en:news

New site is available

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

New site is available

It is a pleasure to announce that a new version of our website was launched.

The new website continues to be based on the awesome DokuWiki wiki. But now, we have changed the main template to one based on the Bootstrap framework.

As you can see in the images bellow, it now looks much better (including the support for mobile screens).

As usual, feedback is always welcome!

NCL Composer is now on github

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer is now on github

We are glad to announce that NCL Composer source code is now officially available on GitHub at http://github.com/telemidia/nclcomposer.

There you can find the new source code and follow our changes as we approach to 0.3 release. It will also be a place submit bugs, request features, and cooperatively develop documentation.

Please, fell free to contribute ASAP.

Contributing to Open Source Projects

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

Contributing to Open Source Projects

Most new users want to contribute to Open Source projects but are usually intimidated to the project as a whole. On the Web there are a lot of good articles that shows how you can to contribute to Open Source project. So, instead of rewriting everything here, I will redirect you for a very good blog post on “14 Ways to Contribute to Open Source without Being a Programming Genius or a Rock Star” that was posted by Andy Lester on Software Quality Matters Blog.

However, an important thing of the article above (and most of the others available on the Web), and that I want to highlight here is: you do not need to be a genius programmer, or even a programmer at all to contribute. There are a lot of ways to contribute, from promoting the software, bug reporting, testing, documentation, and until coding. Don't be intimidate!

For NCL Composer, we keep a page on ways to contribute (Contribute page). Visit it! And if you want to contribute, does not hesitate in contact us.

Ginga4Windows released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

Ginga4Windows released

Hello Everyone,

It is a great pleasure to announce that PUC-Rio has just released the new version of Ginga-NCL to the Community. The big news: IT ALSO SUPPORTS WINDOWS NOW!

You can download the binary version of the Ginga-NCL Reference Implementation for Windows at: http://www.telemidia.puc-rio.br/?q=en/novasferramentas

We have also prepared a brief tutorial about how to integrate the Windows version of Ginga-NCL Reference Implementation to the version of NCL Composer that you already have. See it: run.

NCL Composer Beta (0.1.1) Intro video

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer Beta (0.1.1) Intro video

Hi everyone,

we have developed an introductory video to the BETA version (0.1.1) of NCL Composer. The video shows how to create a complete application from scratch. By now, the audio is only in Portuguese.

The interactive application used as example is “The First João”. You can find the complete application (and its media) at NCL Club (http://club.ncl.org.br/node/48).

NCL Composer 0.1.2 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.1.2 released

Release 0.1.2 of NCL Composer is out, with many new features and bug fixes, including:

A theme system that allows the NCL Composer to be fully-customized through a CSS like syntax (based on QSS system).
A notify system that allow us to notify users of new releases, events, etc.
Improvements in the Run over SSH feature. Now, only files that have been modified since the last run are sent to remote machine again.
Marking entities with error (links and medias) in the Structural View.
Autocomplete to xconnectors while creating a new link in the Structural View.
A full-revised default connector base.
Allows the user to show a grid in the Layout View, that can help while the user is indicating where the media will be presented.
And many other good things.

Though in this new release a number of bug fixes is added, we still consider we are in a BETA stage. Please, if you find any problem, contact us.

Find out more in our Download Section and enjoy!

NCL Composer 0.1.4 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.1.4 released

Release 0.1.4 of NCL Composer is out. This release is mainly bug fixes, and includes:

Bug #467: Layout: updateFromModel does not keep grid visibility.
Bug #472: Clear recent project is not cleanning recent projects in Welcome page.
Bug #474: Structural: Import base is being ignored when first creating a project.
Bug #475: Structural: Adding a causalConnector in structural is not being reflected in other views.
Support #476: Check if there is a previous version of NCL Composer installed (and ask to remove it) on Windows.

