ASC tracks sunspots

[Diziet Sma]

I'm putting this here because I suspect the root-cause goes deeper than the ASC itself.

On a recent trunk test-flight (r5520) I noticed a "Compass: Undefined" message on the console. It appeared to be the sun, but the sun had its own ASC entry, as usual. On getting close to the sun, it was clear that it was considerably offset from centre, so obviously not the sun itself. No object was visible, and the distance suggested it was around the other side/beyond the sun itself. Some manoeuvring brought the thing into view.. it turned out to be a sunspot!

Very cool.. but I don't think the ASC should track them..

[cim]

Very cool.. but I don't think the ASC should track them..

Well, the Sunspot OXP as it stands is just a quick demonstration of possibilities (including compass tracking of visual effects). If you'd rather not have that bit, just remove the following line from the effectdata.plist file

Code: Select all

	"beacon" = "Sunspot";

[Diziet Sma]

Oops.. I thought sunspots were a trunk feature..
My bad.

[Cody]

Oops.. I thought sunspots were a trunk feature..

Que?

[Diziet Sma]

Oops.. I thought sunspots were a trunk feature..

Que?

Never mind.. brain-fart on my part.. forgot I'd installed the demo-oxp

[Wildeblood]

On a recent trunk test-flight (r5520) I noticed a "Compass: Undefined" message on the console.

Which, if your beacon announcements were displaying the beaconCode, rather than the displayName, would not have happened. As I wrote before, a beacon must have a beaconCode, it may or may not have a displayName. Now where's that other thread where Commander McLane was trying to tell me displayname was never undefined?

[Thargoid]

It's a slightly distinct case as here the beacon is on a visual effect rather than a ship entity, and those don't have displayName (or name) as a defined key (they have dataKey instead).

But Wildeblood's point is valid in that it is a case where displayName is undefined. My Planetary Compass does distinctly set both of them, but it's an unofficial (and a little naughty) usage of the keys as effectively user defined ones.

[Wildeblood]

It's a slightly distinct case as here the beacon is on a visual effect rather than a ship entity, and those don't have displayName (or name) as a defined key (they have dataKey instead).

No, it isn't, since it's perfectly acceptable to set name = "" on a ship if you don't want any name to appear if it's targeted. But you can't set beacon_code = "" and still force it to have a beacon.

My Planetary Compass...

Although you can set beacon_code = " Planet" (first character blank), and then no letter icon will appear on the bottom-left of the compass, improving the illusion that you are in fact targeting a planet, rather than a beacon, with the compass. That's the reason for these lines in Destination ETA:-

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		case "COMPASS_MODE_BEACONS":
			{
			if (whom.beaconCode.charAt(0) == " ") this.$destination = whom.beaconCode.slice(1);
			else this.$destination = ("Beacon: " + whom.beaconCode);
			break;
			}

For people who don't read javascript, if the beacon code begins with a blank, the prefix "Beacon: " is not added when it is displayed.

[Commander McLane]

Now where's that other thread where Commander McLane was trying to tell me displayname was never undefined?

What I was saying was that this seems like a bug to me. At least it's contrary to the documentation:

displayName

displayName : String (read/write, read-only for player)

The name of the ship as seen by the player. By default it is the same as name.

I interpret the highlighted sentence to mean that it can never be undefined (at least not as long as name is defined). So, if it is, either the documentation is wrong, or you have discovered a bug.

[Thargoid]

But won't affect this particular case, as it relates to a visual effect where neither name or displayName are defined (unless done in script as an "unofficial" key). Which is what I meant earlier.

[Tricky]

Actually if Wildeblood is seeing displayName as undefined then there is a bug. I am with McLane on this one. displayName should be the same as name if displayName is not defined in shipdata.plist

[cim]

Actually if Wildeblood is seeing displayName as undefined then there is a bug. I am with McLane on this one. displayName should be the same as name if displayName is not defined in shipdata.plist

And it is for all cases where the entity in question is defined via shipdata.plist. Sunspots, however, are not, and have neither a name nor a displayName.

[Commander McLane]

Actually if Wildeblood is seeing displayName as undefined then there is a bug. I am with McLane on this one. displayName should be the same as name if displayName is not defined in shipdata.plist

And it is for all cases where the entity in question is defined via shipdata.plist. Sunspots, however, are not, and have neither a name nor a displayName.

Thanks for clarifying this.

[JazHaz]

Very cool.. but I don't think the ASC should track them..

Well, the Sunspot OXP as it stands is just a quick demonstration of possibilities (including compass tracking of visual effects). If you'd rather not have that bit, just remove the following line from the effectdata.plist file

Code: Select all

	"beacon" = "Sunspot";

Right I have removed this line from the effectdata.plist, however I am still getting Beacon: undefined on my ASC.

I looked at the scripts and in vedemo-sunspot.js there is the following code:

Code: Select all

this.effectSpawned = function() {
		log(this.visualEffect.dataKey,"Added at "+this.visualEffect.position);
		this.visualEffect.beaconCode = "Sunspot";
		this._timer = new Timer(this,this._mutate,5,5);
}

Should the bit that refers to the beaconCode also be removed?

[Diziet Sma]

Right I have removed this line from the effectdata.plist, however I am still getting Beacon: undefined on my ASC.

Confirmed.. I'd forgotten to mention this.. thanks for bringing it up.