offline_blocks_editor

Offline blocks editor from the FTC WebUI, deployed for painless remote development

Deployed at https://collegiate-edu-nation.github.io/offline_blocks_editor/

Includes configured hardware devices and example code

Ideal for

• Collaboration
• Instruction
• Prototyping
• Homework

Remote Development

All basic blocks functionality can be utilized through the deployed site

None of these changes are saved automatically, so any created blocks must be downloaded and managed by the user

Local Development

Must install Git before running

• Clone this repository

    git clone https://github.com/collegiate-edu-nation/offline_blocks_editor.git
  

• If using a browser, simply open src/index.html

• If serving, then open docs/index.html

These changes should be stored on your computer

Workflow

Though the recommended development environment makes it unintuitive to version control and/or collaborate on block code, it does provide basic support for downloading, uploading, and modifying blocks

Download

• Check the OpModes you'd like to download
• Click 'Download Selected OpModes' (right-most button on the sub-meu)

Upload

• Click 'Upload OpModes' (second button)
• Select desired .blk files

Collaborate

I recommend using Git and GitHub to store your code regardless of whether you're using offline_blocks_editor. It's the de facto tool for developing and sharing code in teams, and the sooner students learn to use it, the better

Here's how to transition to offline_blocks_editor and Git

• Download the .blk files from the WebUI on your robot
• Upload the files into offline_blocks_editor
  • Delete the .blk files from your computer after uploading
• Save changes
• Download the .blk files again
• Create a Git repository and add the .blk files

If any changes need to be made, simply repeat steps 3-5

Once the blocks are ready to be deployed to the robot, open the standard WebUI and upload the .blk files from your git repo

Configuration

Motors

• frontLeft
• frontRight
• backLeft
• backRight
• lift

Servos

• clawLeft
• clawRight

Other

• touchSensor
• distanceSensor

Implementation

src is simply the extracted offline editor from the WebUI

Due to the conditional statements in blocks/hardware_util.js and blocks/project_util.js checking for file vs HTTP URLs (and calling the protocols' corresponding functions), however, most functionality breaks when attempting to deploy this as a static site over HTTP without access to the robot controller

This is resolved by commenting out all of the conditional logic and HTTP-specific functions responsible for this functionality, forcing the use of the files even when served via HTTP. This is the modified code found in docs