Update May 15, 2007: A function has been added to a new button to copy the drawing window to the clipboard so it can be pasted into any graphics viewer or paint program. This makes it unnecessary to use a screen capture program.

Differences between the Windows (Download) version and the Browser Version:

• The Basic parameters are not overridden by the Advanced parameters. This means that the arms are calculated based upon them, in the same way as the From Basic button works. And it means that there is no slider for the left Gear angle to go through all 360 degrees. 2009: The design philosophy for both versions is now that the Basic and Advanced parameters have to work together.  And while sometimes things cannot be expressed in Basic parameters, this must be taken into account.
• The starting angles of the gears and pegs are not in the advanced tab. The reason for this, is that it is hard to explain. 2009: This is bull. The idea is to have the Browser version be fully functional. Since 2007 it has become clear that all new software development in the world is web based.
• Not all circle stud configurations are supported. This is related to the above. 2009 Ditto.
• The prime and not prime check box is not offered. It is thought this would only be useful with some gear angles. 2009 Ditto.
• The advanced parameters are only offered in a gross way. There are several reasons for this. One is that it is easier to explain. Two is that there is no need for data validation. Three is that rotations can be calculated. 2009 Ditto. But as of this date, 6/30/2009, the Browser version does not have all of the Advanced parameters nor the circle studs.
• No ability to load or save a design session. ** will find a way to do this ** (see below) This is in Browser version but relies on a server.
• No ability to undo except in reverse of the order drawn. 2009: Now in Browser version.
• No ability to redo or edit a previous design. 2009: Now in Browser version.
• Clipping works differently. It is currently not an option, and works in an absolute way to the drawing area. In the Windows version it works with an imaginary paper. 2009: Now in Browser version.
• Make sub drawing areas. With the Windows program this involves placing an ellipse anywhere, using banding. 2009 Now in Browser version.
• No slow option. It does not apply since Walter Zorn drawing is wait and then pop. I need to look into canvas for dynamic drawing. 2009: Canvas and javascript timeout allows this.
• Number of samples is fixed at 7200 per rotation due to the slower execution of javascript. The default for the windows version is 18000, but can be increased, since in zooming, some designs need more samples. 2009: This issue pretty much goes away. But both program versions have a 'fine' option which makes 3 times as many samples. It is rarely needed, though.

Update for April 11, 2007:

The ability to save a design was implemented using a PHP program and the mySQL database provided by the cp-free server. The rows correspond exactly to what is stored by the Windows program. One thing I found out, was that PHP will return NOTHING if there is a syntax error. Also, PHP will make a new page in the browser, so to get back to the drawing requires the back button. As a side effect of this, I place on that page the text needed for the Windows program. So, for people who have the Windows program, and make designs with the Browser version, they can save their designs for loading into the Windows program. In Firefox, if you save that page as a text file, and name it 'something.mgs', and then load that file into the Windows version, you will see the exact same designs. Actually, there is a subtle difference, which deals with the tiny DIVs, and I am not sure why that is. Why the C and javascript versions would round differently.

There is a general issue (resolved) with the storing of colors. In Windows, the (R,G,B) is stored with R in the low byte. On the Web, colors are given this text string format: #RRGGBB. Those are 6 hex digits.

Finally, as of today, the Opera browser does not store the designs (but does store the background color) to the database. The values in the data is not getting to the PHP for that part, and I am not sure why.

Internet Explorer has a different problem, which was there all along. Shapes made with Walter Zorn's library, which is what is used in the Browser program, go away if you use the back and forward button in the browser. I did a Start button to clean things up, because the browser refresh was not a clean start for Internet Explorer. However, it is disturbing for these nice shapes to vanish when they get saved. It seems as if Internet Explorer is not consistent. It tries hard to maintain values entered into forms, and yet loses the colors too easily. Also, the way that things are laid out in Internet Explorer is ugly, so that my Advanced parameters which are hidden, still makes the browser think that it needs to scroll, when it should not. I wonder why Internet Explorer is the leading browser, with all of these problems.

Update for April 16, 2007:

Using a technique which has been called AJAX, PHP does not need to generate full pages. I found a way to treat the server as a servant, and leave the client in control. I wrote a general purpose AJAX PHP caller, based upon something I found online at this site: AJAX Form POST Request .

I have changed the placement of this exact duplicate session MGS file, which is identical to the Windows Euphoria version. It is a button to toggle a hidden DIV, just like for the Advanced parameters. If the user also has the Windows program, they can select and copy using the mouse the contents of that DIV, and paste it into a text editor like Notepad, and save it as a file.MGS. Then clicking on it should bring up an identical design to what is seen in the browser.

I never resolved the problem with Opera browser with PHP. But using AJAX seems to have eliminated that problem.

The other main problem with Internet Explorer, is that it does a scrolling of the browser, even though the DIVs are hidden from view.

Update for April 21, 2007:

Still to do:

• Get Internet Explorer issues resolved.
• Load a saved design session.
• Look into Canvas and write a browser version which uses this method. The main advantage I am seeking is animated drawing. See this demo of canvas: Canvas Painter

The problems with Internet Explorer are that the text is not handled in the same way. A blank line is placed under the text and this makes some things appear larger than they need to be, like in the Advanced parameters. And, there is a known bug in innerHTML for options in a select list. But the work around is also giving me some problems. There are many ways to do the same thing in javascript, and I think creating elements is the most direct method. It turned out that the innerHTML was not the main issue. Internet Explorer does not use appendChild method, but uses the add method instead. Actually, things are not that simple. With IE, the appendChild method works in some cases and not others. I am making use of Walter Zorn's function chkDHTM having been called to know what to use.

