Can someone post a sticky with intuitive basics to gui phooy

infuzion · 9 Feb 2006

I donno, I thought my Terse Tutorial had just enough... though I didn't explain how to move objects around w/in the GUI unlock mode...maybe that should be stickied, & I can add important links at the end?

angstrom · 9 Feb 2006

OK, here we go. a variation on the theme

if you hit G on a module (lets call it 'test'), a GUI will be automatically created it will recieve any nameless wireless V signals from children. EG: standard dials all have nameless wireless receives, these will show up on any parent with G pressed, in this case our 'test'

that works for a simple object, but if you are working with a more complex heirachy you will want to take a little more control over how things are displayed. I tend to insert a GUI module, if you had previously pressed 'G' and seen some knobs on the 'test' panel (as described above) they will now disapear. connect a nameless wireless transmit to the righthand side of the GUI module and all the knobs will reapear on the 'test' front panel.

Now, if you want to make this 'test' module a sub module of a new parent, still having the dials visible on its own GUI but also visible on the parent GUI. What you need to do is add a nameless V receive on the left hand side of the GUI module you added a moment ago in 'test'.

wireless --< mGUI --<wireless

if you take 'test' and put it in a parent object called 'daddy', to make the GUI visible on the main panel of 'daddy' you could either hit G on 'daddy' to automatically receive any wireless nameless V signals from offspring, or manually add a GUI module and stick a nameless wireless transmit V on the righthand side of 'daddy' GUI .

to tidy this up naming the various wireless transmits and receives can help you manage them a little better. I usually use the wireless names to group elements. Still using nameless wireless objects , but also using wireless names of 'background' , 'help panel' out of any sub sections. this helps me toggle them if required.

doug4350 · 9 Feb 2006

Thanks for the feedback Infuzion & Angstrom.

Ok, I succeeded, but with a twist, which I think is part of the confusion/frustration others may be encountering.

that works for a simple object, but if you are working with a more complex heirachy you will want to take a little more control over how things are displayed.

I went ahead and added the mgui on my mid-level module with the recv/xmit wireless'ers. To make a long story short, after fussing a bit more, I was able to get outlines of the existing buttons/knobs to show up on the immediate parent. However, the existing cut/pasted from here: http://members.shaw.ca/oddson/label.osm posted by Oddson in this thread Add a label....please don't kill me.... made it upwards all in one piece. Cool, some progress, but...

I did some more fussing with the buttons/knobs, but no luck 🙁 . In a last ditch desparate attempt to stop myself from jumping out the (ground floor) window pulling my hair out 🙂 I added a new button just to see if things added after adding the mgui made a difference. The result : 😮 😮 😮 it appeared in the parent modules. Ok, so, maybe there's a family feud going on with the gui's.

In the future, I'm going to do add gui stuff before doing any tech stuff in an osm with this in mind:

wireless --< mGUI --<wireless

I can live with that.

Aloha, Doug

oddson · 9 Feb 2006

Hey Doug... I'm seven months in with SM and I still get confused by the GUI model.

The 'old' model didn't have the 'G' panel connector method so you had to do everything explicitly. I was just starting to understand that when the 'simpler' model was introduced.

The Devs are big on leaving you with the maximum control over the program even when there are simpler ways of doing things. I think this is the right approach but it means there is a second learning curve once you get beyond using the wireless-only method.

To be honest, I still rely on trial and error to get the GUI working. 😊

doug4350 · 9 Feb 2006

To be honest, I still rely on trial and error to get the GUI working.

I'm ok with that, but I'd like trial and error to be way past Start->Programs 😀 (That was a Redmond slam, not SM)

Aloha, Doug