[x3d-public] [x3dom-developers] Prototype

[Don Brutzman]

On 2/21/2015 3:57 AM, Christoph Valentin wrote:
> Sorry again for answering to an old e-mail

likewise

>>>>>>> with one exception: what about if field definitions in an ExternProtoDeclare
>>>>>>> don't match the original ProtoDeclare?

X3D-Edit has a feature to do this check in the ExternProtoDeclare panel.  It uses color coding to note differences and offers to update the ExternProtoDeclare to match the governing ProtoDeclare at the selected url.

"ExternProtoDeclare field verification checks that field signatures match the original ProtoDeclare definitions, providing author with the option to apply updates."
https://savage.nps.edu/X3D-Edit/images/ExternProtoDeclareFieldVerification.png

We re-use a lot of prototypes via ExternProtoDeclare, quite essential for maintaining large libraries.

This is the only tool I know which performs such a check, which really is a necessity for quality assurance (QA).

Other tools welcome... especially something runnable from command line.

> Should this be discussed on the list?
>
> Imho, it should be possible to modify external prototypes without changing the URL and without changing all the <ExternProtoDeclare>s that refer to that prototype.
>
> Following modifications should be possible without updating <ExternProtoDeclare>
>
> 1) Bugfixes
> 2) adding behaviour that is orthogonal to existing behaviour in the <ProtoBody>
> 3) adding fields to the external interface <ProtoInterface>
>
> If a user wants to use the new functionality, then he must update his <ExternProtoDeclare>
>
> Following modifications should be detected by the Web3D-Browser when parsing the <ExternProtoDeclare> and reported to the user as error
> 1) removing fields from the <ProtoInterface>
> 2) re-defining fields in the <ProtoInterface> without changing the field name (except redefinition of default values)

yup

> All the best
>
> Gesendet: Montag, 16. Februar 2015 um 20:29 Uhr
> Von: "Don Brutzman" <brutzman at nps.edu>
> An: x3dom-developers at lists.sourceforge.net, "X3D Graphics public mailing list" <x3d-public at web3d.org>, "Johannes Behr" <johannes.behr at igd.fraunhofer.de>
> Betreff: Re: [x3d-public] [x3dom-developers] Prototype
> Oops, mis-ordered paragraphs from a cut/paste. Correction:
>
> ==================================
> A really big boost is that the tool suite making up the X3D Validator finds problems in content. So far it detects and reports each possible pathology I've detected in (ProtoInstance fieldValue ExternProtoDeclare ProtoDeclare Script field IS connect) constructs... with one exception: what about if field definitions in an ExternProtoDeclare don't match the original ProtoDeclare?
>
> X3D-Edit handles that case for authors, providing a button to (1) test and (2) correct for mismatched ExternProtoDeclare field signatures.
>
> If anyone has any X3D test-case example scene that doesn't seem to work, please post it. If there is a hole in the test suite I'll reply "thank you very much!" and add another X3D Validator warning to cover it. If there is indeed a hole in the X3D specification then several people will say "thank you very much!" and we'll fix that.
> ==================================

all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br       brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA   +1.831.656.2149
X3D graphics, virtual worlds, navy robotics http://faculty.nps.edu/brutzman