I've been working with Kinect for a few months and I've used OpenNI and Kinect for Windows SDK since then. A few months ago, when I started using it, I was usinf C# with WPF to create menus that a user could use gestures to interact with them using WPF. Using WPF it's pretty easy to detect grab gestures, swipes and press gesture (This is done in a trasparent way to the programmer), but since I've migrated to C++, I have no clue how to detect them. Which functions of the Kinect SDK are used to do this or where can I find a tutorial regarding this matter?
Many thanks!
I realize it's an old question, but I had the same problem and haven't found an answer. What I did found was this post on MSDN forums stating that those gestures are integral part of WPF/XAML and cannot be used without it. Person from url i linked below said: "I would say that press, pan and zoom as you found them are no "general gestures" out of the box, only interactions with some WPF/XAML controls inside a KinectRegion." Good thing is that those functions are not that hard to implement.
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/59cf4671-98cc-4fe5-a3e0-6ecc612cde3c/swipe-gesture-in-v2-sdk?forum=kinectv2sdk
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I'm developing my first Windows desktop application and I'm trying to figure out what the best approach would be to create the program's GUI.
I know, I know... I feel stupid for asking considering the amount of data on the subject on SO. However most answers seem outdated and I'm not sure if they fit my specific project. Also tutorials for Windows 8 'metro apps' are clogging my Google search results, which is NOT what I'm looking for.
I use Visual Studio. I've followed tutorials. I have basic knowledge of C and Java and extensive experience with PHP. I'm excited to learn C++, so I'm not looking for GUIs to create a GUI (like WinForms). I also don't care about managed code and portability for now, especially since I'm trying to avoid dependencies (i.e. users having to install .NET). As long as it runs smoothly on Vista and up, I'm happy.
The application
The software will teach basic physics to kids. I'd like to create a main area and a sidebar. The main area will feature a physics animation, say a bouncing ball, along with some Q&A. Users can zoom in to the animation to measure some stuff and answer the question. Users can track their progress in the sidebar. That's pretty much it.
What I've found so far
I'm getting a bit frustrated with MSDN. Most of their examples are given in four different languages (C#, C++, etc). I can't seem to get more than a bit of Hello World code from them.
I found a GDI API on MSDN and it seems like a good start for me. However I've read quite a few answers on SO saying creating layouts in pure C++ is really hard, that we're better of using frameworks like ATL and WTL. Since I'm also going to create (somewhat interactive) animations, I've wondered whether I should use gaming-targeted APIs like Direct2D.
Since all of this is new to me, and there are a lot of options, I don't know where to start for my particular application. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Using the raw Win32 API (no additional downloads or third-party helpers):
Here's a good primer (introduces dialog boxes, text boxes, buttons, etc): theForger's Win32 API Tutorial
And here's where you go from there (numeric up-downs, list boxes, combo boxes, tooltips, and more): Common Controls on MSDN. Most of these require you to #include <commctrl.h>.
I also found this to be a good resource that covered what the other two didn't: Win32 Developer - Window Assets
But the Win32 API doesn't seem like it does exactly what you want. A physics app for kids should have a more visual GUI than the API can provide. Good luck, though!
If you're ok with adding additional Frameworks, I'd suggest looking at Qt.
It allows to create the GUI from code only, has a good structure, and has an Interface for 2D drawing, if required.
If you are concerned about dependencies, you only have to include the Qt DLLs to your executables; no installation is required for the user.
To get started, see my (old) tutorial "Lessons in Windows API Programming".
But you really need a good book, such as edition 5 or earlier of Charles Petzold's classic "Programming Windows".
The problem with latest edition is that it's for C# and .NET, with Charles grabbing the tail of the "new way" at just the wrong time…
Disclaimer: I haven't checked the details of edition numbers.
Using the Windows API is the simplest, but producing advanced GUIs can take a very long time. Microsoft Foundation Class is a way to make the Windows API more user friendly and OOP. Does anyone have any experience with MFC?
Why not use some 2D C++ game engine, like HGE: http://hge.relishgames.com/overview.html.
I'm not very familiar with Linux, but have some experience with C and C++. I would like to get in touch with some Visual FX and/or UI development (either C or C++). I was wondering if there is a possibility to access the GUI elements of the Desktop on Ubuntu's Unity UI.
What I especially would like to do, is to render animations on the desktop or windows or all over the screen. (particle effects when clicking with the mouse or so).
Can anyone point me in the right direction? (Libraries, Documents, ...)
I think Desktop Effects have to be designed specific for the corresponding Window Manager.
I think unity uses (some sort of) compiz, so you should look into compiz plugin development.
A lot of "i thinks" so i am not really sure if that'll help you, but good luck.