Loading a saved design session makes 3 PHP programs, and I wrote them all with the same idea. No HTML code or code of any form is generated. PHP is only being used to save or return the data from SQL database. I came up with the idea to send rows with a linefeed (ASCII 10) in between each one, and the javascript uses the responseText.split("\n") to get each line into an array. The other thing I do, which is a bit of extra work, is to use the Windows program MGS file format in the PHP program.

It turns out that only the Opera browser shows each design as it is being loaded, while IE and Firefox wait until all of the designs are loaded and it displays them all. Perhaps there should be a message saying to wait.

I found out that the extra blank lines in Internet Explorer are due to the Forms having margins around them. To standardize all the browsers to look the same, CSS is used to set the margins for Forms. I needed Forms because the sliders javascript I am using requires it. Forms makes the addressing of elements easier, but one can use id in any element to find it globally.

One issue remains. The subtle difference which I mentioned before on April 11. This is due to the way zoom is used. Both programs do use 531, I think, but when the browser version writes MGS file it makes a 532. I need to standardize the zoom factor, and make sure MGS are written okay, and make sure that existing saved designs loaded back are going to give a legal zoom factor (-12 to 12 with 0 for none).

Update for May 3, 2007:

I have been working on another computer program called Complex Curves Shapes Generator. The development of this program made me realize that I can leverage all that I had done for Magic Designer. So, I made a stripped down application which has everything in Magic Designer other than what appears on the Basic and Advanced tabs. And Complex Curves Shapes Generator has another method of specifying designs. It is not based on any particular physical toy, but is loosely based on Spirograph. It actually comes from a Flash program I found on the web: Isotope 2

Two ideas which I wish to work on with this program are color effects inside a design, and being able to interact with the design as it is being drawn. I had some problems making the color routines both callable externally from Euphoria and from inside of the C code. I got something which works, but I am not sure it is the correct or elegant way to program.

Being able to interact is easier if the whole thing is programmed in Euphoria. So, I also compared C and Euphoria rewritten versions of the drawing logic. I used a drawing logic which I fit into that stripped down application which I call Generic Shapes. I felt that I should stay with C for the drawing, since it is faster. So, I am thinking at both ends. I am thinking for maximum possible speed, and also for slowness so I can change a design as it is being drawn. Perhaps I need to maintain both versions, and use the Euphoria drawing logic for the slow side. That is extra work, and I prefer only having one way, so we will see.

In the course of speed, I finally realized how to fix the number one problem with Magic Designer and any other drawing program. And that is, that to be professional, it needs to repaint itself. This is why I am releasing Magic Designer as a next version as soon as possible.

How does this repaint work? It is another extension of the DIV idea. The early versions of Magic Designer simply plotted a point and a line was drawn from the previous point. And when I wrote the Browser version, and used Walter Zorn's library, I realized that all curves were a mass of tiny DIVs. Each of these DIVs has either length or width, a color, a thickness. So, the program can keep track of these emulated DIVs in the drawing process, like the browser keeps track of them. It simply has an array of C structures having position, width/length, color, thickness, and orientation. It takes 16 bytes per DIV and I am allowing 100,000 DIVs per design. That is the buffer, and when a design is done, it is copied to what length was used. Magic Designer designs typically have less than 1000 segments (identical word to DIV). And when Refresh is pressed or when Windows generates a Paint message to the drawing window, these DIVs are replayed back. This saves the time to recalculate. I found that this is anywhere from 50% to many times more faster.

Update for May 23, 2007:

There have been many enhancements to the Magic Designer Windows version. The Browser version has not changed.

• Automatic Repaint.
• Copy to Clipboard.
• Connect to these Help pages from the application.
• Right mouse click to center the ellipse anywhere.
• Esc key to toggle full screen mode.
• 13 buttons have keyboard shortcuts.
• Clean up GUI to make 120 DPI okay.
• Increase usable drawing window from 531 to 552. This means the Browser version will need to change.

Here is a list of enhancements since May 23, 2007:

-- Added PDF printing
-- Bezier smoothing from: BezierSpline
-- Used Cairo for drawing.
-- Added multiple designs draw capability.
-- Fixed Help localization
-- Changed defaults to solve mirror image bug and design orientation.
-- Added arm adjustment due to width of physical arms.
-- Saving advanced fields to MGS file.
-- Made shift lever edit box editable.
-- Banding ellipse improvements:
-- There is always an ellipse.
-- A radio is used to edit begin or end or center.
-- clicking left button continues with the same ellipse.
-- fine tune with arrow keys, cross hairs
-- Use pixmap to do immediate repaints for normal painting of drawing area.
-- Prev Curr Next use press and hold.
-- Remove Refresh and dirty since all designs are kept neat at all times.
-- Made two windows. Esc to toggle maximize.
-- Changed the way Basic/Advanced/circle studs work.
-- Apply number to Undo, Redo, Prev, Next as well as Draw.
-- Added buttons size (to show if designs are off page), slow (preview draw), ellipse (to hide ellipse). 
-- Grouped drawing appearances Nice, Dots, Jagged for screen and PDF.
-- Changed the way zoom works to be more accurate with sliders and arrow keys.