GUI Tutorial - Revision history

Admin: /* Conclusion */

2025-11-16T14:31:45Z

Conclusion

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:31, 16 November 2025
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	*The simpler you can make each gui element, the better. You should be able to get very specific about what you want to draw, or redraw, so that the rest of your scripting can easily update your screen without too much work.		*The simpler you can make each gui element, the better. You should be able to get very specific about what you want to draw, or redraw, so that the rest of your scripting can easily update your screen without too much work.

	*As a beginner at this, I would suggest just trying to get one split region working and printing some info, for example, just set a bottom ~~prompt~~ and try to start putting your basic character info there, similar to your prompt, see if you can get that working. Before you draw out your entire screen in some elaborate fashion like I have, start small, one bar, and get that all working before you expand.		*As a beginner at this, I would suggest just trying to get one split region working and printing some info, for example, just set a bottom split region and try to start putting your basic character info there, similar to your prompt, see if you can get that working. Before you draw out your entire screen in some elaborate fashion like I have, start small, one bar, and get that all working before you expand.

Admin: /* Format Tiles */

2025-05-31T14:31:36Z

Format Tiles

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:31, 31 May 2025
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	However - having a singular alias like this 'draw' example can become a problem when it comes to auto-updating the screen. It works well for updating one tile or box, but, you don't want to be re-drawing your ENTIRE gui every time any part of it needs updating. Bear that in mind. Make several commands to draw different elements of your gui, and trigger the update of each individually, not the whole screen all at once. I end up having stuff like:		However - having a singular alias like this 'draw' example can become a problem when it comes to auto-updating the screen. It works well for updating one tile or box, but, you don't want to be re-drawing your ENTIRE gui every time any part of it needs updating. Bear that in mind. Make several commands to draw different elements of your gui, and trigger the update of each individually, not the whole screen all at once. I end up having stuff like:

	draw_hp		#ALIAS {draw_hp} {FORMAT and DRAW tile.....}
	draw_mp		#ALIAS {draw_mp} {FORMAT and DRAW tile.....}
	draw_status		#ALIAS {draw_status} {FORMAT and DRAW tile.....}

	And then one alias that does all three of those like:		And then one alias that does all three of those like:

Admin: /* Format Tiles */

2025-05-31T14:30:19Z

Format Tiles

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:30, 31 May 2025
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	So, first we format the room name string to be exactly 44 characters. Then we draw a tile of the exact size to contain that 44 characters (between columns 2 - 46 in this example).		So, first we format the room name string to be exactly 44 characters. Then we draw a tile of the exact size to contain that 44 characters (between columns 2 - 46 in this example).

	However - having a singular alias like this 'draw' example can become a problem when it comes to auto-updating the screen ~~however~~. It works well for updating one tile or box, but, you don't want to be re-drawing your ~~entire~~ gui every time any part of it needs updating. Bear that in mind~~. Maybe make an alias like draw_area_info to draw the room/area/geo and that's it~~. Make several commands to draw different ~~parts~~ of your gui, and trigger each individually, not the whole screen all at once.		However - having a singular alias like this 'draw' example can become a problem when it comes to auto-updating the screen. It works well for updating one tile or box, but, you don't want to be re-drawing your ENTIRE gui every time any part of it needs updating. Bear that in mind. Make several commands to draw different elements of your gui, and trigger the update of each individually, not the whole screen all at once. I end up having stuff like:

			draw_hp
			draw_mp
			draw_status

			And then one alias that does all three of those like:
			#ALIAS draw_health {draw_hp;draw_mp;draw_status}

			When my hp/mp/status get updates from msdp, only those individual tiles get redrawn. However, sometimes, it is also useful to just use 'draw_health' to redo all of them at once. So, you have both options and can optimize your gui for different scenarios of re-drawing.

	=Draw Lists=		=Draw Lists=

Admin: /* Draw Stuff */

2025-05-31T14:26:50Z

Draw Stuff

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:26, 31 May 2025
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	Here we are printing the room/area name on line 3 (down from the top) and it will go the upper left corner (		Here we are printing the room/area name on line 3 (down from the top) and it will go the upper left corner (If you don't have this msdp var, just use some other var you have created)

	#ALIAS {draw} {		#ALIAS {draw} {

Admin: /* Split Your Screen */

2025-05-31T14:24:32Z

Split Your Screen

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:24, 31 May 2025
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	=Split Your Screen=		=Split Your Screen=

	First, establish your desired ~~top/bottom~~ screen #SPLIT with some room to print data into. I ~~go 4 or~~ 5 ~~lines top~~ and bottom.		First, establish your desired screen #SPLIT with some room to print data into.

			For this example, to keep it simple, I'll just put a split region at the top 5 and bottom 5 lines of the screen:

	*Run your #SPLIT command manually or make an alias that might be handy later for resetting.		*Run your #SPLIT command manually or make an alias that might be handy later for resetting.

