GIDE: Graphic Interface for Discrete Element - Visual Computing: Scientific Visualization and Imaging Systems - page 69

3.2.3 The User Interface/Documentation
The choice of library to use for user interface management: menu, dialogue box,
window management, mouse, etc. must respect the above constraints, which can
be summarised as: Portability and Compatibility.
The choice of OSG library and the portability of the various OS (cross-
platform) limit the possibilities.
OSG interfaces well with the libraries or toolkits: GLUT, FLTK, QT, GTK and
WxWidgets and also with FOX and MCF, which are not themselves cross-
platform. Among these five only those richest in functions are selected: QT, GTK
and WxWidgets.
At this stage all three are suitable, but preference is for WxWidgets with its
better integration with the host 'windows manager', and the look and feel of the
native system are retained
To summarise, the GIDE architecture is represented by the following diagram
(Fig. 3.7 ).
3.2.3.1 Documentation
GIDE uses a project tracking tool 'Trac', visible at the following address: http://
iged.insset.u-picardie.fr/ . Trac is a complete open source project management by
internet system, developed in Python. Trac includes: a Wiki, Route card man-
agement, History, Bug report, Subversion explorer. The Web display of Trac
works through an engine in the ClearSilver template.
3.3 Characteristics of the Application
In the previous chapter, we saw that GIDE is a vector type application allowing the
selection of simulation elements as unitary entities. This characteristic is present in
design applications such as computer-aided design or drawing.
To make things clear, take two flagship applications from Adobe: Illustrator and
Photoshop. The former, vectorial, is used to create illustrations, the patter, raster,
to retouch images. Vector scan is used for creation and raster scan for display.
The scientific data visualisation application 'ParaView' (Open-Source soft-
ware) produces 3D without notions of vectors. So why do we proceed as we do?
Why process the image as a set of vectors when there is no question of modifying
the simulation—we have no right to change the data!
The idea is actually quite different here; the aim is not to allow modification of
the image, but to allow the bodies to be tracked in time, by tracing them or, for
example, by numbering them within a particular zone.