Referencing app for scripting functions/properties/datablocks...
by Kama · in Torque Game Engine · 07/09/2004 (6:34 pm) · 5 replies
Ok... I m not sure if what I've begun to do will be of use or not... I havn't dug much about it in the Torque online doc to see if something like this already exists but here is the idea...
Since I'm a beginner about Torque and I m learning it, I figured something like a big archive referencing all the datablocks/functions/properties available for scripting would be great... I'm actually making an app that would do this... Here is a screenshot of what it looks like so far:
Don't worry about the Mac look, my compiler can compile such an app for PC (win 95/98/2000 and XP) and it WILL run both on Mac and Windows.
The main point about this app is that it's only a GUI linking everything... Someone will have to write everything in it... The main objectiv is that anyone who can write a thing or two, does... if all the people around could add a few datablocks/functions/properties to this archive, it could become huge pretty fast.
For instance, since I'm a beginner, I won't be able to write much (I could at least copy/paste what's already in the official documentation). So this app would call for Torque advanced/veteran users to help a bit.
I m planning to make my app save everything in .text files so that there aren't any problem with compatibility. And people wanting to stay up-to-date would only have to download the latest text files. The problem is that having several people adding things to the app would require someone to add what people have done by themselves into the "last up-to-date-downloadable file"... or maybe I can thing of an app capable of taking as much text files as I want and unite them in a single one without over-writing or losing things in the process...
Well anyway, for now, please tell me if this project might be usefull... Also I'd like to hear from advanced/veteran Torque users if they would agree to share their knowledge this way and take a small bit of their time to implement in my app what they know about a few functions and such...
Please tell me people
(even if everyone tells me my app is useless, I ll still make it for my own purpose but I'd like to know if I should care about making it available for everyone and more user-friendly for everyone)
cheers :)
(and sorry for all the english mistakes I might have made in the post... I'm french, so bare with me ^_^)
Since I'm a beginner about Torque and I m learning it, I figured something like a big archive referencing all the datablocks/functions/properties available for scripting would be great... I'm actually making an app that would do this... Here is a screenshot of what it looks like so far:
Don't worry about the Mac look, my compiler can compile such an app for PC (win 95/98/2000 and XP) and it WILL run both on Mac and Windows.
The main point about this app is that it's only a GUI linking everything... Someone will have to write everything in it... The main objectiv is that anyone who can write a thing or two, does... if all the people around could add a few datablocks/functions/properties to this archive, it could become huge pretty fast.
For instance, since I'm a beginner, I won't be able to write much (I could at least copy/paste what's already in the official documentation). So this app would call for Torque advanced/veteran users to help a bit.
I m planning to make my app save everything in .text files so that there aren't any problem with compatibility. And people wanting to stay up-to-date would only have to download the latest text files. The problem is that having several people adding things to the app would require someone to add what people have done by themselves into the "last up-to-date-downloadable file"... or maybe I can thing of an app capable of taking as much text files as I want and unite them in a single one without over-writing or losing things in the process...
Well anyway, for now, please tell me if this project might be usefull... Also I'd like to hear from advanced/veteran Torque users if they would agree to share their knowledge this way and take a small bit of their time to implement in my app what they know about a few functions and such...
Please tell me people
(even if everyone tells me my app is useless, I ll still make it for my own purpose but I'd like to know if I should care about making it available for everyone and more user-friendly for everyone)
cheers :)
(and sorry for all the english mistakes I might have made in the post... I'm french, so bare with me ^_^)
#2
07/09/2004 (6:47 pm)
ConsoleDoc? I will take a look at it... if people already implements a doc like what I have in mind with my own app then my solution is useless since no one will care about doing the job two times... hmmm... 
#3
I like it and was wondering if you thought of intergrating it into TGE itself? I would like to try it out when you get done with it. It looks like it is easy to use. ConsoleDoc is a pain and is still buggy. I got rid of it because of that.
07/09/2004 (7:12 pm)
Hey Kama, I like it and was wondering if you thought of intergrating it into TGE itself? I would like to try it out when you get done with it. It looks like it is easy to use. ConsoleDoc is a pain and is still buggy. I got rid of it because of that.
#4
-John
07/09/2004 (7:54 pm)
I think this is an excellent idea. I'm particularly fond of the search feature, also the gui looks great. You should be able to integrate this tool into Torque using the Con classes and ConsoleDoc as the backend, that way you don't have to build a separate database.-John
#5
Hey Kama,
Very cool looking. :)
There are really two separate issues here: 1) the documentation of Torque functions, objects, and datablocks. 2) a nice-looking front-end in which to display the documentation data.
As far as #1, check out the Torque datablock reference, and Torque console functions reference. We also have more information like this coming out.
If you are willing to help contribute even more documentation like this then.. great!! Anyone that is serious about contributing to documentation like this, please email me at joshw@garagegames.com. You are correct, the only really feasible way to do this is to coordinate between at least a few people. Also, if you coordinate directly with us here at GarageGames, I can make sure that people aren't duplicating eachother's work-- so everyone will get the documentation more efficiently.
As far #2, the front-end goes, I think the application layout you have above is very, very nice looking. Maybe something like that is a good idea. However, I think the best thing would actually be to store the documentation information in an easily extractable format, and then let any ol' front-end access it. So, if the data is in an easy-to-parse format, designing various front-ends to show it off wouldn't be hard at all. A stand-alone app like you show above could work. A web-page could be generated from the same data. Probably the most useful thing would be something built-in to Torque itself. Perhaps an extension of the World Editor. Our datablock reference data is already in a format such as this, and I'd love to get the function reference in it as well.
Does what I'm saying make sense? Please email me if you'd like to coordinate together more on these kinds of things.
07/09/2004 (9:06 pm)
Note: I think we should probably close this thread and keep things going in the other one (www.garagegames.com/mg/forums/result.thread.php?qt=19884). The below is a copy of my post in that thread. In the future, try not to duplicate your threads (it's ok, finding the right forum to post in is not always easy).Hey Kama,
Very cool looking. :)
There are really two separate issues here: 1) the documentation of Torque functions, objects, and datablocks. 2) a nice-looking front-end in which to display the documentation data.
As far as #1, check out the Torque datablock reference, and Torque console functions reference. We also have more information like this coming out.
If you are willing to help contribute even more documentation like this then.. great!! Anyone that is serious about contributing to documentation like this, please email me at joshw@garagegames.com. You are correct, the only really feasible way to do this is to coordinate between at least a few people. Also, if you coordinate directly with us here at GarageGames, I can make sure that people aren't duplicating eachother's work-- so everyone will get the documentation more efficiently.
As far #2, the front-end goes, I think the application layout you have above is very, very nice looking. Maybe something like that is a good idea. However, I think the best thing would actually be to store the documentation information in an easily extractable format, and then let any ol' front-end access it. So, if the data is in an easy-to-parse format, designing various front-ends to show it off wouldn't be hard at all. A stand-alone app like you show above could work. A web-page could be generated from the same data. Probably the most useful thing would be something built-in to Torque itself. Perhaps an extension of the World Editor. Our datablock reference data is already in a format such as this, and I'd love to get the function reference in it as well.
Does what I'm saying make sense? Please email me if you'd like to coordinate together more on these kinds of things.
Associate Ron Yacketta