README

Peach source code

Setup

Peach is written using the Free Pascal / Lazarus system, downloadable here.

The Peach project.zip file should contain everything you need. To see the main program, open Peach project/main source code/Peach.lpi. To see the launcher, open Peach project/launcher source code/Peach.lpi.

Note that the launcher won't work until you've compiled the main program, since this is what the launcher launches.

Directory structure

The directories main source code and launcher source code have self-explanatory names. Beside this there is a folder called Peach, which contains the launcher (Peach.exe), some dlls, and another directory, also called Peach.

This inner folder contains the main executable, also called Peach.exe and the following directories:

• Grammar plugins : the user-accessible folder for keeping .grm files in.
• Installation : this is where the Publish feature of Peach outputs setup files.
• Internationalization : where we keep the .lng files.
• Licenses : the license for Peach and the full text of the licenses for the auxiliary programs.
• Resources : all the bits Peach needs. This will be cataloged separately below. Invisible to the end-user.
• Vocab lists : the user-accessible folder for keeping .vcb files in.
• Workspace and Workspace 2 : these are folders used by the Publish feature and the updater, and are invisible to the end-user.

See the section on "file types" below for an explanation of .grm, .lng, and .vcb files.

The Resources directory has the following subdirectories:

• Balabolka : Contains the Balabolka utility for using SAPI5 voices.
• eSpeak NG : An alternative way of making Peach talk.
• File transfer : A folder which exists because I haven't learned how to use pipes yet.
• Icon : The icon to be used by this version of Peach.
• Inno setup : This is used by the Publish feature to produce the setup.exe file.
• Py files : A store for files produced by inserting .grm files into Sybil.
• Python : Literally Python.
• Rsc files : Files that store the state of Peach when it's shut down.
• Settings scheme : Contains a file which specifies the exact structure of the "Settings" section of a .vcb file
• Syntax checker : Contains a Python program for detecting syntax errors in Python programs, for the use of the grammar editor.

Units and packages

A review of the various units, plus packages and attendant files, in alphabetical order. Unless otherwise indicated by a suffix each item is a unit.

When I say something is a "dialog" I mean that it hardly contains any code of its own, but just collects data to be handled by code in the Main unit; when I call it a "form", I mean that it handles its input itself.

■ AppearanceOptions : Supplies a dialog to pick the appearance options.

■ AppLanguage : Contains the "application language", that is, the language on the menus and message boxes and so forth — plus various functions for handling this data and accessing it.

I will refactor the code so that this is a class when I find out what the singleton design pattern is actually for.

■ AssignHomework : A form that lets teachers do that.

■ CommonStringFunctions : Useful string functions which aren't Peach-specific, that is, which aren't oriented around .vcb and .lng files.

■ IconUpdater : A cunning hack that allows the users to programmatically change the icon of an .exe file.

■ Internet : Implements all the internet transactions in a mass of copy-and- paste-and-slightly-modify functions. Should be refactored some time but it all works so it's not high on the list.

■ InterposerEdit : Subclasses TEdit as an interposer class to do some keyboard handling and keep the thing DRY.

■ Licenses : Dialog to display license information.

■ LockdownOptions : Dialog to let you pick the lockdown options.

■ Main : The logic for the main form, plus for all the dialogs you can access from the toolbar etc.

■ Publish : Dialog for selecting options for publishing Peach as a setup.exe file

■ PyMemo.pas : Used by PythonPackage.lpk. It provides the keyboard handling, syntax highlighting, etc, for the grammar editor.

Some keyboard handling (the Peach-specific stuff, diacritics etc) are currently handled in the event handler of the memo, and so have their code in the Main unit.

■ PythonFunctions.pas : Code for doing stuff with Python, eventually I'll regroup all such code here.

■ PythonPackage.lpk : Uses PyMemo as described above. It requires the richmemo_design package.

■ QAUnit : This is the bit that asks the end-user questions and grades them. It is closely entangled with the Main unit: they are two forms in the hope that this is less confusing for the end-user but they're a pain in the neck for me.

■ Register : Dialog allowing end-users to register online.

■ RmInlinePicture : Used by RichMemo to do pictures, so there it is.

■ SearchAndReplace : Dialog for search and replace in the text and grammar editors.

■ SignIn : Dialog allowing users to sign in on line.

■ StudentClasses : Form allowing a student to manage their classes.

■ TeacherClasses : Form allowing a teacher to manage their classes.

■ TestResults : Form allowing a teacher to inspect the test results for their classes.

■ VersionSupport : Someone else's code, used to get the file version.

■ Vocab : Contains the data from the current .vcb file and functions for manipulating and accessing it.

■ WMemo.pas : Used by WordMemo.lpk to provide much of the keyboard handling and text markup for the memos on the main screen, text editor, settings editor, etc.

■ WordMemo.lpk. Uses WMemo as described above. It requires the richmemo_design package.

File types

Peach's exchangable data comes in three kinds, all of them basically utf-8 text files:

■ .grm files. These are the "grammar plugins" consisting of fragments of the Python scripting language.

■ .lng files. These are text files containing the "application language". Peach interprets it as follows: any paragraph having a colon with a space on either side of it is interpreted as a key-value pair. A paragraph that doesn't is interpreted as a comment.

■ .vcb files. These have the following format:

A line beginning with a § is a topic heading. A line beginning with a ¶ is paragraph text, to be displayed to the end- user as-is (apart from the ¶). A line with neither is "live data", containing either of a vocabulary entry (in the main body of the file) or an editable setting in the Settings section, which I should now explain.

The main body of a .vcb file consists of text and vocabulary, arranged in topics in the format described above, e.g:

??French numbers
??
??Here are some French numbers for you to learn:
??
un ??? one
deux ??? two
trois ??? three
??
??French colors
??
??Here are some French colors for you to learn:
??
rouge ??? red
.
.

... and so on.

However, the topics 0 .. 9 form a header to the file, invisible to the end- user, telling Peach how to interact with the file. Here is a quick summary of what they contain, together with the name of the constant Peach uses to refer to each of them.

0. seSettingsHeader : Contains nothing but a topic heading saying Settings, for my convenience.

1. seLangNames : The names of the languages, the direction they're written in, and info for getting audio.

2. seAboutVlist : A help message for when the end-user goes to Help and asks to be told about the specific .vcb file they're using.

3. seKeysHelp : A help message for the keyboard settings.

4. seLang1Keys : Keyboard settings for language 1.

5. seLang2Keys : Keyboard settings for language 2.

6. seQuestionFormats : Formats for asking the end-user questions.

7. seTestOverrides : Override the user's choices in the Options menu.

8. seAppearanceOverrides : Ditto

9. seLockdownOverrides : Ditto

   Much of the text in the Settings section, including all of the topic headings, consists of tokens to be translated in the light of an .lng file.