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

NCL Composer 0.1.5 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.1.5 released

Release 0.1.5 of NCL Composer is out. This release is mainly bug fixes, and includes:

Bug #478: Update min message id is not updated when the user update NCL Composer.
Bug #485: When a View is floating the menu Window→Show View is not showing that View.
Feature #500: When creating a new Project, make the default “Copy and Import the default Connector Base” preference as true.
Feature #532: Show the plugins in the screen a “more nice” way when open NCL Composer for the first time.
Feature #533: Feature: Option to create a default regionBase when creating a new project.
Bug #322: Structural: Fix <link> considering the size of nodes.
Bug #446: Structural: Adding bindParam from outside structural view is not being reflected in structural view.
Bug #492: Textual: transition is not being suggested as child of transitionBase.
Bug #514: Layout: Keep the project settings for grid preference.
Feature #420: Layout: When the user create a region add it with a zIndex greater than the others.
Feature #452: Structural: Mouse over should show also the error, if any.
Feature #480: Structural: Show link dialog in the center of current screen (when used a desktop with multiple screen).
Feature #484: Structural: Show bindParam in the parameter Window, only if it is related to the double clicked bind.
Feature #531: Textual: Add references from moveUp, moveDown, moveLeft, moveRight to focusIndex.

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

NCL Composer 0.1.6 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.1.6 released

Release 0.1.6 of NCL Composer is out. This release mainly includes improvements in the layout view (including a new toolbar) and structural view (including a new minimap for navigation), and also a lot of bug fixes. The main issues included in this version are:

Bug #536: wrongs links in welcome screen
Feature #525: Add version to SplashScreen.
Feature #535: Change update messages to be based on NCL Composer version (regex?).
Bug #393: Structural: Highlight of context/switch while creating a link is not working.
Bug #488: Structural: the system crash after delete a bind associated with a interface of a reused entity.
Bug #544: Structural: Port to area or other port (in a context inside the other) does not work.
Bug #545: Structural: Link from a port to another port is crashing.
Bug #605: Textual: Cursor position when inserting a new attribute through autocomplete should be inside the attribute value.
Bug #613: Layout: Combobox is not being updated when current selected regionBase changes.
Bug #615: Layout: regionBase id is not being updated in the combobox.
Feature #360: Textual: Update with the QScintilla version 2.7.
Feature #412: Structural: Show underline mark in entities with error.
Feature #463: Structural: Minimap for global visualization
Feature #491: Layout: Add a toolbar to include new region, enable/disbale grid, align options, etc.
Feature #521: Structural: Mouse over “bind” must show tooltip in the form “condition(id#area)”.
Feature #543: Structural: mark port with errors.
Feature #548: Layout: Add show/hide grid option to toolbar.
Feature #549: Layout: Add insert region action to toolbar.
Feature #550: Layout: Add remove region option to toolbar.
Feature #571: Layout: Add combobox to change among regionBases to toolbar.
Feature #604: Layout: Add export (snapshot) to toolbar menu.
Feature #606: Textual: Suggestions for property names.

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

NCL Composer 0.1.7 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.1.7 released

Release 0.1.7 of NCL Composer is out. This new release is a bug fix release. Thus, you will not find a lot of new features, but mainly improved ones.

This version is also a preparation for the next major version 0.2.0, when we will fully support Qt 5.0. Currently, you are able to build the source code with Qt 4.8 or Qt 5.x. However, our currently release binaries is still based on Qt 4.8.

The main issues included in this version are:

Bug #622: Link description in WelcomeWidget “Part 8 - NCL Live Editing Commands” should be “Part 9 - NCL Live Editing Commands”
Bug #630: Size of properties and outline views are too big for some resolutions.
Feature #625: Add build date to About Dialog.
Bug #624: Validator: moveUp, moveDown etc. are showing error messages even in correct cases.
Bug #631: Structural: When a new connector is add, the structural view does not show the related parameters.
Bug #632: Structural: Invalid reference for a connectorParam crash NCL Composer.
Feature #468: Structural: Refactory of structural → Remove QnstEntity class.
Feature #469: Structural: Refactory of structural → Remove duplicated information between QnstGraphicsEntity and QnstEntity.
Feature #626: Layout: Add option to create a new regionBase in dropdown menu to select regionBase.
Feature #629: Structural: Add icon to sbtvd:, isdb-ts:, ts: etc. media objects.