Admin: /* Draw Lists */

2024-04-21T23:51:36Z

Draw Lists

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:51, 22 April 2024
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	If you set those coordinates into the scrolling region, the box will scroll away with the rest of the game text.		If you set those coordinates into the scrolling region, the box will scroll away with the rest of the game text.

			Note that when using a list, you can choose which list indexes (lines) you want to draw with the numbers inside the brackets. So 1..-1 is the first var (1) to the one before the end of the var (i.e. the last thing in the list) (-1), if you only want the last 5 you would just use -5..-1, etc.

			If you capture all speech/tells/etc to a list, you can see the last 10 things sent to you with values like -10 -1 for example.

	==Format a List==		==Format a List==

Admin: /* Format Tiles */

2024-04-21T23:48:59Z

Format Tiles

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:48, 22 April 2024
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	#ALIAS {draw} {		#ALIAS {draw} {
	#FORMAT {room_string} {%c%.44s} {<acf>}{$msdp_info[ROOM_NAME]};		#FORMAT {room_string} {%c%.44s} {<acf>}{$msdp_info[ROOM_NAME]};
	#DRAW tile 3 2 3 44 $room_string;		#DRAW tile 3 2 3 46 $room_string;
	#FORMAT {area_string} {%c%.40s} {<ffa>}{$msdp_info[AREA_NAME]};		#FORMAT {area_string} {%c%.40s} {<ffa>}{$msdp_info[AREA_NAME]};
	#DRAW tile 2 2 2 44 $area_string;		#DRAW tile 2 2 2 46 $area_string;
	}		}

	~~Having~~ a ~~singular alias like this 'draw' example can become~~ a ~~problem when it comes to auto-updating the screen however~~. ~~You'll want to read this entire page, especially~~ the ~~very bottom, before you go ahead setting up something like~~ the ~~above~~ and ~~wasting time adding more data to it~~.		The format commands are saying we want to format a new variable named "room_string" that will be comprised of an rgb color code (%c), and then a 44 character string (%.44s). We then define the color code as the <acf> color (blue) and the string as the room name we get from msdp.

			So, first we format the room name string to be exactly 44 characters. Then we draw a tile of the exact size to contain that 44 characters (between columns 2 - 46 in this example).

	~~Note that I~~'~~m calling MSDP vars here~~, you ~~can establish those by reading~~ in ~~my MSDP script prior~~ to ~~mud connection:~~		However - having a singular alias like this 'draw' example can become a problem when it comes to auto-updating the screen however. It works well for updating one tile or box, but, you don't want to be re-drawing your entire gui every time any part of it needs updating. Bear that in mind. Maybe make an alias like draw_area_info to draw the room/area/geo and that's it. Make several commands to draw different parts of your gui, and trigger each individually, not the whole screen all at once.
	~~https:~~//~~dyrdex~~.~~com/tinscripts/MSDP~~.~~tin~~

	=Draw Lists=		=Draw Lists=

Admin: /* Draw Stuff */

2024-04-21T23:38:48Z

Draw Stuff

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:38, 22 April 2024
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	*'''Boxes vs. Tiles:'''		*'''Boxes vs. Tiles:'''
	*'''Tile:''' Can be a single space, one character high/wide. If you have data that is exactly 2x3 characters, you can draw a 2x3 tile for example. If your data exceeds that tile space, it is truncated.		**'''Tile:''' Can be a single space, one character high/wide. If you have data that is exactly 2x3 characters, you can draw a 2x3 tile for example. If your data exceeds that tile space, it is truncated.
	*'''Box:''' Can be a large space, typically good for drawing lists into, like affects or communications lines, etc. Lines that may vary in size so you don't know the exact required space and wouldn't want to use a tile.		**'''Box:''' Can be a large space, typically good for drawing lists into, like affects or communications lines, etc. Lines that may vary in size so you don't know the exact required space and wouldn't want to use a tile.

	'''Example:''' 1 1 -5 -5		'''Example:''' 1 1 -5 -5

Admin: /* Draw Tiles */

2024-04-21T23:38:36Z

Draw Tiles

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
+   }
-=Draw Tiles=
+=Draw Stuff=
-Second, you can draw tiles of data into your split region, using the coordinate system.
+Second, you can draw tiles or boxes of data into your split region, using the coordinate system.
 Here we are printing the room/area name on line 3 (down from the top) and it will go the upper left corner (

Admin at 23:17, 21 April 2024

2024-04-21T23:17:06Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:17, 22 April 2024
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	The GUI is set up using the #SPLIT and #DRAW commands, often using #FORMAT, and using your #VAR's.		The GUI is set up using the #SPLIT and #DRAW commands, often using #FORMAT, and using your #VAR's.
	(I strongly suggest enabling MSDP so you receive all the variables the mud sends automatically so you can start building things to display those. See [[MSDP Script\| HERE]])		(I strongly suggest enabling MSDP so you receive all the variables the mud sends automatically so you can start building things to display those. See [[MSDP Script\|HERE]])

	=Split Your Screen=		=Split Your Screen=