Questions and Answers on Creating VisualEyes Projects
Q: We would like to put project 49051 online so it can be sent around for internal review.
How do we go about getting a URL for this?A: Add the id number to this url: http://www.viseyes.org/browser.php?id=xxxx
where xxxx is the id number of your project (i.e. http://www.viseyes.org/browser.php?id=49051)Q: I tried to put an image in and I went to add resource and put the url in, but I am not sure what the next step is.
I tried to add some glue, but I have a feeling it is more complicated than that.A: Add a resource with your url and an id:
<resource id=”myPic” src=”http://www…”/>
The glue is pretty simple. You use the id you gave in the resource and “glue” it to the screen like this:
<glue from=”myPic” init=”true”/>
The init=”true” tells it to show the pic on startup
Q: How do get from a MYSQL database to an Excel file?
A: When exporting unicode data from a MYSQL db into an Excel doc through a phpmyadmin interface, the unicode characters get turned into something other than what they should be. However, if you export into an OpenOffice spreadsheet, then open the file and save it as an Excel doc, the unicode characters remain intact. You can then import the data from the Excel file into a list for use in VisualEyes.
Q: I’m trying to apply xml data to an image map. I know that I’ll need to georeference the image basemap and have used the Alt key to find the x,y coordinates. I have also made a best guess as to lat/long to match the basemap coordinates. How to identify these locations in VisualEyes?
I know that I’ll be using: gb Bottom georef (i.e 112:40.0876554) gl Left side georef (i.e 35:-78.00023954) gr Right side georef (i.e 35:-78.00023954) gt Top georef (i.e 112:40.0876554) but don’t understand which numbers go where. How would I set up the attributes in the image so that the data in the xml file with find the right place(s) on the map?
A: Your data above would look like this: gr=”673:42.6″ gb=”420:130.8″ Do the same for a point in the top-left corner. Now, any dots you add in a path can specify the lat and lon, ie.: dot x=”40.6″ y=”130.8″
Q: A couple of questions about project 52727 that have got me stumped: In view1, I got my timebar segments to look like the way I’d like, but now they don’t play the portion of video intended, instead they each play the entire video.
A: You need to put a glue attribute in each segment that calls a glue function to control the movie. For example, add this to a segment item in the timebar:
glue=”gotoTime?5000&6000
What it says, is that you want to call a glue item named “gotoTime” each time that segment is clicked on, and pass 2 parameters to that glue; a start time of 5 seconds and an end time of 6 seconds. Make a glue item called “gotoTime” like this:
<glue id=”gotoTime”>
movie(moviePlayer,play,$$click)
movie(moviePlayer,end,$$param)
</glue>The movie() glue method is used to control the movie’s functions. The first parameter is the name of the movie, the second, the thing you want the movie to do, and the third parameter, the value (in this case a time). The values assigned to the $$param and $$click global lists are set by the values after the name of the glue. The first one follows the ?, and the second follows the & (kind of like url parameters). The first line tells the movie name “moviePlayer” to set the “start” of the movie to the first parameter ($$click) passed to the glue from the segment. The second line tells the movie name “moviePlayer” to set the “end” of the movie to the second parameter ($$param) passed to the glue from the segment.
Q: So I changed the ’src’ for the video in 52725, and the corresponding ‘end’ time to 1950. Then changed the timeline ‘max’ to 1950, and also in the timebar. The problem is that now my segments only work if they start at 0000. How do I get them so they can start from a time in the middle of the video, like at 0500?
A: Try putting more keyframes when you encode the video. If the keyframes are too far apart, Flash can’t find a frame to begin.
Q: Trying to edit the ID numbers in the XML file for the map. I open the XML file by pulling down the Show menu and selecting My Data Files. I then edit the value of an id. Then I click “Save and Preview” but the edit doesn’t appear, and when I open the XML file again the edit I made is not there. I assumed since an edit-like window opened and I could modify data that it edited.
