LUA UI: stupid questions

LUA UI: stupid questions

Discuss Lua based Spring scripts (LuaUI widgets, mission scripts, gaia scripts, mod-rules scripts, scripted keybindings, etc...)

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Argh
Posts: 10920
Joined: 21 Feb 2005, 03:38

LUA UI: stupid questions

Post by Argh »

Um... I'm not really ready to ask a lot of dumb questions about coding a custom UI for my latest project yet, but I thought I'd at least start looking at some things:

1. I'd like to have different units have different buttons. Like, for example... vehicles might have one style, infantry another. That sort've thing. Possible? Among other things, I'll want to have different variants of "ON" that cover more... creative... uses of Activate()...

2. I've taken a look at the Widgets, but not the code-side yet. Based on what I've seen from it, though, I see very little reason why we couldn't have squads that were automatically created and managed through the UI, without user intervention. Possible? Can I allow users control, but then revert them back to a central movepoint after a time interval or events? I'm not talking huge formational stuff like Warhammer here, just simple "if you build infantry out've this factory, they get automatically grouped into units of 5 guys, who all stay roughly in the same geographical location".

3. I want Side A and Side B to have UIs that look entirely different, to reflect their fluff. Possible?

4. I want to automate certain types of orders. For example, I'd like to be able to give a "lay mines" order to a unit, and have the UI randomly pick some spots on the map within a selection radius/square to lay mines in. Possible?

5. I want to lock out certain Spring UI features, so that players may not use them, because they would screw up gameplay. Possible?

This is all just random musing, of course- I am too ignorant to actually know what technical questions to ask at this point. I'm just trying to get a feel for what's really possible at this point.
trepan
Former Engine Dev
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Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 00:52

Post by trepan »

1. yes

2. possible, but see point 4.

3. yes (the team side information is available)

4. yes (but computationally expensive routines should probably use groupAIs)

5. yes, but no (LuaUI can block most UI features, but it's optional)


The key point to be made is that LuaUI is optional (and there are no plans
to change that). It is not the right layer of code for game rules (it is not sync'ed,
and therefore it's easy to bypass any rules that it may try to enforce).
User avatar
Argh
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005, 03:38

Post by Argh »

Ok, how's about another stupid question:

Can I make much more informative tooltips? I really hate how all I can tell players is limited to the Unit Description, which I cannot format or do other cool things with. It'd be really nice, for example, to have a Widget that was "tooltips ON", and then be able to show a paragraph describing a unit's function, i.e.:

"This is a Roman Legionnaire, heavy infantry armed with two throwing javelins and a stabbing sword. 200HP, 50/75/35 DMG rating, speed 1.0, charge speed 1.5" etc., etc.

It'd be really, really nice, for mods that aren't OTA, to be able to give players a lot more information about their units, and what they're used for, in a format that's pretty and does not require studying a manual.
trepan
Former Engine Dev
Posts: 1200
Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 00:52

Post by trepan »

Yes, you can. I've already got a "unit inspector" widget written that let's
you see a unit's properties (speed, stealth, weapon subpanels, etc...)
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rattle
Damned Developer
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Joined: 01 Jun 2006, 13:15

Post by rattle »

If you're able to call the TDF parser from within LUA you might as well introduce a new tag for a more informative description in your unit definition and perhaps load it up when the tooltip is displayed for more than x seconds.
trepan
Former Engine Dev
Posts: 1200
Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 00:52

Post by trepan »

I have no plans to add TDF parser access to LuaUI. If someone really
feels they need it, they can write a lua TDF parser. I think the better approach
would be to add a LongDescription field to the unit .fbi's, and add an associated
field to the UnitDefs[] tables (if such a feature is desired).

For a more flexible system, you could add a "CustomData" sub-section to
fbi's, and store whatever you want in there as "name=string" pairs. I'd be
willing to shove that into the UnitDefs[] as well.
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AF
AI Developer
Posts: 20687
Joined: 14 Sep 2004, 11:32

Post by AF »

TDF format doesnt support multiline messages,[]// {} or ;.

Thus the ideal solution imo would be to write a class that loads them from a file the modder writes seperatley. This would get around all the issues of the TDF format, allow whatever formatting you chose, and wouldnt require you to wait for spring 0.75 for the new LUA API modifications.

It would also mean that less cluttering of spring is happening, and the problem posed by further requests of "I'd like a full description small description a version with coloured text and formatting and a french version", and so on.
trepan
Former Engine Dev
Posts: 1200
Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 00:52

Post by trepan »

I didn't realize TDF format is so limiting (haven't worked with it much).

The lua format might not be a bad choice. Lua was actually designed
with configuration data in mind. It's generally a lot easier to read and
write then XML (imo), and you can use variables and expressions to
manipulate the data.

Code: Select all

ScaleFactor = 2.1
ExtraSoundDir = 'Sounds/extra/"

ExtraData = {
  armspy = {
    longdesc = 'Lua strings support all characters',
    extraSound = ExtraSoundDir .. 'armspy.wav',
    ['more data'] = ScaleFactor * 123.4
  },
  corcom = {
    longdesc = 'You can use referenced data in tables to avoid duplication',
    extraSound = ExtraSoundDir .. 'corcom.wav',
    ['more data'] = ScaleFactor * math.cos(math.pi / 3) * 8
  }
}
P.S. The ['more data'] assignment syntax has to be used for table keys
that use non-alphanumeric characters, such as space. It's best to simply
avoid using such key names...
User avatar
Peet
Malcontent
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Joined: 27 Feb 2006, 22:04

Post by Peet »

trepan wrote:It's generally a lot easier to read and
write then XML (imo)
The fact that I, master of qbasic, can figure lua out (after much pestering of yourself :)), proves its simplicity beyond question.
User avatar
AF
AI Developer
Posts: 20687
Joined: 14 Sep 2004, 11:32

Post by AF »

I should get around to learning lua basics sometime.

But yah having modname_lang.lua would be a very efficient way of doing it.

Maybe we could do a GetDesc(unitname,language) function? That then returns the custom value or the one in the unitdef if it isnt available.
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LordMatt
Posts: 3393
Joined: 15 May 2005, 04:26

Post by LordMatt »

P3374H wrote:The fact that I, master of qbasic, can figure lua out (after much pestering of yourself :)), proves its simplicity beyond question.
Nah more the fact that I, PHAILER at all codes, figured some of it out after tonnes of trepan pestering.
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Dragon45
Posts: 2883
Joined: 16 Aug 2004, 04:36

Post by Dragon45 »

XML should never be read by human eyes.


Just my two cents on the issue


*quietly slinks away*
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BvDorp
Posts: 439
Joined: 14 Oct 2005, 12:09

Post by BvDorp »

While this thread is about stupid questions:

1) Can this LUA thingy be used for a new FPS GUI?

2) If so, anyone willing to create something?

3) Can this LUA be used to smoothen the controls in FPS mode?


Thnx!
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