Node based automation like Blender's node editor

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tim_occ

Hi,

I never worked with automations in Scribus, but I had just an idea to add a new automation feature in Scribus for users who don't have pythons skills (or coding skills in general).
In the last few months, I saw a lot of node based automations for AI tools. Perhaps this node based approach can work in Scribus too.

Here is my proposal:
Similar to Blender's node editor, we can have a bunch of different node types (document, pages, objects, styles, input/output, converter) etc. A user can connect node outputs with node inputs and modify the incoming values in another node made for a specific purpose.

I know each object has tons of properties and settings. But I think it is possible to break it down into small building blocks. We could keep it simple for most common automation tasks. For more advanced needs, you have to code.

Here is just a very simple abstract visualization of what I mean with "node based".

AdmFubar

Many years ago on the Amiga, there was a photo image/effects editor call ImageFX. The entire set of commands where available for scripting, with the GUI built out of scripts for the standard set of image manipulations as shipped. There macro recorder would build a Arexx script  that you could add to later if needed.

If something similar was done 35-40 years ago, it certainly can be done today.
Using Scribus 1.5.8 & 1.6.2, openSUSE 15.5
Advanced hobbyist

a.l.e

#2
i have mixed feeling about having a visual programming tool for/inside scribus.

i must admit that -- while i have some serious experience with Scratch (with kids) -- i have never used it in other contexts. (ok, except some experimenting with pure data many many moons ago)

from what i understand, visual programming seems to be somehow useful for chaining filters and actions on assets, but i'm not that sure it's a good way to automate (part of) flexible workflows like in scribus.
i fear that, at the end, there is often one critical feature that will be missing (or too hard to do for the user) and the overall experience will rather be bad.

but i might be completely wrong...

twp more remarks from my side:

  • i'd like to hear from scribus power users, who can't program at all (like utnik), if they think they would use such a system and, if yes,  what are the task they might want to automate.
  • personally, i would not implement a graph based system like martin is showing in the screenshot, but rather a single column, similar to what scratch offers.

Dialogo_scratch_Best_Friends_1.png

P.S.: Note to self: if we want to implement something similar to Scratch, QGraphicScene could be one approach to consider...
(for node based programming there would be https://github.com/paceholder/nodeeditor)

utnik

hi ale

Quote from: a.l.e on January 25, 2025, 06:10:19 PM
  • i'd like to hear from scribus power users, who can't program at all (like utnik), if they think they would use such a system and, if yes,  what are the task they might want to automate.
i'm not sure if i'd use it. but i might play with it to find out...

what i would really like to have is a way to store and select presets for different tasks. i usually deal with document templates for similar jobs. but sometimes i need different .pdf files from the same .sla document. my individual set of output profiles would help here.

utnik

Nermander

The advantage I guess is that you don't need to remember command names and syntax, but it also makes some things a bit more difficult to accomplish.

a.l.e

Let me rephrase a bit my question : - )

  • Who is the target for a visual programming environment?
  • What tasks would the target person want to achieve?
  • Can we create a visual programming environment that is pleasant to use for the target persons and for their tasks?

Personally, I suggested that power users who can't program (like utnik) could be part of the target population.

Let's see if we can find out more and make some progress in this quest : - )

Nermander

When I write VBA macros for MS Office (mostly Word and Excel), I usually record a macro when doing what I want to see how the code needs to look, and then I adapt it.

I guess that for me a visual way to write simple macros would probably be useful.

(I haven't written any scripts for Scribus, yet.)