Open Book

[New Horizon]

Wow, looking GREAT Springers! I can't wait to see this in action.

[Springheel]

Ok, I've already run into some issues with the scripting. The books are actually harder to script than the main menu, which always does the same thing every time.

 

Books are different. For example, clicking the rightpagecurl button will cause a sound (and possibly animation) for turning the page, and then a leftpagecurl button will appear. But how do you decide whether or not the rightpagecurl button should show up in the first place? It should only be there if the book has more than two pages, but that depends on the FM author. The same thing applies for how many times the rightpagecurl button should appear, or which text it should call.

 

I'm not quite sure how to script for all the different possibilities. Sounds like there are going to have to be all kinds of 'if-then' statements that are beyond my abilities.

 

The tutorials on D3W don't really go into that kind of detail, either, at least that I can see. So if there is anyone willing to look into this, I'll happily hand off the GUI as it currently exists.

[sparhawk]

I'm not quite sure how to script for all the different possibilities. Sounds like there are going to have to be all kinds of 'if-then' statements that are beyond my abilities.

I'm not sure if this can be done with scripting alone. There are not that many possibillities for this book.

 

If it is the first page, the left arrow is removed or ignored. If the remaining text, on any given page, is longer than two pages, the right arrow should be present or enabled.

 

That's the algorithm for the book.

[Springheel]

If it is the first page, the left arrow is removed or ignored. If the remaining text, on any given page, is longer than two pages, the right arrow should be present or enabled.

 

Yeah, but how do you tell the GUI that it is the first page? And how do you tell it that for one book, clicking the right arrow once is ok, but for another book you should be able to click it twice?

 

Those kinds of things are getting into the realm of actual programming...outside my reach at the moment.

 

I'll happily provide the GUI files for all three types of books, however, if someone wants to have a go at this.

[BlackThief]

I don't know, how WE can do it, but I know how it's done in Thief1/2

 

all books are STR files with the following format:

page_0: "Text of the first page"

page_1: "Text of the second page"

page_2: "Text of the third page"

etc.

 

I guess the engine can "read" page_0 etc so that it "knows" how many pages the books has. You can specify the various kinds of books in dromed (letter, normal book, papyrus etc)

[sparhawk]

Yeah, but how do you tell the GUI that it is the first page?

 

By calculating the amount of text in relation to what fits on a page. That's why I'm not sure if this can be done by scripting or if it can be done efficiently.

 

And how do you tell it that for one book, clicking the right arrow once is ok, but for another book you should be able to click it twice?

 

You don't click it twice. You can click it as often as you like, but if there is no more text (calculating the amount ...) then the event should be ignored.

 

Those kinds of things are getting into the realm of actual programming...outside my reach at the moment.

 

I haven't done THAT much with scripting. We can askl Domarius if he is around, because he did a lot with scripting.

 

I'll happily provide the GUI files for all three types of books, however, if someone wants to have a go at this.

 

Just put them in CVS. We can sort this out later IMO.