Why I'm taking computer science, I do not know, but it sure does give me plenty of time to think about better things.
So I was thinking, the main problem with MMF's (From KNP to MMF2) event editor is that it CANNOT properly display the algorithmic sequences in each *event* line of code.
As in you see the Grid of Events/Actions, but not the sequence in which the actions are executed in each event. Obviously this is a major limitation when it comes to software design.
Luckily, the "Events List Editor" of MMF rectified this from TGF, but it still proves to be a much slower, clunkier design then it could be.
So what I was thinking is, what if the event editor had expandable MINI-event grids for each event. (please forgive my poor photoshop skills from here on out)
I can see the advantages of it, but I'm not sure if it would be faster than using the current Event List - in both, you see your actions in order, but with this design you still have to scroll horizontally to see all the events that you've entered.
Nevertheless, it's worth mentioning it at the Clickteam forums.
That's definately very cool.. Clickteam should think about things like that, just makes it easier to edit all the events in their right order without having to click in and out of the Events List Editor.
I think I'd prefer the event list editor - however some people would probably perfer your method.
Post it at the clickteam forums - they have a list of things that people want and so they might put your idea on their wishlist.
I've been considering asking about the possibility of a Code Editor to go alongside the Event List editor, where every event and its actions are written as text. It sort of defeats the point of 'click', but there are times when copying and pasting text around really is a lot faster than having to navigate through a whole lot of menus.
"As in you see the Grid of Events/Actions, but not the sequence in which the actions are executed in each event."
Can't you just double click an event line and see the order which the events are executed already though? Although I like your way as far as it's much easier to read- especially on an event that needs to write 30 or 40 values to an ini file or something.
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The biggest issue with the event editor is that it sort of feels old and chunky, if will. Feels like KnP in a way, so yeah. Not only will small additions like this make it look/feel better, but perhaps we could get an editor that overall, feels a little smoother? Simple things like smoother scrolling, highlighted selecting, as aposed to merely inverting (which might I add, looks annoying imo), Perhaps slightly smoother graphics as aposed to sharp ended 98 style box graphics. Simple stuff like this, could really improve it. Just make sure it doesn't go overboard and start slowing down on older systems.
Yarr MMF does kinda fall back in terms of interface graphics, it still almost looks exactly the same as KNP's original one.
Could use some nice shades of blue instead of grey, like windows did between 2000 and XP
in the meantime, I made a mockup of what it would look like if they added multi-layed coding to allow conditional statements, which would make several useful extensions obsolete and the whole process so much better and faster:
http://img152.imageshack.us/my.php?image=events3sl4rm6.jpg
Yeah, it's definetly a good idea. Another thing that would be nice is a 'self' reference so you would sometimes be able to move around chunks of code between objects without having to change the expressions.
So rather than
- Active1: Set X to X("Active1")
you could have
- Active1: Set X to X(Self)
Would save a heap of time on certain things you should only have to do once.
That's a really good idea Pixelthief, It would speed up development a tiny bit, but every tiny bit matters. I also like the "X(self)" idea Radix had, that would be a time saver.
thinking is like pong, it's easy, but you miss sometimes.
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