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

NCL Composer 0.2.0 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.2.0 released

Release 0.2.0 of NCL Composer is out. This release has been developed during the last year, and includes the improvements and bug fixes implemented during this last year. Probably, you will found only few changes on the user interface, but several internal refactoring and new features for plug-in developers have been implemented since the 0.1.9 version.

The main issues included in this version are:

Composer Core - Feature #542: Support to Qt 5.x
Composer Core - Feature #711: Add a message in the API which allows for adding a subtree to the document.
Composer Core - Feature #713: Change addEntity with a subtree to allow the specification of the parameter 'format'.
Composer GUI - Feature #541: Support to Qt 5.x
Composer GUI - Feature #661: Remove close button from Welcome tab.
Composer GUI - Feature #719: Change executable name to nclcomposer.exe
Composer Plugins - Bug #623: Structural: Creating a link (without a connector) is not creating a default connector to it. (Structural2)
Composer Plugins - Bug #648: Structural: Remove invalid characters when drag and drop media objects. (Structural1 / Structural2)
Composer Plugins - Feature #217: Structural: Enable Undo/Redo actions (Structural2)
Composer Plugins - Feature #411: Layout: Handle zIndex
Composer Plugins - Feature #518: Structural: Link dialog should omit the connector stuffs. (Structural2)
Composer Plugins - Feature #534: Structural: Add a menu option to add link. (Structural2)
Composer Plugins - Feature #540: Support to Qt 5.x.
Composer Plugins - Feature #638: Structural: Ask the user if he is sure when deleting the body or a context.
Composer Plugins - Feature #640: Layout: Drag over region must highlight the region.
Composer Plugins - Feature #645: Layout: Draw safe area
Composer Plugins - Feature #660: Remove close button from Welcome tab.
Composer Plugins - Feature #663: Textual: Order of attributes of element <region> should be fixed.
Composer Plugins - Feature #665: Property: Keep NCL_STRUCTURE attribute order.
Composer Plugins - Feature #667: Textual: Update to QScintilla 2.8.
Composer Plugins - Feature #675: Rules: Add a default id when creating the rule.
Composer Plugins - Feature #676: Rules: Set a default operator (maybe “and”) when creating a composite rule.
Composer Plugins - Feature #701: Structural: Change default instance attribute to “instSame” when creating a reference. (Structural1)
Composer Plugins - Feature #702: All: Make a standard to plugin dll/so.
Composer Plugins - Feature #704: Rule: Command to insert elements should be: Insert > Element. Following the same conventions as structural and layout.
Composer Plugins - Feature #705: Layout: Support to keyboard (e.g. LEFT, RIGHT, UP, DOWN) to move regions.
Composer Plugins - Feature #709: Layout: Support to keyboard (e.g. SHIFT+LEFT, SHIFT+RIGHT, SHIFT+UP, SHIFT+DOWN) to move regions with a small step.
Composer Plugins - Feature #720: Layout: Move “Add region” for the first level in contextual menu.

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

NCL Composer 0.2.1 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.2.1 released

Release 0.2.1 of NCL Composer is out.

The main feature in this version is the possibility to run multi-device applications (take a look in this tutorial to learn how to use it). It also includes minor improvements and the bug fixes bellow.