You want to learn a lot more about GTK. There are lot of documentation on line (and some books also). You might code in C++ using GtkMM (but you could consider Qt also). GTK itself is coded in C, with well designed coding style and convention. Looking inside its source code is worthwhile.
I'm interested to know if gtkmm w/ ATK (or whatever) works with MSAA like Qt does. We're looking right now at switching toolkit from WX and it turns out that our testing software relies on MSAA to do it's thing (something I wish I'd known 3 years ago when we picked WX to begin with). Of all the GUI toolkits, I prefer GTKmm mainly due to it's use of signals and slots but in a way much more expressive and generic than Qt's....and without the need for the extra build step that requires the Qt VS plugin. The designer is much better too.
So I'd like to use GTKmm but the only discussions and google stuff I can find on the topic are 3+ years old. They lead me to believe the answer is no, it doesn't support it and if it does it's really shoddy. But a lot can change in 3 years.
So, anyone that uses GTK or GTKmm on win32 know if it supports the windows accessibility framework?
I can’t say for sure but I would lean toward very little to no support. I use the Jaws screen reader SOFTWARE SINCE I’m blind. It uses MSAA quite heavily and GTK applications such as Pidgin are almost completely inaccessible. While I can read some of the text on a screen figuring out weather I’m in an edit field or weather a button is selected is impossible. If my screen reader can’t deal with GTK applications I assume your testing software will have major issues as well.
I don't know if this is still being tracked but I will second this assessment as another windows screen reader user. gnuCash was the app I tried and it was pretty rough going. Worked like a dream in Gnome with Orca though. Apparently, it's like this, if you want windows accessibility, use QT and WxWidgets. If you want Linux, use gtk+. QT is going to be accessible in Linux apparently though this is yet to be (not till gnome 3, I think). Pity you had to abandon WxWidgets. I personally like their widgets since it has those sizers which take much of the guess work out of placement of controls. Important when you can't see and you want to build a gui. Looks like about the only cross-platform accessibility solutions right now are Xul and SWT (Java, you know). Sad thing about WxWidgets is that this sort of thing was reported to them two years ago but nothing seems to have been done about it.
http://trac.wxwidgets.org/ticket/9785
I would be delighted to know that I am wrong about this. I doubt it, though.
Ok so my new gig is high performance video (think Google streetview but movies) - the hard work is all embedded capture and image processing but:
I was looking at the new MS video offerings to display content = Windows Media Foundation.
Is anyone actually using this ?
There are no books on the topic.
The only documentation is a developer
team blog with a single entry 9 months old.
I thought we had got past having to learn an MS api by spying on the com control messages!
Is it just another wrapper around the same old activeX control?
I read the Media Foundation Programming Guide, and it's as complete as everything else is w/ MS, in that you have all the information you need, no clue on how to find it, and no idea what's important when.
I'm trying to use MMF, but I'm currently not getting anywhere, and am thinking that going back to DirectShow might be the better approach as there is more example code with explanations.
No, it does not appear to be just another wrapper around the same ActiveX controls.
Did you read Media Foundation Programming Guide? It looks pretty complete.
To get started with Media Foundation you might want to read this. Media Foundation was first introduced in Windows Vista. Thus, you must have Vista or later versions of Windows to develop Media Foundation apps. If you are targeting Windows XP users then, D-Show might be a better option.
I'm learning programing windows applications with C++. Now I'm reading about messages and I'm playing with the spy++.
What function spy++ use in order to mark/highlight the window under mouse cursor?
Also, can you give me some tips about using MSDN? I'm my opinion is not user friendly at all.
I'm learning programming by myself and i can't get some real life experience tips as those which are learning at college or in teams.
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Not sure exactly what your problem with MSDN is ... I tend to go to e.g. Win32 and COM development and look around for a suitable category in the listing to the left, then click down from there. Or just enter function names and search if I already know what I'm looking for but want the reference documentation. On the other hand, I'm not much of a Win32 developer.
I think spy++ is just inverting the colors directly on the window/screen DC (You could use InvertRect() for example) On Windows 2000 and later, it is probably better to use a translucent layered window if you actually wanted to implement this window highlight since some graphic corruption can occur when messing with other windows behind their back.
Writing a Windows application with just the windows API is possible, but you'll end up writing huge amounts of boilerplate code just to create simple things. This is why people normally use libraries built on top of it to make things easier - MFC for example.
The MSDN article Creating Win32 Applications provides a good explanation of the ins-and-outs of a Windows application using the Win32 API. Bare in mind though that you could build the same application in minutes using MFC.
I agree that MSDN is not the most user friendly source of information for a beginner. In my opinion it works much better as a reference.
My advice would be to focus on building some test applications using MFC (assuming you are tied to C++ as a language). Try looking at the codeproject MFC sections for example, and perhaps even buy a book to help get you started. This does of course require Visual Studio, but you can download the free express edition here