ANN: Alexandria 0.1.1

[Laurent Sansonetti]

Hi,

Alexandria is a GNOME application to help you manage your book
collection.

This is the first public release, codename "Voile sur les filles",
which:

* retrieves book information from Amazon (including cover pictures) ;
* saves data using the YAML format ;
* features an HIG-compliant user interface ;
* shows books in different views (standard list or icons list).

(0.1.1 fixes a critical bug discovered just after 0.1.0).

Check it out at:

http://alexandria.rubyforge.org/

(screen shots included)

Enjoy!

 

[Hal Fulton]

Alexandria is a GNOME application to help you manage your book
collection.

Wow, that is so cool. That saves me from having to write my own
app like that. Seriously, it was on my to-do list.

* features an HIG-compliant user interface ;

Sorry, what's HIG compliance?


If you're taking feature requests, I'd like to see various
reports available (prefer HTML).

I assume there's some way to categorize these, by hand if not
automatically?

Would also like a field to record that a book is borrowed, and
who borrowed it.

And a crazy idea I had was to record the approximate heights and
thicknesses of the books (I actually have this recorded on paper).
That way I can theoretically pack them on shelves in a logical,
semi-automated way. (I understand if you don't like this idea.)

For a pic of (most of) my books, here's a pic of David Alan Black
at the codefest at my house in 2002: http://rubyhacker.com/p8190001.jpg



Cheers,
Hal

 

[Laurent Sansonetti]

Wow, that is so cool. That saves me from having to write my own
app like that. Seriously, it was on my to-do list.

Thank you, I'm glad you like it.

Sorry, what's HIG compliance?

HIG stands for "Human Interface Guidelines":

http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/

If you're taking feature requests, I'd like to see various
reports available (prefer HTML).

We plan to add the possibility to import/export data for the next
release, through the GNOME-DB framework (which can reach a lot of data
sources, and not only databases). GNOME-DB also features generation of
reports from the data, so maybe it can be useful for us in this case,
otherwise we can still write our own reports generator

I assume there's some way to categorize these, by hand if not
automatically?

Categories are planned. In fact we plan to implement a kind of tagging
system.

Would also like a field to record that a book is borrowed, and
who borrowed it.

This is planned, as well as the possibility to rate books.

And a crazy idea I had was to record the approximate heights and
thicknesses of the books (I actually have this recorded on paper).
That way I can theoretically pack them on shelves in a logical,
semi-automated way. (I understand if you don't like this idea.)

AFAIK Amazon doesn't provide this kind of data in their queries, so you
will need to enter them by yourself in Alexandria, unless we find
another "data provider" than Amazon (I'm currently looking for
alternatives) which supports them.

For a pic of (most of) my books, here's a pic of David Alan Black
at the codefest at my house in 2002: http://rubyhacker.com/p8190001.jpg

Waw

 

[Dick Davies]

Sorry, what's HIG compliance?

"Human Interface Guidelines" -
a 'look n feel' howto for GNOME, basically. See:

http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/1.0/

I saw GNOME 2.6 for the first time this weekend - it is *nice*, even has
a built in "take a break" timer for RSI afflictees like me.

Been trying it on and off since 0.97, but this is the first release that
has really impressed me. (Still doesn't beat RatPoison, though...)

 

[Manny Swedberg]

I got the following crash (below). I don't have time right now, but
I'll see if I can hack it a bit and get it working.

----------------------------------------

manny@tikihut:~> alexandria
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:24: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead
-----------------------
Alexandria just crashed
-----------------------
Timestamp: Thu Apr 15 09:31:09 EDT 2004
Message: undefined method `widget_names' for #<GladeXML:0x40410558
ptr=0x82eb3b0>
Backtrace:
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/alexandria/ui/glade_base.rb:7:in
`initialize'
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/alexandria/ui/main_app.rb:5:in
`initialize'
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/alexandria/ui.rb:18:in `new'
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/alexandria/ui.rb:18:in `main'
/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/alexandria.rb:16:in `main'
/usr/bin/alexandria:6
Uname -a: Linux tikihut 2.4.21-199-athlon #1 Fri Mar 12 08:24:04 UTC
2004 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux
--
Please report this dump to '(e-mail address removed)' with some
additional
information, such as the description of the crash and the steps to
reproduce it
(if it's possible).
manny@tikihut:~>

 

[Masao Mutoh]

Hi,

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004 22:29:19 +0900

I got the following crash (below). I don't have time right now, but
I'll see if I can hack it a bit and get it working.

/usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/libglade2.rb:26: warning: rb_f_lambda() is
deprecated; use rb_block_proc() instead

Timestamp: Thu Apr 15 09:31:09 EDT 2004
Message: undefined method `widget_names' for #<GladeXML:0x40410558
ptr=0x82eb3b0>

Your Ruby-GNOME2 seems old(Is it Ruby-GNOME2 0.6.0?).
Try latest version of Ruby-GNOME2(0.9.1) again.

 

[Ian Macdonald]

Hi,

Alexandria is a GNOME application to help you manage your book
collection.

This is the first public release, codename "Voile sur les filles",
which:

* retrieves book information from Amazon (including cover pictures) ;
* saves data using the YAML format ;
* features an HIG-compliant user interface ;
* shows books in different views (standard list or icons list).

(0.1.1 fixes a critical bug discovered just after 0.1.0).

Check it out at:

http://alexandria.rubyforge.org/

(screen shots included)

A very nice program.

One issue I noticed is that the version of Ruby/Amazon used with
Alexandria cannot be higher than 0.7.5, because of the normalisation of
product property names in 0.7.6 and higher. For example, @productname
became @product_name. This was done to make all property names follow a
consistent pattern.

Ian
--
Ian Macdonald | It is not true that life is one damn thing
System Administrator | after another -- it is one damn thing over
(e-mail address removed) | and over. -- Edna St. Vincent Millay
http://www.caliban.org |
|

 

[Laurent Sansonetti]

A very nice program.

Thank you

One issue I noticed is that the version of Ruby/Amazon used with
Alexandria cannot be higher than 0.7.5, because of the normalisation of
product property names in 0.7.6 and higher. For example, @productname
became @product_name. This was done to make all property names follow a
consistent pattern.

Yes, someone noticed that yesterday. The CVS version uses Ruby/Amazon
0.8.1 now.

BTW, thank you for the good work on Ruby/Amazon. It's pretty nice to
use