The main issues included in this version are:

Feature #722: When installing NCL Composer, ask if the user wants to install Ginga-NCL Reference Implementation.
Feature #726: Windows Installer: Change the default installdir to $PROGRAMFILES/TeleMidia/NCL Composer/.
Composer GUI - Feature #734: Support for running passive/active devices.
Composer GUI - Feature #737: Support space between parameters in run configuration.
Composer Plugins - Bug #725: Property: ENTER in the text editor should not be handled as \n, but should confirm the value.
Composer Plugins - Bug #733: Property: Disable property name edition.
Composer Plugins - Bug #735: Layout: SHIFT+RIGHT is working as SHIFT+LEFT and SHIFT+DOWN is working as SHIFT+UP.
Composer Plugins - Feature #271: Layout: Enable Zoom In/Out.
Composer Plugins - Feature #497: Structural: Insert new entities at the mouse pointer position.
Composer Plugins - Feature #723: Textual: Update to Qscintilla 2.9.

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

NCL Composer 0.3.0 released

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer 0.3.0 released

The main features in this version are: (1) a new improved main window, allowing better organization of the interface; (2) a completely refactory of the structural view; and (3) a new Run View plugin, which allow to play Ginga embedded in NCL Composer.

Update: You can find a more detailed comparison of the previous (0.2.1) and current current (0.3.0) structural view here.

Updates since v0.2.1

New features & UI (GUI and Plug-ins)

Completely new and improved main window.
A new default perspective.
Allow users to the current perspective through CTRL+1, CTRL+2, …
Structural: A new toolbar.
Structural: Support to undo/redo.
Run: New Run View plugin.
Textual: Add replace features to Ctrl+F.
Layout: Copy/paste of regions.

Performance & Internal Implementation

All: new log system based on Qt 5.5.
Textual: Update to QScintilla 2.9.3. (#723)
Structural: Completely refactoring of structural view.

Bug fixes

Fix “save as…” crash when overwriting a project (#786).
Recent projects was not being loaded when nclcomposer was started (#805).
Property: fix crash after changing a media source in the filechooser (#808).

Find out more in our Download Section and if you find any problem, please contact us!

Screencast: NCL Composer Development Preview

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

Screencast: NCL Composer Development Preview

NCL Composer Development Preview

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

NCL Composer Development Preview

This is just a screencast showing the new features we are working on (version 0.1.0):

Some of the new features includes:

Drag and drop of system files inside structural to create new media objects.
Drag and drop from structural to layout region to create new descriptors.
Draw arcs when we have two binds from the same origin to the same target.
Import connector base from a external file.

among others.

Added a draft Tutorial about how to create a plugin

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

Added a draft Tutorial about how to create a plugin

Hi Everyone,

We have just added the tutorial How to create a plugin to NCL Composer.

Added a new Tutorial: How to create a plugin to NCL Composer

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

Added a new Tutorial: How to create a plugin to NCL Composer

anchor: #20120407030515
head: Added a new Tutorial: How to create a plugin to NCL Composer
link: /news/allnewsdata#20120407030515
start: 2012-04-07
stop: 2012-08-07
text:
author: roberto

Paper published: "Incremental validation of NCL hypermedia documents"

2017-02-03T16:31:18-03:00

Paper published: "Incremental validation of NCL hypermedia documents"

Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society has just published a paper related to NCL Composer, named “Incremental validation of NCL hypermedia documents”.

The paper describes how the NCL validator, developed by Laboratory of Advanced Web Systems (Laws/UFMA), works internally and also its integration with NCL Composer.

The paper can be downloaded from: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13173-013-0110-1.

Its full bibtex is:

@article{
year={2013},
issn={0104-6500},
journal={Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society},
doi={10.1007/s13173-013-0110-1},
title={Incremental validation of NCL hypermedia documents},
url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13173-013-0110-1},
publisher={Springer-Verlag},
keywords={NCL; Incremental validation; Code validation; Ginga; ISDB-Tb; iDTV},
author={Santos, RodrigoCostaMesquita and Neto, JoséRiosCerqueira and Salles Soares Neto, Carlos and Teixeira, MárioMeireles},
pages={1-22},
language={English}
}