View source for User:Dsavoia

'''SIMSYS REU Summer Research 2014'''
     ''5/28/2014''
          A majority of the time spent was going over the previous senior design team's golden test cases 
          and seeing how the preview tool they created works, as well as going through the code of the game generator 
          to get an idea of how it works.  I also spent time touching up on some XML skills.  We had a our first meeting
          from 2-3 to figure out what objectives we should focus on for this week.

     ''5/29/2014''
          We spent more time learning more about XML and how it is used in our project, specifically JAXB.
          We also looked at eAdventure to see what the competitor is doing compared to us.
          We have looked through the code for the game generator to try and see what we need to do to 
          update to the latest schema.  We have compared the "golden" test cases to the newest XML
          schema provided by Dr. Cooper.

     ''5/30/2014''
          Today we spent a lot of time comparing one of the "golden" test cases to the new schema. We have noticed that the 
          new schema and "golden" test case correlate quite well which is good news.  There may be some small changes that 
          are necessary in order to get them to match perfectly, but the test cases look very well done.  We also spent time
          trying to adjust and organize the "golden" test case to make it easier to view and compare based on the new schema.

     ''6/2/2014''
          We began by running and looking at the new code for the Game Generator.  We also had a meeting  with
          Dr. Longstreet at 12 to discuss our role in the project and how the wizard will work.  We also met with
          Dr. Brylow to discuss some technical aspects of the project.  We also received the latest test cases.
          We went to the discussion on prostate cancer, to achieve a better understanding on how to present
          research properly.  We finished the day by looking and trying to find the repository and see what 
          is inside and whether or not we will have to add more to that.

     ''6/3/2014''
          We began working on the wizard tool.  We came up with an idea of what it should look like and actually 
          writing the code to make it work.  A lot of the time spent today was on figuring out a design for the 
          code and writing the code for the wizard.
     
     ''6/4/2014''
          We continued working on the wizard tool.  We designed a preliminary design for Dr. Longstreet and Dr. Cooper 
          for our meeting.  We then got advice on how to better display the tool and continued modifying it.
     
     ''6/5/2014''
          We continued working on the wizard tool.  We were able to change the background of the JPanel to incorporate
          SimSys avatars in them.  We also made drop down boxes for the users first selections that will take them through
          a step-by-step process in answering the questions.  We did some user
          error checking as we began making the tools as well.

     ''6/6/2014''
         We continued working on the wizard tool.  We implemented a table into the tool to present the various learning 
         objectives.  The table contains a check box so the user can check which learning objectives they would like to 
         keep.  We also developed some more error checking.  We also played around with the tree to make it more
         user friendly.  We created a class to better input backgrounds into the panel as well.

     ''6/9/2014''
         We continued working on the wizard tool.  We began by fixing all of what Dr. Longstreet asked us to change.
         We made continue buttons take the user to the next screen.  We made the avatars bigger, changed the font,
         thickened borders, increased font size, changed location of the table, and completed some more error checking.
         We made the avatar sad when the user made a mistake. Overall, we made the aesthetics of the wizard tool much
         nicer.

     ''6/10/2014''
         We met with Dr. Longstreet to show him our updated work on the wizard tool.  We also got advice from him on
         our next steps.  We changed the introduction/user first selection page.  The comboboxes now change based 
         on previous comboboxes.  We also created the GitHub for us and the students at University of Texas-Dallas.

     ''6/11/2014''
         We added a table and a pop-up table to the learning objectives panel.  When the user clicks a check box
         another window opens up and they are able to select from a list of sub-learning objectives.   We have hard
         coded this for now but plan on importing it from the repository.  We also have our weekly meeting/demonstration
         with everyone to show our current work and ask any questions.

     ''6/12/2014''
         We adjusted the table of the Wizard tool so that there is no longer a pop-up window, as Dr. Longstreet asked for.
         The table is very clear on main learning objectives and sub-learning objectives as we adjusted the font of them
         The table is much clearer for the user to use now.  We also had a meeting with Dr. Brylow on how to give a good
         research speech.

     ''6/13/2014''
         We continued working on the table, changing fonts and such. We also created a summary page complete with error 
         checking for Learning Objectives. We also a made a collection of screen shots for Dr. Longstreet and Dr. Cooper
         to use in their paper.

     ''6/14/2014''
         We continued development of the Wizard tool, moving on to learning taxonomy selection. After completing this we started the 
         challenge selection portion of the tool.

     ''6/17/2014''
         We finished up the challenge selection screen.  There is also some error checking we have included so they must select a type
         of challenge.  We added a game conditions screen where the user can select how challenges are implemented.
         There is also error checking on this page. We made a summary screen of all of the lower level of the meta-model components
         of the tool.  We have essentially finished the lower level of the meta-model.

