Deathwatch

[jbearwillis]

You do what you have to, personal life comes first - That's my gaming groups motto. I will look forward to it - even if it's a year or so away LOL - Take your time.

[RavenX]

It could take a year honestly, just depends on how things go.
I have a lot on my plate at this time and just can't devote a lot of time to this.
Once I figure out the portals and compsets needed to finish up the chapter tab things should go much more smoothly.
Its a lot to learn, but I am doing fairly well with it.

[RavenX]

I think I have the basics of portals down now. Just having a hard time manipulating them into doing what I need them to do for output.

The screenshot shows what I mean about manipulating them correctly. I'll post the code for that tab here in case someone can help me figure this out.

 <portal
    id="spHelp"
    style="lblDisable">
    <label
      ismultiline="yes"
      text="Once you've chosen a specialty, you can view specialty features and choose a special ability.">
      </label>
    </portal>

  <!-- Specialty title label, chooser and info button -->
  <portal
    id="spTitle"
    style="lblNormal">
    <label
      text="Choose Character Specialty:">
      </label>
    </portal>
  <portal
    id="spSpecialt"
    style="chsNormal">
    <chooser_table
      component="Specialty"
      choosetemplate="SpecThing"
      showupdate="yes"
      descwidth="450">
      <candidate></candidate>
      <chosen><![CDATA[
        if (@ispick = 0) then
          @text = "{text ff0000}Select Specialty"
        else
          @text = field[name].text
          if (valid = 0) then
            @text = "{text ff0000}" & @text
            endif
          endif
        ]]></chosen>
      <titlebar><![CDATA[
        @text = "Choose the specialty for your character"
        ]]></titlebar>
      </chooser_table>
    </portal>
  <portal
    id="spInfo"
    style="actInfo">
    <action
      action="info">
      </action>
    <mouseinfo><![CDATA[
      ~Get our currently selected specialty
      perform hero.findchild[Specialty].setfocus
      if (state.isfocus = 0) then
        @text = "No specialty selected."
        done
        endif

       ~append specialty info
       @text = "{b}" & focus.field[name].text & "{/b}{br}{br}"
       @text = focus.field[descript].text
       ]]></mouseinfo>
    </portal>

  <!-- spFeatures portal 
        Presents a fixed table where the user can inspect and configure specialty
        features.  
  -->
  <portal
    id="spFeatures"
    style="tblInvis">
    <table_fixed
      component="Specialty"
      showtemplate="spSpecInfo"
      columns="1"
      alwaysupdate="yes">
      <list><![CDATA[
        ConfSource.Specialty
        ]]></list>
      <headertitle><![CDATA[
        @text = "Specialty Features"
        ]]></headertitle>
      </table_fixed>
    </portal>
  <portal
    id="spInfoTbl"
    style="tblInvis">
    <table_fixed
      component="Specialty"
      showtemplate="spSpecInfo"
      alwaysupdate="yes">
      <list><![CDATA[
        ]]></list>
      </table_fixed>
    </portal>

  <!-- Special Ability label, chooser and info -->
  <portal
    id="abAbility"
    style="tblNormal">
    <table_dynamic
      component="Ability"
      showtemplate="abPick"
      choosetemplate="SimpleItem"
      showfixedlast="yes"
      addpick="resAbility">
      <candidate>!Hide.Ability</candidate>
      <titlebar><![CDATA[
        @text = "Add a Special Ability - " & hero.child[resAbility].field[resSummary].text
        ]]></titlebar>
      <description/>
      <headertitle><![CDATA[
        @text = "Special Ability: " & hero.child[resAbility].field[resSummary].text
        ]]></headertitle>
      <additem><![CDATA[
        ~if we're in advancement mode, we've been frozen, so display accordingly
        if (state.iscreate = 0) then
          @text = "{text clrgrey}Add Special Abilities Via Advances Tab"
          done
          endif

        ~set the color based on whether the proper number of slots are allocated
        if (field[resLeft].value = 0) then
          @text = "{text clrgrey}"
        elseif (field[resLeft].value < 0) then
          @text = "{text clrwarning}"
          endif
        @text &= "Add New Special Ability"
        ]]></additem>
      </table_dynamic>
    </portal>

