| Jeliot - interactive algorithm animator | ||||||
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The window is divided into three major sections: the code area, the statusline and the buttons. The code area is where you write the code you want to animate. Due to the limitations of the Java(tm) -language, you can not load (or save) your own algorithms from your own file. To go around this annoying feature you can copy-paste your source code in to the code area. Almost any Java(tm) program can be animated, see EJava-language for more information about this. When the window opens for the first time, a simple default code is placed into the code area. It is just a simple class with one method, init().
The second part is the statusline that shows short messages during the operation about the status of the program. All the errors don't that have a corresponding error file are also reported here. The same messages will also be shown in the browser's status line.
The third part contains the buttons. The following table describes them and their functions.
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Clear | Clears the text area. If you have changed it, this action is confirmed with a Confirm Clear-dialog. |
| Default | Places a default code to the text area. If you have changed the text, a confirmation dialog will be shown. |
| Examples | This button opens an Example-window, from which you can choose an algorithm if you don't want to write one yourself. Some of the examples have also animation settings that are automatically set when the animation starts. |
| Start | This is the most important button of all. Pushing it will send the code to the server and begin the process of conversion and compiling. Eventually, a Director-window will pop out if the conversion was successful. Otherwise an error message will be shown. When the compilation is done the director will automatically open additional windows if you have not opened one or more yourself, see the Director for more detail. See also the description of the Example button above. |
| Help | As you have already seen (if you are not reading this as a manual), this button opens this help file. |
To animate an algorithm is easy: write your code and press Start. The code is sent to the server for conversion and compilation. Once the process is finished, the Director-window will pop up. You are free to edit the code anytime but you cannot start another conversion while the Director-window is open.