Fly pattern software

Hi everyone, I've created a free fly pattern program called FlySource
to aid fly tying enthusiasts in maintaining a catalog of fly patterns.
It even allows you to find and share patterns using peer-to-peer
technology. It is simple to install and very easy to use.

Those of you looking for a way to catalog, print, and share fly
patterns might find it useful and interesting.

Check it out at http://www.flysource.net if you are interested.

Kevin

wrote:
Hi everyone, I've created a free fly pattern program called FlySource

I don't mean to complain: free is hard to beat.
But I run linux and Mac, and I didn't buy the window
emulator for Mac. So it ain't no f*&$)@g good for me.

What I think the fly tying world needs is a web
application, not a windows executable--sort of
like FlyBook.com, where anybody could search and view,
but only registered members could publish.

I got started on one about a year ago, and then
bogged down trying to figure out how to populate it.
Mabye I should just put it online and see if anyone
uses it.......even though it would start out almost empty.

pittendrigh wrote:
wrote:

Hi everyone, I've created a free fly pattern program called FlySource


I don't mean to complain: free is hard to beat.
But I run linux and Mac, and I didn't buy the window
emulator for Mac. So it ain't no f*&$)@g good for me.

If you upgrade to a new Mac with an Intel microprocessor you can run
native (not emulated) OSX, Windows, and Linux.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

I agree with you and have thought about that already. I wrote the
program in Java and I will be making it available to Mac and Linux
users too in the near future. With an application I am able to provide
more powerful features than I could with a website and that's my goal.


pittendrigh wrote:
wrote:
Hi everyone, I've created a free fly pattern program called FlySource

I don't mean to complain: free is hard to beat.
But I run linux and Mac, and I didn't buy the window
emulator for Mac. So it ain't no f*&$)@g good for me.

What I think the fly tying world needs is a web
application, not a windows executable--sort of
like FlyBook.com, where anybody could search and view,
but only registered members could publish.

I got started on one about a year ago, and then
bogged down trying to figure out how to populate it.
Mabye I should just put it online and see if anyone
uses it.......even though it would start out almost empty.

KevinU wrote:
I agree with you and have thought about that already. I wrote the
program in Java and I will be making it available to Mac and Linux
users too in the near future. With an application I am able to provide
more powerful features than I could with a website and that's my goal.


If you are a Java programmer, look into Java jnlp
I (we) use it for a complex XML database I'm developing
at Montana State: http://neurosys.cns.montana.edu

Jnlp allows browsers to download and run a complex
application, using Java Swing widgets, etc........anything you want.

If you use a hierarchical database for the backend (any XML
database) you can do all sorts of automagic stuff that would
be completely impossible with a relational database
..........like using mouse clicks to bootstrap a database system
from the ground up.

KevinU wrote:
I agree with you and have thought about that already.

Your site mentions peer to peer file sharing. If your application
is written in Java (good deal if it is) then I'm curious about how
you did the P2P file sharing. Did you/do you use JXTA file
sharing?

P2P works fine for music file sharing, where everybody is sharing
music files with well-known names. But P2P is not so useful for
scientific data, where each data file is unique, and all too often
stored with file names like Hpb342a.tiff In that case P2P file
sharing
is usthe system useless, unless there is a centralized discovery
mechanism.

So, it occured to that fishing flies are a little of both.
Some flies have well-known names.........like Royal Wulff,
while other fly names are unique and largely unknown
.........like WoollyMugger, Twinkie, Bankrobber, Roadkill Streamer,
Paranormal, Sockeye Shiner, etc.

I've got a Windows box somewhere, temporarily gathering dust.
I'll have to get it fired up and try your software.

pittendrigh wrote:

Your site mentions peer to peer file sharing. If your application
is written in Java (good deal if it is) then I'm curious about how
you did the P2P file sharing. Did you/do you use JXTA file
sharing?

P2P works fine for music file sharing, where everybody is sharing
music files with well-known names. But P2P is not so useful for
scientific data, where each data file is unique, and all too often
stored with file names like Hpb342a.tiff In that case P2P file
sharing
is usthe system useless, unless there is a centralized discovery
mechanism.

