Vvidget Code Reference Manual

Vvidget Code > Overview > Chapter Synopsis

The paragraphs below describe this manual on a chapter-by-chapter basis and should provide a good general overview of this entire manual in a single section. After reading this section you should have a good understanding of the scope of this manual and after that the rest of the manual helps you understand the details.

Overview

Gives an overview of the Vvidget Code manual. The front page of this manual gives an explanation of the many entrance points into this manual while the Overview chapter simply prepares you for the rest of the sections of this manual.

Demonstrations

Before reading this manual you should reference the Demonstrations chapter which gives pointers to applications that you can run right away in order to orient yourself. Since they are end-user applications they require no programming and only feature end-results of a few Vvidget Code based application.

Projects

Before attempting to program your own application or reading other sections of this manual you should probably see the Projects chapter which describes the Xcode projects that are installed with Vvidget Code. You can copy those projects to your home directory and build and run them for a fully working application right away. The projects are located on your disk at: /Library/Vvidget/Examples/VvidgetCode. Other projects are also available right from this manual, for example the Illustration section gives a link to the Illustration project zip file which can be downloaded and used.

Programming

The Programming chapter details the programming steps required to make an application. Since they are dependent upon Xcode and Interface Builder they also explain the steps needed to operate those applications as well. If you are already familiar with those tools then you might only want to briefly glance at the sections in this chapter.

Dictionary

The Dictionary chapter details the keys and values that define a state for Vvidget Code processing. The Dictionary chapters are more of a specification of the attributes of Vvidget Code and less of a programming guide. Once you are familiar with the programming details then the Dictionary section provides plug-and-play specifications for graph generation as demonstrated by the Dictionary's Illustration section.

Common Keys

The Common Keys chapter extends the Dictionary chapter by providing those keys that are common to most dictionaries. Of special note is the Templates section. Templates are specialized Vvidget Builder documents and are layed out using Vvidget Builder. A templates combined with a dictionary form the entire output state of Vvidget Code (a graph).

Extraordinary Dictionary

The Extraordinary Dictionary chapter gives some examples of specialized dictionary states that are utilized for domain-specific processing which are not generally applicable. This chapter does not attempt to enumerate all of the keys but rather just give a brief encounter with the idea that dictionary states need not map to graphical or data attributes but rather they can map to any attribute and in the case of extraordinary dictionaries they map to domain-specific attributes (a.k.a.: dimensions).

API

The API chapters define the API necessary to translate the Dictionary states to the various programming paradigms. Because Cocoa and Cocoa Touch are Objective-C based the API shows Objective-C syntax and object-oriented implementation. However, other API can be procedural (ANSI-C functions for example) or in the case of scripting (Web, Unix, etc.) there is no real API, only serializations. In any case, the API sections give method definitions as well as implementation details. If you are familiar with the Programming and Dictionary details then the only thing left from a programming perspective are the API details.

Support

Anything not documented in other sections of this manual are documented in the Support section. Generally the support section should only deal with questions about things not included in Vvidget Code, otherwise the information should be in another section of this manual.

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