v0.6.7: Settings System Overhaul and Animation Manager Beta

Overview

Version 0.6.7 of the Punch Card Project introduces significant architectural improvements with a focus on settings management and animation coordination. This release also includes initial work on text positioning, though that feature remains in an alpha state.

Key Improvements

Settings Manager (Stable)

The Settings Manager provides a centralized system for accessing, validating, and persisting application settings:

• Centralized Configuration: Single point of access for all application settings
• Type Safety: Settings are accessed with proper type validation
• Automatic Persistence: Settings changes are automatically tracked and saved
• Organized Categories: Settings are grouped by functionality for better organization
• Default Values: Sensible defaults are provided for all settings

The Settings Manager replaces the previous approach of scattered settings access throughout the codebase with a single, type-safe interface. Settings are organized into logical categories (General, Display, Animation, API, Hardware, Debug) and accessed through a simple API.

Learn more about the Settings Manager

Animation Manager (Beta)

The Animation Manager provides a centralized system for coordinating animations across both the GUI and hardware components:

• Centralized Animation Logic: Single point of control for all animations
• Consistent API: Unified interface for creating and managing animations
• Synchronized Animations: Coordinate GUI and hardware animations
• Complex Animation Sequences: Support for multi-stage animation sequences
• Event-Driven Architecture: React to animation events and state changes

While still in beta, the Animation Manager represents a significant architectural improvement, centralizing animation logic for better coordination and providing a consistent API for all animation types.

Learn more about the Animation Manager

Text Positioning (Alpha)

Initial work has begun on improving text positioning in the GUI interface:

• Experimenting with layout-based positioning instead of absolute coordinates
• Initial implementation of container widgets with dynamic margins
• Preliminary work on window resize handling

This feature is in an early alpha state with several known issues and should be considered experimental.

Learn more about Text Positioning

Known Issues

• Text Positioning:

  • Text elements still frequently misalign with the punch card
  • Message title sometimes overlaps with the menu bar
  • Status text positioning is inconsistent during animations
  • Text disappears during certain message display phases
  • Significant visual glitches occur during window resizing
  • Layout calculations can cause application crashes in some scenarios

• Animation Manager:

  • Occasional timing issues with complex animation sequences
  • Memory usage increases with animation complexity
  • Some animations fail to complete properly when interrupted

• Settings Manager:

  • Some settings aren't properly preserved between sessions
  • Large configuration files can cause loading delays

Installation

Update from previous version:

git pull
git checkout v0.6.7

Fresh installation:

git clone https://github.com/griffingilreath/Punch-Card-Project.git
cd Punch-Card-Project
git checkout v0.6.7
pip install -r requirements.txt
python launch_animation_panel.py