Using Widgets When Drawing

[Albacore]

Now my programming skills are not the best so I don't know if this can be done in Xara. I use many programmes on the I Pad which use widgets because of the gestures used to control the object or screen. I also remember when teaching assembly language to pupils doing Technological Studies in school writing graphical routines which were called "widgets" to control a PIC micro-controller using an on-screen GUI. Since Xara has used widgets in the web development area is it not possible to do the same in Design Pro? This could improve certain tools and I could name quite a few: brushes, mould tools, line configurations, alignment and the well hidden pen tool. Now to be really honest I have forgotten more than I can remember when it come to assembly language but writing a simple widget to run alongside the main tool might be an easier to advance the drawing capabilities of Design Pro.

[Acorn]

To have these Xara would have to open up its API (application programming interface), which is their API or develop a user-friendly one. Some time back they declared how their file format was constructed in the hope it would become a de facto web standard, challenging SVG and PDF. I don't know what became of that.

Acorn

[Albacore]

Acorn I thought Xara used the Art Works code from Arm based Acorn's which was written in assembly language that's how it was so fast for the time. Now I don't think that has changed for the bulk of the programme although certain areas like the font engine has. Any way I am not going to look to see, it was just one of these thoughts that has been rattling around my head as I have been doing development work in Tech. Std's. in assembly language. Of course being 12 years away from subject I am having to re-learn some of the commands which have totally gone from the old grey matter.

[Acorn]

I recall Computer Concepts departure from ARM assembly was that no one was updating the C compiler so it was to expensive to stay on an dying platform so the big jump to Windows.
I still have ArtWorks and utilities that allow me to script vector objects that i can import into Xara products; I would like to see that part opened up. the reason ArtWorks and Xara products were and are so fast is because CC hand-crafted their code and didn't rely on system calls. I am sure this is still the case and is Xara's crown jewels. That is why xxfx, curver generator and the like are still viable utilities.

Acorn

[Acorn]

Found the document I was thinking of: http://site.xara.com/support/docs/we...atDocument.pdf.
Acorn

[Albacore]

Hi Acorn that was the doc. to encourage people to develop the lite version as a community. Well that has taken me 2 hours of hard study and I am only half way through and by the looks of it poo poo's my idea on widgets. Will wade my way through the rest and come back here and try to make some intelligent comments but it is hard work.