New Metadata Done; Looking Ahead

On branch new_meta, changed a number of modules to use the new JSON-based metadata system, and to store that metadata in a file suffixed .ppqt instead of .meta. Also added signals to the worddata and pagedata modules and slots to the corresponding view modules so that when the metadata is read in, the visible tables based on it update automatically. In the course of this I had to rewrite the test drivers for all the affected modules, and in that process made a number of improvements in how they were coded. Tested it all, and it seems to be working very well.

git checkout master; git merge --no-ff new_meta; git push origin master and done.

A couple of minor tweaks to do to things I noticed while going through the code; and I want to spend several hours tidying up the Tests folder and making sure that py.test runs things correctly. I would like to bring the Sikuli-based UI tests under the py.test umbrella but am not quite sure how to do that.

Here are the things to do after that.

1. When Qt5.4 and the matching PyQt are available (which should have happened already but hasn't), install those on the new iMac and move development to there. There's no real "moving" involved other than my ass from one chair to another, as all the affected files are in Dropbox anyway.
2. Then, bring CoBro up to the Qt5.4 level and replace the execrable WebKit browser with the new WebEngine one.
3. Then, use Cobro as a test-bed for learning how to use pyqtdeploy to bundle an app. I am eager to find out if this is truly a way to make a self-contained executable on all 3 platforms, in place of pyinstaller.
4. Presuming that works (and that the new web engine fixes the frequent crashes induced by webkit), release CoBro on all three platforms.
5. Then, or right now to pass the time waiting for Qt5.4, code the footnotes module. That will go fast; most of the code can be lifted out of version 1 and needs only a wash and brush-up to use the V2 APIs.

At that point — which might be reached in calendar 2014, certainly in early 2015 — PPQT2 will be at what could well be called an alpha state, that is, with adequate function that an experienced user could post-process a book with it. That user would have to run from source, however, until the pyqtdeploy work is complete.

The work to be done after that includes:

• Writing the translation interface module, which includes figuring out how to dynamically load translator modules.
• Writing the plain-ascii example translator
• Writing the HTML example translator
• Bringing the "keyboard palettes" of V1 forward to V2 and making them load dynamically (using the same scheme as the translators?)
• Finally going back into the UI and make panels drag-out-able, applying the drag-drop research with which I began this series of posts many months ago.
• Writing the Help file and adding the Help panel
• Rewriting the "suggested workflow" document to reflect all the changes; for this I will want to actually post-process a book myself to make sure I know the best way to use the app.
• Make some screencasts to explain PPQT and show its features. The V1 screencast I made impressed a few people much more than any amount of words.

I would love to have this all done by mid-2015 but suspect it might drag on a bit longer.