Searching for a Very Specific Type of Tool...

puzzlesphere
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

Awesome!... so you were using UDK?

What's nice about UE4 is that they've completely reworked it so it's all C++ now... much better for compiling, plugins, external libraries, etc. ;-j

Were you making games?

Yeah i was one of the top mod writers for Unreal Tournament.

But i loved it so much i severely burnt myself out trying to win the 'make something unreal competition' single handed. I just wanted to do it all myself , the coding, the design, the gfx, the particle fx, make the models, make the animations, do the mapping and even the sound fx and music.

I always thought burnout was something pussies just complained about..i was wrong. lol. I was ill for quite some time by the end.

Good times lol

CrikeyMagnet
(This part, I could do in Excel,

I'm afraid that one comment speaks volumes, sadly. What you need is a decent programmer. Any language will do. What is important is that the programmer understands how code and systems fit together. Any idiot can write code if taught. It takes a natural ability to visualise how the code interacts with the problem.

Ask the programmer "how they code" you will recognise the rote taught folks from the naturals in an instant !!!!

reply to post by yorkshirelad


Yeah i would advise the same.

But if he can do it in excel all power to him. Its not going to be very easy to tweak at a later time though.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


You actually worked on the unreal engine for a company? Good lord you are a celebrity in my eyes...now that's a pretty cool achievement. I'm actually really amazed...

reply to post by CrikeyMagnet



Let me see.....


Have you heard of "card scripting computer language"? Old school back in the days (hardware still out there). You have a card programmed with many little holes punched out.

Unix, Linux, Dos, and Novell systems allow you to do a command line pass (ie. test.exe 1,2. Ect) windows also can do this, easier if working from a dos window.

There are so many options now.

But I'm not understanding what you are trying to accomplish.

Are you trying to control hardware, or software itself?


Do you know what a CNC machine is and does? If not here is a quick run down.. You design a drawing from CAD, import that drawing file to the CNC machine computer (by command lines with some), the CNC machine cuts out the drawing.


Let me know.?,

tinner07

I thought, tools I know tools...you went the complete opposite way with this thread...

reply to post by chrismarco

 

I thought the same thing,my suggestion... try a hammer...and since I am a sheet metal worker, if that doesn't work, try a bigger hammer.

Sorry brother but you lost me somewhere around the first paragraph when you said something about IDK.... something

Hell yeah, Im a welder and I know that if you cant fix it with a hammer, its obviously an electrical problem!!!

Famouszor I use COBOL everyday so I know card programming, but we dont actually use the cards anymore.

As far as using UDK I think thats a great idea, the Kismet system would work really well for that I believe (?correct me if you think there is a better way Phoenix) but with the looping If:Then/while system and have some canned paths in there to refer to I think you could make it work. Also using that will make it easy to modify it in the future as things change (which is probably most important.... who wants a tool that used to work but doesnt now?)

chr0naut
reply to post by CrikeyMagnet

 

You may have to research deeper but try this list: Wikipedia - List of GUI Testing Tools

I personally used to use the Rational/IBM Tools ages ago but dev has moved on and they are probably different now.

I am familiar with most of these (the popular ones, at least), having been at this software testing game for a fair amount of time, but I've never come across quite the thing I was looking for.

I may review some of those tools again, as they may have added functionality by now, but that may be a work-time pursuit. We could always use more options for automating all of our other software. Thanks!

Famouszor
reply to post by CrikeyMagnet

 

Let me see.....


Have you heard of "card scripting computer language"? Old school back in the days (hardware still out there). You have a card programmed with many little holes punched out.

Unix, Linux, Dos, and Novell systems allow you to do a command line pass (ie. test.exe 1,2. Ect) windows also can do this, easier if working from a dos window.

There are so many options now.

But I'm not understanding what you are trying to accomplish.

Are you trying to control hardware, or software itself?


Do you know what a CNC machine is and does? If not here is a quick run down.. You design a drawing from CAD, import that drawing file to the CNC machine computer (by command lines with some), the CNC machine cuts out the drawing.


Let me know.?,

I understand what you mean. One of the earlier languages I learned was actually COBOL (I know that came up in a later post as well), and that came with learning its rich history and... all about stacks of cards individually fed into a computer. That Final exam earns the dubious distinction of "Only Final I Have Fallen Asleep In". Seriously. Fell asleep. (Still passed, though, so... huzzah!)

My intention is actually to build logic into a system that doesn't have the logic itself, using a graphical decision-tree which allows you to set up a path through text files that contain snippets of test script code (using the same interface to create a persistent map of the relations between these files so that new paths could be planned) and outputting basically a string of command-line triggers for the appropriate files to be run in the target testing tool (I have been thinking about error handling through "pass" or "Fail" responses from previous steps as well, but that could be for future consideration. Even though it shouldn't be much more complicated than the original plan... I like the 70% solution with iterations afterward.). (I know... I went all "incomprehensible" again.)

Long story short: There's nothing physical I'm looking for in this... just a way of describing relationships between text files, so that they can each do their individual thing, according to a path that I have picked.

yorkshirelad

CrikeyMagnet
(This part, I could do in Excel,

I'm afraid that one comment speaks volumes, sadly. What you need is a decent programmer. Any language will do. What is important is that the programmer understands how code and systems fit together. Any idiot can write code if taught. It takes a natural ability to visualise how the code interacts with the problem.

Ask the programmer "how they code" you will recognise the rote taught folks from the naturals in an instant !!!!

Yes. I recognize the value of a good developer. I myself am soooooooo rusty, but if I had the inclination could likely put something halfway functional together. Never really had an interest in that aspect though. I much prefer to break things. Excel simply came up as it has allowed me to do some pretty complex things, and make some tools for myself that would have taken a fair amount of money to get together through a development process... and it lets me play with numbers in a way that gets too abstract in coding. Numbers have been fun. Coding... I get bored.

The spot where Excel fails me in this case is where I'd like other people to be able to look at this arrangement of associated script files, and see the purpose of the path. Then take the map of potential paths, and create an entirely new path using the set associations... or create new associations to increase the number of potentials. The easiest way I can see to accomplish this is with a graphical interface. Because otherwise, it's too complex to look at, and too complex to track what's already covered so you can make more.