dialog, it's now got a bunch of Explorer components within it, listing the available files and directories.
Which configuration management tool is the best for FPGA designs, specifically Xilinx FPGA's programmed with VHDL and C for the embedded (microblaze) software?
There isn't a "best", but configuration control solutions that work for software will be OK for FPGAs - the flow is very similar. I use Subversion at work and git at home, and wrote a little on 'why' at my blog.
In other answers, binary files keep getting mentioned - the only binary files I deal with are compilation products (equivalent to software object and executables), so I don't keep them in the version control repository, I keep a zipfile for each release/tag that I create with all the important (and irritatingly slow to reproduce) ones in.
I don't think it much matters what revision control tool you use -- anything that you would consider good in general will probably be OK here. I personally use Git for a sizable Verilog + software project, and I'm quite happy with it.
What will bite you in the ass -- no matter what version control you use -- is this: The Xilinx tools don't generally respect a clean division between "input" and "output" or between (human edited) "source" and (opaque) "binary." Many of the tools like to store some state information, like a last-run time or a hash value, in their "input" files meaning that you'll get lots of false changes. Coregen does this to its .xco files, and project navigator (the main GUI) does this to its .xise files. Also, both tools have a habit of inserting or removing lines for default-valued parameters, seemingly at random.
The biggest issue I've encountered is the work-flow with Coregen: In many cases, at least one of the following is true:
You have to manually edit the HDL files produced by Coregen.
The parameters that went into Coregen are stored somewhere other than the .xco file (usually in what looks like an output file).
You have to copy-and-paste the output from Coregen into your top-level design.
This means that there is no single logical source/master location for your input to the core-generating process. So even if you have the .xco file under version control, there's no expectation that the design you're running corresponds to it. If you re-generate "the same" core from its nominal inputs, you probably won't get the right outputs. And don't even think about merging.
I suggest CM tools that support version labeling and binary files. Most Software CM applications are fine with ASCII text files. They may just store a "difference" file rather than the entire file for updates.
My recommendations: PVCS, ClearCase and Subversion. DO NOT USE Microsoft SourceSafe. I don't like it because it only supports one label per revision.
I've seen Perforce and Subversion used in a couple of FPGA-intensive companies.
We use Perforce, and its great. You can have your code that lives in Linux-land checked in side-by-side with your Specs and Docs that live in Windows-land. And you get branching, labels, etc.
I've seen everything from Clearcase to RCS used, and it is really all okay for this kind of thing. The important thing is to get a good set of check-in policies established for your group, and make sure they stick to it.
And have automated nightly regressions. That way, when someone breaks the rules, they can be identified and publicly shamed.
I have personally used Perforce, Subverion, git and ClearCase for FPGA projects. Since VHDL and C are just text files, any works fine. However be sure to capture the other project and contraint files and any libraries you use.
Also think about what to do with the outputs, e.g. log file and bitstreams. Both tend to be big and the bitstreams are binaries.
Previously I used Subversion but have switched to git two years ago. Git handles FPGA design files just as well as it handles every other text and binary file. Git is all you need for version controlling your files and artifacts.
For building the designs, I recommend just using a single ISE project called "ise" (living in a subdirectory called "ise/"). You can take a look at my (very modest) FPGA open-source project on github for the file layout. I don't bother storing the ISE files at all since they are easy to regenerate. The only things I save are the Verilog files and some ISIM waveform config files. In other projects that use coregen I save the coregen.cgp project file and all of the *.xco scripts for regenerating cores. Then I use a Makefile for actually running coregen on the *.xco files. There are a few other Xilinx-specific files you should version control too: *.ucf, *.coe, *.xcf, etc.
I experimented with using Makefiles and the Xilinx command-line tools but found that ISE did a much better job tracking dependencies and calling the tools with the right arguments. Just don't make the mistake of trying to version control your ise/ project files or you will go mad. Xilinx has something like 300 different file types which change every release. If you want to save a file, you can try the ISE project file itself with a .xise extension. Anything that is hard to recreate, like the golden bitfile that you know works and took 6 hours to build, you might want to copy that and configuration manage it explicitly.
I have a requirement where my client want to install a custom "Print to File" printer (apparently MS has an SDK for this?). They want to be able to install this as a kind of "application" so that if someone chooses to print to this printer, they have to answer a few questions, and the file gets "printed" to a path of our choosing. (we will then do some other things with the file such as rename it and SFTP it)
I have tried googling, looking for things such as "customize print to file" and I have found nothing. Does anyone have any experience with this and can give me a kick in the right direction?
EDIT: I would rather have a c# oriented solution but I am willing to take anything right now.
Edit 2: The idea is for this "custom print driver" is for a document imaging company to provide an easy method for their customers to store/archive documents. The idea, is that the customer, if they want to store/archive a document, they would print, from standard windows applications such as Word, Excell, Acrobat Reader, Web Pages, etc., to the "company X" printer driver. When doing so, the document would get "printed" to a file in a specific location that another application (which has a filewatcher service on it, which would rename it and send it to the SFTP server), knows to watch. The document that is printed to the file, should ideally also be able to come out on paper (AKA just like normal). When printing to the "Custom print driver", we also need to have a form filled in which would provide meta-tags for the archiving system, which would also be uploaded to the document imaging system.
I am not looking to recreate a printing application, nor am I looking to add "printing" into a custom application. This needs to work at the Windows level.
I have no problems with the SFTP, FileWatcher, Alchemy integration (the document archiving application) or the document renaming portion. It's the "custom print driver" that I am having issues with. This is all compounded by the fact that when installing the application, I need to automatically install the "custom print driver", and configure it during the install process. Essentially the solution needs to be installed as a printer available under "My Printers" and should be available for any type of document, Word, Excell, PDF, etc. Oh, and it needs to be availabe for XP, Vista, and Windows 7 . . . . :(
Thanks in advance for everyones help. I have a feeling that this one is going to be a doozy :(
Hah! I knew I'd seen at least one...
ActMask Virtual Printer Driver
Can't make a recommendation of any sort not having tried this particular toolkit - but it would appear to me to bear a strong resemblence to the sort of solution you're after.
What kind of customization you are talking about? Can't you use the .Net inbuilt one?