Holy FUDGE!

[greggerm]

Not that I doubted them, but they weren't kidding about Studio not being a very WYSIWYG-type of development tool.

I opened up Cayer's STV to look for (and hopefully sniver) his "external player" code, and I was opening up tree after tree of settings, programming, and displays.

Holy FUDGE this is a very complex beast.

Not to worry - I enjoy a challenge! But wow. Quite impressive that our current batch of STV writers were able to craft the GUIs they did using this tool. Definately not for the faint of heart!

...and oh yeah - Thanks Sage folks for releasing this! I anticipate this forum will explode with activity in the coming weeks.
-Greg

[JUC]

i second that..all of it including the complexity of studio. I have basically decided to leave the imports and tweaking up to those more technically challenged than I am. But, I am certainly willing to test them:) I was more of an advocate for releasing studio because there is a wealth of tallented programmers here that can definately take this somewhere, not because I personally would have the skills....very impressive what people have done with studio so far though though, very impressive.
JUC

[mlbdude]

The best part is most of us started before there were any manuals. Trial and error :). It seems daunting at first, but at some point it just clicks.

[Opus4]

I suggest that new users at least go through at least the first tutorial & the 4 examples in chapter 8 of the Studio PDF manual to get a feel for doing some basic edits. The other tutorial sets are not exciting, but they should give a better feel for how all the various widgets interact.

- Andy

[stanger89]

I was waiting for this thread, since the first I first saw studio :)

It is very daunting at first, but once you do a bit of stuff, you kind of get used to it. Of course there's a ton of stuff I haven't figured out yet.

[Crashless]

I had a long response all written up, but with the forums so slammed right now it got lost.

Stanger and mlbdude summed it up though - keep at it, it'll eventually make a LOT of sense and you'll be able to do stuff on purpose the first time, rather than trial and error.

It's also one of those few programs that makes more sense after reading the manual (like SageTV core & it's manual), so read it and go through the tutorials. It seems lame to do this, but you'll be glad you did.

[greggerm]

Doh!
Anyway - I've already had my first small sucesses with Studio.

of course, all I really did was sniver code from one STV and place it into another to enable some functionality that didn't exist in the original, but I got it working. :)

This is one serious programming tool. The chains seem to make sense, and following the italics and bolds makes sense too. Just have to determine what they actually DO!

[Kanati]

It reminds me a LOT of the pronto remote control software but with a CRAPLOAD more options upon first examination. :)

[stanger89]

This is one serious programming tool. The chains seem to make sense, and following the italics and bolds makes sense too. Just have to determine what they actually DO!

Italics are things that link somewhere, and Bolds are things that have stuff linked to them.

[Crashless]

A hint it took me a while to figure out because I didn't RTFM:

Double clicking an itallic (a refrence) wiget will take you to the chain it is refrencing.

It's a great way to re-use code (themes especially).

[Opus4]

This is one serious programming tool. The chains seem to make sense, and following the italics and bolds makes sense too. Just have to determine what they actually DO!It's all in the manual. :D (Page 10, in this case, for italicized vs. bolded.)

BTW -- it may have been noticed already, but I started a new topic for Getting started with Studio.

- Andy

[Opus4]

A hint it took me a while to figure out because I didn't RTFM:There wasn't a very complete manual when you started, was there? :p

- Andy

[Crashless]

Uhhh....yeah! No manual at all! It was me and the code man, that's all - just me and the code....

;)

[greggerm]

It's all in the manual. :D (Page 10, in this case, for italicized vs. bolded.)


Aaaactually, I did know what the bolding and italics meant, but I don't yet know what the underlying words, widgets, and willywonkas actually mean. :) (I misphrased my thoughts above)

I had the manual printed this morning and I've been R.'ing T.M. over the course of the day!

I should probably eat some dinner. :)
-Greg

[mayamaniac]

I'm still deciding whether to learn Studio or not, it is a little daunting at first glance. I might sit and wait for others to make some cool things with it and just download it instead. But then I always wanted to build my own STV, especially the Music and Pictures menus, I'm surprise 4.0 didn't overhaul these outdated menus. I would to have something cool to replace it. Maybe I'll dwelled into studio this weekend, start ny reading the manual. :)

[mightyt]

So who's gonna create the first Studio CBT !!! I'd pay for that !! :D

Or maybe a webcast training session ... That would be way cool too !!!

So much to learn, so little time ... I am so impatient ... I don;t want to take the time to learn, but want to use the tool ... :o

Will there be Sage Summer Camp next year ??? :rofl:

Seriously though ... What would be recommended as a good starting point class to take that would give you the best foundation for Studio ... Would it be a standard basic Java Class? Any of these a good startng point ... Especially the Online ANYTIME??

Java Classes (http://www.newhorizons.com/content/catalogSearch.aspx?txtSrchTITLE=java)

T.

[stanger89]

Just use it. Start with a simple goal (like re-arrange the main menu, add something, take something away). Then once you've done that, move on to something a bit more complex. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Java stuff won't really help you that much, unless you start needing to use Java directly. On the other hand, if you've never done any programming, going through some Java tutorials on the web (Sun's got a few) might be good, since there are really two aspects to programming, the syntax (which is rather simple to pick up, especially if you've got a reference) and the thought process, which is what is really "taught" in classes.

But yeah, if you've got even a bit of programming experience (even scripting) the best way to "learn" Studio, IMO, is to pick a goal, and figure it out.

[greggerm]

But yeah, if you've got even a bit of programming experience (even scripting) the best way to "learn" Studio, IMO, is to pick a goal, and figure it out.

Exactly what I did - of course, my goal was to hack out some functionality from another STV and bring it into 4.0 natively....

But I was sucessful! Along the way I added some basic functionality that I would use, such as a delete button to the "yellow" options popup menu while watching a show, etc.

I am SURE frustrated people (myself included) will be the norm in this forum as time goes on. Right now I feel like a deer caught in the headlights, but at least I was able to make it over to the side of the road on yesterdays little experimental project.

I'm not a hardcore programmer, but this type of scripting and customizing has always been of interest. We'll see where it can take me!

-Greg

[mostlyfodder]

wow!

[mightyt]

Thanks All ...

Will take your advice and try out the ol'Learn By Doing approach first ... :coffee:

I was able to pick up modifying XML files by just using Nielm's Dynamic Menus and Salsbast's WRS ... so ... who knows maybe it will click for me over time !! :)

T.

[greggerm]

I was able to pick up modifying XML files by just using Nielm's Dynamic Menus and Salsbast's WRS ...

hehe - That is exactly what "started" me on this - Cayars STV uses Neilm's menus, and I was having a ball customizing the heck out of my menu structure. Now I am having a good time customizing the actual guts of the program!

I really didn't do anything original with my edits. I literally snipped code from one STV to another. But I had to find and fix some bugs, and hunting them down, stepping through the logic, and learning what expression did what, allowed me to better cut in and fix things.

Now I should actually get to NORMAL work, as opposed to this STV stuff!
-Greg