  <!-- spSpecInfo template
  Displays info for the current specialty in a large template area.
  -->
  <template
    id="spSpecInfo"
    name="Specialty Info"
    compset="Trait">

    <portal
      id="details"
      style="lblNormal">
      <label
        ismultiline="yes">
        <labeltext><![CDATA[
          var descript as string
          var nodescript as number
          nodescript = 1
          call Descript
          @text = "{align left}" & descript
          ]]></labeltext>
        </label>
      </portal>

    <position><![CDATA[
      ~set up our height based on our tallest portal
      portal[details].width = width
      height = portal[details].textheight
      ]]></position>

    </template>

  <!-- SpecThing template 
  -->
  <template
    id="SpecThing"
    name="Specialty Thing"
    compset="Specialty"
    marginhorz="3"
    marginvert="5"
    width="200">
  
    <portal
      id="name"
      style="lblXLarge"
      showinvalid="yes">
      <label
        field="name">
        </label>
      </portal>
    </template>


  <!-- abPick template
        Displays the name of the pick/thing and an info button with the basic
        description text. This is basically the "SimpleItem" template, with one
        key difference. Auto-added abilities such as those conferred by races are
        sorted and colored differently to distinguish their nature.
  -->
  <template
    id="abPick"
    name="Ability Pick"
    compset="Ability"
    marginhorz="3"
    marginvert="2">

    <portal
      id="name"
      style="lblNormal"
      showinvalid="yes">
      <label
        field="name">
        </label>
      </portal>

    <portal
      id="info"
      style="actInfo">
      <action
        action="info">
        </action>
      <mouseinfo/>
      </portal>

    <portal
      id="delete"
      style="actDelete"
      tiptext="Click to delete this item">
      <action
        action="delete">
        </action>
      </portal>

    <position><![CDATA[
      ~set up our height based on our tallest portal
      height = portal[info].height

      ~if this is a "sizing" calculation, we're done
      doneif (issizing <> 0)

      ~position our tallest portal at the top
      portal[info].top = 0

      ~center the other portals vertically
      perform portal[name].centervert
      perform portal[delete].centervert

      ~position the delete portal on the far right
      perform portal[delete].alignedge[right,0]

      ~position the info portal to the left of the delete button
      perform portal[info].alignrel[rtol,delete,-8]

      ~position the name on the left and let it use all available space
      portal[name].left = 0
      portal[name].width = minimum(portal[name].width,portal[info].left - 5)

      ~if the ability is auto-added, change its font to indicate that fact
      if (candelete = 0) then
        perform portal[name].setstyle[lblAuto]
        endif
      ]]></position>

    </template>

[RavenX]

  <!-- specialty layout
        This layout orchestrates the display of the visual elements that comprise
        the specialty tab.  This amounts to a tital at the top and display of specialty
        features
  -->
  <layout
    id="specialty">
    <portalref portal="spTitle"/>
    <portalref portal="spSpecialt" taborder="10"/>
    <portalref portal="spHelp"/>
    <portalref portal="spInfo" taborder="20"/>
    <portalref portal="spFeatures" taborder="40"/>
    <portalref portal="spInfoTbl"/>
    <portalref portal="abAbility" taborder="90"/>

    <!-- This script sizes and positions the layout and its child visual elements -->
    <position><![CDATA[
      ~freeze our table in advancement mode to disable adding new choices
      ~Note: All freezing must be done *before* any positioning is performed.
      if (state.iscreate = 0) then
        portal[abAbility].freeze = 1
        endif

      portal[spSpecialt].width = 200

      ~position the specialty selection portal at the top of the panel,
      ~horizontally centered.
      var space as number
      space = 10
      var total as number
      total = portal[spTitle].width + space + portal[spSpecialt].width + space + portal[spInfo].width
      portal[spTitle].left = (width - total) / 2
      portal[spSpecialt].left = portal[spTitle].right + space
      portal[spInfo].left = portal[spSpecialt].right + space

