Nearly there!

So, it's past the end of the month, and is PyIgnition ready for the 1.0 release? Well, actually, the code is. All the new features are already implemented and theoretically bugless. However, the documentation (which is fairly important seeing as the only purpose of the project is to be used by others) lags significantly behind the numerous ruthless (read: careless and ill-planned) changes I've made to the way the library works since the last release. Not to mention that it's lacking any information whatsoever on all the new features. But that's in progress at the moment, and with any luck it should be a very brief process leading to a prompt release!

But why the delay? Well, the file loading function ended up being slightly more complicated than anticipated. All was going perfectly well until the XML parser I was using decided that it wasn't going to read one of the tags in the test file, for no good reason whatsoever. At the same time, I was noticing occasional bugs in its attempts at reading tag meta data (meta data being variables specified within the tag itself, eg. <tagname meta="value" meta2="another value">). Which of course meant that it would arbitrarily fail to read certain files. Attempts at delving into the gungy mess of ASCII-encoded vomit that passed for the XML parser's source code quickly met with horrors so horrifically horrifying that I would be accused of torture were I to write about them here, but to sum up, I'm extremely surprised it ever worked at all.

So, I had to write a new XML parser. Much in the way of fun and frolics ensued, I can tell you. However, the end product is actually reasonably good (certainly a lot more so than the parser I was using beforehand). The source, in case you're interested, can be viewed and downloaded from here. And now PyIgnition can save and load files!

Now, on a more positive note than my abject failure to meet any deadline which I set for myself, I'm pleased to tell you that development work on Obsidian (the particle effects creation/editing program for PyIgnition) is progressing nicely. PyIgnition embeds in wxPython perfectly and is currently running rather smoothly. The design of the actual application is well underway, and I have here the first mockup - it's of the particle editor window which lets you edit and keyframe particles for a particular source:

(Click for a full-size version.) I've even got a functional demo of the keyframe timeline widget pictured, which had to be written from scratch as such a thing doesn't exist in wxPython (funnily enough):

The slider is draggable and, after a lot of messy code, clicking on keyframe markers takes you to their frames. It also sends out wx.EVT_SLIDER events when the slider is moved (whether by dragging or clicking on a keyframe marker). How many lines for this tiny, minimalistic GUI control? Over 170. Aah, the joys of wxPython. But I digress. All is currently well on the Obsidian front, and with any luck the mocked-up window shall soon transcend its current SVG state and become a Real Window!

On an unrelated side-note, Scottish exam results go out on Thursday - and we the cool kids who signed up for the online day-before text-message-and-email service will know tomorrow! 'Tis a truly terrifying state of affairs indeed. If they are absolutely flawless (As everywhere), I'll be off to Cambridge in October; otherwise I'll be going to Edinburgh. The former isn't looking particularly likely at the moment, but well. I shall nevertheless know tomorrow what'll be happening. Not in the morning, of course; that would be too nice. The results actually go out at 2:50 in the afternoon for reasons beyond my comprehension, so tomorrow morning will almost certainly yield the most painful lazy lie-in I've ever lived through. Glorious! Anyway, that's all for now; good day to you all!