Yes, naming is an issue. But I I've implemented something similar to
downloading MP3's with apps like LimeWire. If the file name already
exists you are given the option to replace or rename. File names are
really unimportant, what is important is the name of the fly pattern.

I looked into JXTA and it seemed to be overkill for what I needed. I
want to keep this simple so essentially what I did is coded my own
version of the old Napster architecture. It's small, simple, and works
great for this application. I have had many people test the program and
really the only drawback I've seen is that people need to open or
forward a port in their firewall and they aren't doing it which results
in some transfers failing. I'm working on a solution to that.

FlySource is really in its infancy and has lots of room to grow, but
from the feedback I've received so far people really like it. I hope
you give it a try, I've really found it interesting just browsing
through the 1000 or so patterns available. As the user base grows, more
and more patterns will become available.

Hi Kevin:

It sure sounds like you are doing good work.
I will definitely try your software.

RE firewalls blocking your port number

JXTA has a "relay server" plugin you might be able
to cut and paste from. It's a pretty simple idea.
If you (or somebody) runs a server outside any firewall,
it can serve as a relay host, that wraps your packets
inside a normal port 80 http packet, so it can travel
through the firewalls without hassle.

Software either side of the firewall strips
off the http skin and uses it however it needs.

This is straying pretty far from fly tying, but we are
talking about fly tying software, and it does sound
like you've done some pretty cool things.

What I'd really like, some day, some way, would
be the ability to make ad hoc queries, with more
structure than keywords: entity label attribute queries like
"show me all the flies online with
attribute 'wing material' equal 'kip tail'
and attribute 'wing color' equal 'white'
and attribute 'inventor' equal 'somebody one'
and attribute 'tier' equal 'somebody else'"

.............making the queries wouldn't be so hard,
if and only if the data was there to query.

pittendrigh wrote:
wrote:

Hi everyone, I've created a free fly pattern program called FlySource


I don't mean to complain: free is hard to beat.
But I run linux and Mac, and I didn't buy the window
emulator for Mac. So it ain't no f*&$)@g good for me.

What I think the fly tying world needs is a web
application, not a windows executable--sort of
like FlyBook.com, where anybody could search and view,
but only registered members could publish.

I got started on one about a year ago, and then
bogged down trying to figure out how to populate it.
Mabye I should just put it online and see if anyone
uses it.......even though it would start out almost empty.



I think that's a wonderful idea Sandy. It might start out empty but if
it's not too difficult to post patterns, it would get populated pretty
quickly. Once there was a decent core of patterns, I'm guessing it would
snowball.

Willi

"pittendrigh" wrote\\

I got started on one about a year ago, and then
bogged down trying to figure out how to populate it.
Mabye I should just put it online and see if anyone
uses it.......even though it would start out almost empty.


I had a "user built" website based on retrievers that grew fairly large
fairly quickly, all from user input.

That experience leads to these suggestions

Security: A certain small percentage of 'net users look for ways and places
to be disgusting ... bare minimum only issue memberships via an e-mail
address at a real ISP .... Not hotmail, Gmail, etc .... and build in easy to
just administration tools to totally ban given users, their past and any
future articles they attempt to post. Some will try to f..k up the site
via a couple addresses before giving up, even at that

Editing: Make sure your users can edit their own articles ... we ALL make
spelling/grammar/typing errors we don't chatch until after posting G
Also, make sure you provide one of the available user interfaces that does
HTML markup for them and requires zero knowledge of website work ... and
tweak your CSS to control the look of all allowed code. Resize images as
they arrive and store the small version ... people will upload 5MB files ( 6
of them for one pattern) if you let them.

Emotional detachment: I've seen you work on several levels. You will
find that most contributors will NOT come close to your standards ... fuzzy
pictures, fuzzy thoughts, and inaccurate details will be the norm ... if
that would bother Sandy, he does NOT want a "do it yourself" site for other
"selfs"

Money: Bandwidth costs .... advertisers are there but not to the degree
commonly believed ... a buzy website costs a lot to get hosted



The dog site I had grew and was getting advertisers ...it had potential as
a business enterprise ... it was also a pain in the ass .... I shut it down
and don't miss it. The only real advantage I think I got from it is
learning enough PHP/MySql/HTML/CSS to know I'd never want to be a 'puter
geek G