      ~center the controls veritically within the specialty chooser
      portal[spSpecialt].top = 3
      perform portal[spTitle].centeron[vert,spSpecialt]
      perform portal[spInfo].centeron[vert,spSpecialt]

      ~if we don't have a specialty, hide all our tables and show the help label
      if (hero.tagis[Specialty.?] = 0) then
        portal[spFeatures].visible = 0
        portal[spInfoTbl].visible = 0
        portal[abAbility].visible = 0
      else
        portal[spHelp].visible = 0
        portal[abAbility].visible = 0
        endif
   
      ~position our help label under the 'choose' chooser.
      portal[spHelp].width = width * 2 / 3
      portal[spHelp].height = portal[spHelp].textheight
      perform portal[spHelp].centerhorz
      portal[spHelp].top = portal[spSpecialt].bottom + 50

      ~position the specialty features table under the specialty chooser - always let
      ~it use all the space it needs, since if it uses up too much we'll just scroll
      ~scroll the tab
      portal[spFeatures].left = 0
      portal[spFeatures].width = width
      portal[spFeatures].top = portal[spSpecialt].bottom + 20
      portal[spFeatures].height = height

      ~position the specialty features under the header
      portal[spInfoTbl].left = 0
      portal[spInfoTbl].width = width
      portal[spInfoTbl].top = portal[spFeatures].bottom + 20
      portal[spInfoTbl].top = height - portal[spInfoTbl].top

      ~position and size the table to span the full layout; it will only use the
      ~vertical space that it actually needs
      portal[abAbility].left = 0
      portal[abAbility].width = width
      portal[abAbility].top = portal[spInfoTbl].bottom + 20
      portal[abAbility].top = height - portal[abAbility].top
      ]]></position>

    </layout>

  <!-- abilities panel
        This is the "Abilities" panel shown within Hero Lab. Since we want this
        panel to appear after Basics and within the traits grouping, we assign it
        an "order" of 120.

        The logic for this panel is similar to the logic for the Basics panel, so
        please refer to the Basics panel for more details.
  -->
  <panel
    id="abilities"
    name="Specialty"
    marginhorz="5"
    marginvert="5"
    order="105">
    <live>!HideTab.specialty</live>
    <layoutref layout="specialty"/>
    <position><![CDATA[
      ]]></position>
    </panel>

[Mathias]

Looks like you want to move most of the label and info portals inside a template, and then put that template on the layout. See the personal tab for an example of how to have a template and a couple of tables all on a tab, and note that the template uses the thing="" option - that's essential, because all those portals in the template look at that to know what thing they should be providing information about.

[RavenX]

Alright, I'll check that out then.
I've dug most of what I learned out of the 4e data more than the savage worlds files.
Hopefully I can figure this out and get this tab working right.

[RavenX]

Ok, I think I get what you're saying now. Templates can be placed in a layout with a templateref the same way portals use portalref and can be manipulated just like portals in the layout. I'll have to do some more tinkering but I think I see what you mean here.

Thanks Mathias.

[RavenX]

If I read the documentation correctly, based on the hint you've given me, the Features portals should be moved in a template since they're displaying output for the user to inspect and look over. The chooser and special ability menu table have to be left outside the template because templates don't support those processes.

[RavenX]

Originally Posted by Mathias

note that the template uses the thing="" option - that's essential, because all those portals in the template look at that to know what thing they should be providing information about.

So for the thing="" option, I noticed it said mscPerson on the personal tab, which I am assuming means miscellaneous personal information. How do I know what to put into the thing= option? Is it a compset item or a component?

[Mathias]

It has to be a specific pick, and it has to be something that's guaranteed to be on all characters.

If you want it to instead display whatever example the user selects from a category of things (such as from a chooser), you can't put the template there directly - your template will instead be a table entry in a table that has only one item.

If that doesn't work, I'll have to spend a bit of time explaining how the agent linkage mechanisms work, so you can build something like the Pathfinder/d20 class tabs.