A: You need to do this in a text editor:
1. Download the XML file
2. Open it in a text editor
3. Make your changes and save file locally
4. Use the “Upload XML” option in VisEdit to save to server.Q: How do I download an XML file?
A: To download, you can cut and paste from the text area in “Show” menu’s “My Data Files” option or get it from the link: http://www.viseyes.org/data/19981-SeraMap.xml
Q: I went in to add attributes to the stones. I ran into two problems. 1) I tried to add “inscription,” but it didn’t work, which I assume is because inscription appears on the “marker” spreadsheet, whereas so far we have been pulling data form the “people” spreadsheet. Both are loaded with the project, but I wasn’t certain how to tell it to pull from the second spreadsheet. 2) when I went back to add death dates….granted I don’t have a solution for how to add a dash between the birth and death dates….I couldn’t even get “death_year” to show up, even though I added the following:
query($info,peopleData,name_first+name_middle+name_maiden+name_last+birth_day+birth_month+Birth_year+death_year, headstone EQ $stoneNum)
I double checked the uploaded xml file and the column title is indeed “death_year” (not Death_year or another permutation). Do you know how to pull the inscription data from the second spreadsheet?
A: The way I would try to look at it would be first to see what $info looks like by putting in a line like: status($info) in the fillDots glue item: query($info, peopleData ,name_first+name_middle+name_maiden+name_last+birth_day+birth_month+Birth_year+death_year, headstone EQ $stoneNum) Clicking on one, I got a list that looks like this: Henry,,,Hughes,22,12,1916,1998 death_year is the 8th field you asked for, so anything you tagged with $$8 in the myBox resource will be replaced witth the death_date (1998). Your display script only went up to $$7: align(center)font(_sans,11,0×000000)b($$1 $$2 $$3 $$4) i($$5/$$6/$$7) So the 1998 was never replaced .
To pull up your inscription, make a query on that table, like: query($ins, stonedData, inscriptrion, headstone EQ $stoneNum,) Then, add it as the 9th list member: set($info.8,$ins) It will show up as $$9, cause counting starts at zero. BTW, you’re missing the final parameter on your all queries, the “sort by”. Just put a 0 if you don’t care about the sort order.
Q: I'm clearly missing something, but don't have a clue what it is. I'm trying to get the data from "oats.xml" to appear in the graph. The chart shows, but I don't know how to add the data.
A: You have a good chart "frame", but you need to put the data in. For example, to graph corn production of Acomack county, you need to get a list of bushels.
To do this, query your table. Add a script attribute to your chart <glue> item with:query($corn,oatData,cornProdBushels,County EQ Accomack,0)
This means, "look in the oatData table, and give me all the "cornProdBushels" items whose "County" field is equal to "Accomack" into a list called "$corn" without any sorting. If you put a status($corn) line in the script, if would print this on the bottom of the screen: 530560,508339,488745...
Now we need to populate the chart with this list:
dataset(oatGraph,0,Corn Production - in Bushels,$corn)
Which means fill the 1st dataset in "oatGraph" with the data in "$corn" and sets any future legend to "Corn Production - in Bushels"
Q: I'm starting with an Access query. I've tried exporting the query as: .csv but the data never is right in VE.
A: You need to convert the file to XML before you upload it to the server. For example, your irishpotatos file looks like this (use Show/My data files menu option to see it):
censusYear,County,irishPotatoBushels
1870,Accomack,97730
1880,Accomack,217574
1890,Accomack,124454 ...It's in CSV format, not XML, which should look like this:
<TABLE a="censusYear,County,irishPotatoBushels">
<ROW a="1870,Accomack,97730"/>
<ROW a="1880,Accomack,217574"/>
<ROW a="1890,Accomack,124454"/> ...You can use the native CSV file by using the Tools/Upload CSV file to servers menu option, and then setting the src attritrbue to the the url of the CSV, (i.e. /data/18277-sweetPotato.csv) .