     ''6/18/2014''
         Finished our first draft of covering the lower portion of the meta model. We also worked on fixing some error checking. 
         The weekly meeting provided with us with some problems with our current implementation.

     ''6/19/2014''
         We started finishing up the lower level of the meta-model and the changes that Dr. Longstreet wanted.  We had a meeting
         about good research ethics.  We also met with the team from UT Dallas to talk about the project.

     ''6/20/2014''
         We finished up the lower half of the meta-model today.  We finished all of the changes Dr. Longstreet suggested.  We fixed 
         some bugs in the program and changed some features.  We added some tables to the program as suggested by Dr. Longstreet.
         Overall, we have finished the lower half of the model and will now begin the upper half.

     ''6/23/2014''
         We finished up all error checking on the tree of the wizard tool.  We began the upper-half of the meta-model today. We added
         a scrollable character panel that allows the user to select which characters (protagonist, antagonist, etc.) they want in the 
         game.
     
     ''6/24/2014''
         We worked on the upper level of the meta model. Specifically the character selection page and the location selection we worked
         on. We also went to Dr. Corliss' lecture on LaTeX.
    
      ''6/25/2014''
         We had our weekly meeting. We continued working on the upper level of the meta model and starting working on a restructuring
         of learning objectives in the tool.

      ''6/26/2014''
         We began preparing for our mini-presentations.  We also updated everyone with our latest screen shots and asked a few questions 
         on what our next steps should be. We also implemented new error checking on the new version of the learning objective table
         as well as changed our tree around to better reflect the new addition.  The new table is more specific and also gives specific 
         errors to the user if they do not complete the table correctly.

     ''6/27/2014''
         We finished our PowerPoint and began preparing for our mini-presentations.  We did an overhaul of our character selection.

     ''6/30/2014''
         We started doing error checking.  Added tree nodes for learning objectives.  Completed tree listener for character and location.
         We tried to formulate a plan for the next steps in the tool and implement them.

      ''7/1/2014''
         We had our mini-presentations that we prepared for.  We had a short meeting with Dr. Brylow.  We began the design of some additional
         work on the upper-level of our tool.

      ''7/2/2014''
         We had our weekly meeting at 2.  We worked more on the upper level of the meta-model.  We included number of act selection.  This 
         involved making some new coordinated arrays depending on the number of learning objectives selected.  User can now select 
         number of acts for each learning objective.
     
      ''7/3/2014''
         Created an XML template for acts that the user can see.  Began work on the repository.  The user is now displayed a template for the
         way the game is created.

      ''7/7/2014''
         We created a few more XML templates to import information to use.  We also added a screen so the user can select the theme they want.
         We then show them the characters associated with that theme.  We then show them the general layout of the acts and scenes for that 
         learning objective.  We also created a screen that asks the user if they wish to add an act or duplicate the previous set-up.

      ''7/8/2014''
         We allowed the user to add acts or duplicate the original template and showed them their new updated acts/scenes/screens set-up.
         They can continue to add acts to the middle are or continue to duplicate the original.  We allowed an option for the user to go back
         to the original template.  We also fixed the tree to work with the second half of the wizard tool.

      ''7/9/2014''
         We were able to update the template so that the user could add scenes and add another set of acts as before.  The user
         can add as many acts and scenes as they would like.  We began planning our next steps.  We also fixed the tree
         so that it worked properly.  We had a meeting with Dr. Brylow at 2:00 pm.    

      ''7/10/2014''
         We finished the questions so that they are now numbered.  The user is now given a table with a list of the questions.  They can
         select the condition and challenge for each question they have created.  We finished some error checking for the tree and added
         a last page so that the user can save their game.  Next step is creating an XML file to fit the standard.  The GUI of the tool
         should be complete with some minor modifications.

      ''7/11/2014''
         We made the save button open up a save window option so the user can save their game in XML format.  We began figuring out 
         how to properly create the XML file.

      ''Week of 7/14/2014''
         We began creating the XML file and testing it on the preview tool.  We completed our posters for the poster session next week.
         We added some components to the GUI as well.

      ''7/21/2014''
         We began to fit our XML to the test case that UT Dallas sent.  We also updated our tool to have a final summary page.
         We also made the question table more user friendly.  We added methods and started cleaning up our code.  We also created 
         another XML template. 

      ''7/22/2014''
         We continued working on the XML and were able to test it with the preview tool.  We have also touched up some error checking on the
         Wizard tool.