Release of FormulaPro for the Nspire

[adriweb]

Hello everyone,

Today it is with great honor and pleasure that we are finally announcing the release of FormulaPro !

What is FormulaPro ?
Here are the technical details : FormulaPro is a TI-Nspire (OS 3.x) document whose main content is a Lua script. Yep, all made in Nspire-Lua (http://www.inspired-lua.org). Indeed, it is the only way so far / right now to "properly" achieve what we do on FormulaPro (completely graphical UI, math calculations...).
FormulaPro is also free, of course, and open-source (https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/) (LGPL license) ! :-)


Hmm ok, but what does it do ?
Well, here you go : some of you may already know what's called "EEPro" or "MEPro" for the TI-89 and TI-92. It is an official program that TI puts in the 89 by default. If you don't know it, EEPro-89 is basically a program described by TI like this: "This application solves the problems of electrical engineering. It is composed of three modules: Analysis, Equations (700 equations grouped into 16 subjects) and Reference. " In short, a complete and very powerful application about Electrical Engineering. Well, FormulaPro is the 2nd part ("Equations") of our project to port the EEPro-89 suite to the Nspire.
But we improved it, naturally. A lot. (And we already have plans and written code already ready for version 2.0 which will be even more awesome and more powerful.)

What FormulaPro right now is capable of, along with its website, is :
-to be able to run on any OS 3.x and any Nspire model and to be able to run on the computer software too with auto-resizing frames
-Mouse and keyboard input support, on both Software and Handheld
-to be able to let users generate their own pack of equations, smartly (variables and units are bound), within categories and sub-categories,
-to be able to solve intelligently solve the equations it's given, contrary to the 89 version, where the user had to select what equations had to be used : Indeed, here you just have to enter what you know already, and it will automatically try to solve for what it can.
-it can very easily let you chose the unit/subunit you want to enter your data in. (for example Hz/kHz/MHz, °C/°F/°K etc.)
-it can show you the used formulas of the current sub-category in "PrettyPrint"


Great ! How do I use it ?
-Be sure to run Nspire OS >= 3.0. We recommand version 3.2.
-You can then either use the "demo" database (a part of the original EE-Pro one) available here (and also attached) : https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/blob/master/EEPro.tns?raw=true
 … or either starting your own database with our online FormulaPro Database maker which lets you easily create categories, subcategories, equations, units and subunits etc. It is available here: http://education.bwns.be/FormulaPro/
-If you were on the online generator, click the "Generate" button at the bottom of the page.
-Transfer the .tns to your calculator or in the computer software and open it.
-Select the category and the subcategory, and begin filling the input fields of the data you already know. Press enter or change focus, and it will start auto-solving.
-Enjoy !


Screenshots time !
Here are 4 screenshots showing pretty much all of FormulaPro. They are not related to each other.
, ,
,


What's next ?
Well, we will try to complete the entire Formula library from the original EEPro-suite. (This is just a matter of time, so it's no problem, really)
In general, the plan is to be able to do everything (and more !) that the TI-89 version can do.

So, here's what we also planned for version 2.0 :
-Database Editing on-calc !
-An even more powerful solving core
-Smart Search (Don't browse in the categories : just enter the units you have and it will try to figure out which equatinos to use directly)
-Pictures associated with categories (circuits explanations etc.)
-Input data directly into the solver using Vernier sensors!
-Multi-language support
-Ability to graph results
…

------------------------
Download :
Latest version for all OSes : https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/blob/master/FormulaPro.tns?raw=true
------------------------


Please report any bug or comments if you have some,
Good Luck and Have fun,
The FormulaPro team,
http://tiplanet.org and http://www.inspired-lua.org


(to the admins : if you think it sadly doesn't fit in news, well, you can move it under Nspire Lua projects)

[aeTIos]

I don't think I'll need this program (at least not in a few years), but it looks very cool (It's definately going to be on my nspire)

[adriweb]

Thanks !

The whole point of this is to create your own set of equations corresponding to your school level

Tell us if you ever make some





Edit :
Aaaaaaaaand a bug report already We are fixing it.
Don't forget that the latest version will always be here : https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/blob/master/EEPro.tns?raw=true

Edit2 : fixed

[renatose]

This is great! I was looking forward to this and its finaly here!

Are you intending to join the main capabilities of EEPro and MEPro as an EProN (Engineering Professional Nspire Software, do you like this name? xD) in the main trunk of EEPro for Nspire?

[flyingfisch]

Is this coming to prizm soon?

[Jim Bauwens]

Sorry, I don't think there will be a prism version ever.
Also, something we forgot to mention is that it requires a CAS calculator. We are busy making a CAS in lua, but it will still take some time before we can use that.

[aeTIos]

You can't use this on a non-cas version? Ok

[Jim Bauwens]

It will run, but you will not get results. It is because the math is so complex

[AzNg0d1030]

So this is what EEPro was all about! This is amazing... Thank the FSM that I have a CAS

[DJ Omnimaga]

Sorry, I don't think there will be a prism version ever.
Also, something we forgot to mention is that it requires a CAS calculator. We are busy making a CAS in lua, but it will still take some time before we can use that.

Can PTT block Lua programs too? It might be a good idea if a CAS is going to be made in Lua, since CAS models are disallowed in tests for a reason.

[Jim Bauwens]

The CAS will never be as good, and it will only be used for solving of formulas. No problem there

(PTT removes access to all document, even Lua so there will not be a problem anyway)

[adriweb]

This is great! I was looking forward to this and its finaly here!

Are you intending to join the main capabilities of EEPro and MEPro as an EProN (Engineering Professional Nspire Software, do you like this name? xD) in the main trunk of EEPro for Nspire?

Thank you

And yes, this "FormulaPro" is basically a standalone version of the 2nd part of the whole EEPro port on the Nspire.
We'll keep you updated on the overall port

What's basically missing is the "Analysis" part, which is huge.
The "Reference" part is almost done already, though.

[Jim Bauwens]

And there is another update available
It contains a fix for an endless loop in solving.
Remember, you can always download the latest build at https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/blob/master/EEPro.tns?raw=true .

Thanks

[Lionel Debroux]

(PTT removes access to all document, even Lua so there will not be a problem anyway)

As we all know, that's the theory; in practice, things are very different

[adriweb]

I fixed some things and added a special 3.2 version which contains an error handler so it now is "impossible" to crash it (well, I haven't a way to do so, so far )

OS 3.2 specific version with Error handler : https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/blob/master/testing/FormulaPro32only.tns?raw=true
Latest version for all OSes : https://github.com/adriweb/EEPro-for-Nspire/blob/master/EEPro.tns?raw=true

(This is now Version 1.1b)


Edit : By the way, here's the Error handler in action :