Oolite Bulletins

Thanks Day for the kind words. I feel the ugly head of feature creep raising. Got to fight it . Version 3 did a serious chop down of features leaving in only the ones I felt were the most useful and intuitive of the lot.

Seriously though, feature(s) like that could be a reason to make this OXP tweakable via OXPConfig. I'll keep it in mind.

spara wrote:

I feel the ugly head of feature creep raising. Got to fight it

spara wrote:

. Version 3 did a serious chop down of features leaving in only the ones I felt were the most useful and intuitive of the lot.

Seriously though, feature(s) like that could be a reason to make this OXP tweakable via OXPConfig. I'll keep it in mind.

Maybe no need to use OXPConfig: something like "F8 shows percentage diffs, F8-F8 shows value diffs" could be enough.

Day wrote:

Maybe no need to use OXPConfig: something like "F8 shows percentage diffs, F8-F8 shows value diffs" could be enough.

You mean in the market screen percentage diffs and in the detail screen value diffs? That could work, but is it useful?

spara wrote:

Day wrote:

Maybe no need to use OXPConfig: something like "F8 shows percentage diffs, F8-F8 shows value diffs" could be enough.

You mean in the market screen percentage diffs and in the detail screen value diffs? That could work, but is it useful?

I had forgotten about the details view.

In this case, F8 would show the value diffs, because it's useful to decide which good you want to buy, and you need to see the values for all goods, and F8-F8 would show the percentage diffs, because it's useful to decide IF you want to buy that good, and you need only the info on that good.

Day wrote:

In this case, F8 would show the value diffs, because it's useful to decide which good you want to buy, and you need to see the values for all goods, and F8-F8 would show the percentage diffs, because it's useful to decide IF you want to buy that good, and you need only the info on that good.

I think it's either or. I see no point in mixing value diffs with percentage diffs. I think that value differences would be more efficient, but as a side effect it totally unmasks the simple mechanism of just a few profitable commodities. And for that reason I personally like percentages more. I still trade with those profitable goods, but seeing percentage diffs instead of raw value diffs fools my mind enough.

No objection on creating some kind of switch somewhere though. I still think OXPconfig is the way to go. In earlier days it would have just been a user variable in the script.

Sorry spara, I feel the need to be a little more explicit. I wouldn't like to understand badly what you mean.

Firstly, just to be sure, I was not considering to have the percentage diffs and the value diffs visible at the same time.

Secondly, if I understand well, you advise to have a switch in OXPConfig to switch from percentage based diff to value based diff, and vice-versa. Isn't it ?

Concerning my usage, I use the percentage diff for gems/platinum/gold, and the value diff for the rest. It wouldn't be practical to go to OXPConfig every time to switch :/

Here is a (should-be)simple proposition: to have a switch in OXPConfig enabling the print of the value diff betweeen parenthesis near the percentage diff.

Err... Finally I do consider to have the percentage diffs and the value diffs visible at the same time.

Day wrote:

have the percentage diffs and the value diffs visible at the same time

Which is a 4. OXPconfig option, after your previous suggestion for a 3. option where only the valuables have percentages. Imho.

Day wrote:

Sorry spara, I feel the need to be a little more explicit. I wouldn't like to understand badly what you mean.

Firstly, just to be sure, I was not considering to have the percentage diffs and the value diffs visible at the same time.

Secondly, if I understand well, you advise to have a switch in OXPConfig to switch from percentage based diff to value based diff, and vice-versa. Isn't it ?

Concerning my usage, I use the percentage diff for gems/platinum/gold, and the value diff for the rest. It wouldn't be practical to go to OXPConfig every time to switch :/

Here is a (should-be)simple proposition: to have a switch in OXPConfig enabling the print of the value diff between parenthesis near the percentage diff.

Err... Finally I do consider to have the percentage diffs and the value diffs visible at the same time.

No worries, I seem to have misunderstood you a bit, but now I see what you mean. I tried lots of different options and layouts when making the 3.x versions. The main problem with squeezing more information is that the screen simply gets bloated with numbers and is hard to read. The current layout takes into consideration bigger averages, prices and percentage diffs. So currently there is very little space left. The slot next to the price is for commodity markets oxp. I could try moving average column left and making the diff column wider. No promises though, if it breaks the current IMHO balanced layout, I'm not going to implement it.

In a perfect world I would like to have an activation button in the market screen that allows me to change diffs from value to percentage and vice versa in the market screen.

Norby wrote:

Day wrote:

have the percentage diffs and the value diffs visible at the same time

Which is a 4. OXPconfig option, after your previous suggestion for a 3. option where only the valuables have percentages. Imho.

You have me totally lost, Norby!

spara wrote:

I tried lots of different options and layouts when making the 3.x versions. The main problem with squeezing more information is that the screen simply gets bloated with numbers and is hard to read. The current layout takes into consideration bigger averages, prices and percentage diffs. So currently there is very little space left. The slot next to the price is for commodity markets oxp. I could try moving average column left and making the diff column wider. No promises though, if it breaks the current IMHO balanced layout, I'm not going to implement it.

In a perfect world I would like to have an activation button in the market screen that allows me to change diffs from value to percentage and vice versa in the market screen.

I understand

A new version (3.4) with new features is up.

* Thanks to Day, I sat down and tested and tweaked and tested and tweaked and finally got it to look right. So now there is a new column showing the net difference. And I think it's good, hope you folks like it .
* Thanks to phkb who PMd me his tweaks, I took a long look at the printing function and basically rewrote it to better accommodate different font sets. No more relying on static font widths. Haven't actually tested it, but is "should" work. Phkb also had a very good idea of showing the full purchase log in the detailed commodity view. I tweaked his tweak and implemented it.

Thank you Spara

And thank you phkb

It's exactly what I needed

I currently use the Dangerous font, and it looks quite good

ps: yes, I'm smiling, I just can't stop

A new version (3.4.1) available. Traditionally in a very quick succession afer implementing new features .

* When making the OXP behave with the current alternate font OXPs (there seem to be two that work correctly) I overlooked the column titles. I was using descriptions.plist and spaces for tabbing. Well, that naturally does not work very well. Switched back to using HUD legends and exact positioning.
* Changed the titles to be a little more obvious. I'm very unfamiliar with market terminology, so I made my best to choose more common titles in hope that it's instantly clear what the numbers stand for.

Here's an image with Dangerous Font:

Updated to 3.5.

* Utilizes a pooling ad service making sure that all included ads get shown in random order.

Looks like when you jettison cargo, the F8 screen (and F8-F8) in flight is not changed. It still shows you as having the cargo you jettisoned.

I was just testing stuff out with regards to things that are banned for import or export. I bought some Narcotics which were listed as "Imp" on the ban list, and indeed when I launched from the station, I was still Clean. Before I went to re-dock with the station, I jettisoned the Narcotics. I checked the F8 screen after jettison and... it still showed that I had the Narcotics. However, when I docked, indeed I did not have the cargo anymore.

Whether it was Market Observer doing this or Smugglers, I wasn't sure, so I removed Smugglers and tried again, this time buying a legal cargo. I left the station, jettisoned, and... yep, it's still showing as in my hold. (The F5 screen correctly showed that I no longer had the cargo.)

I suppose this is a by-product of it keeping track of what you've lost, for the sake of the trader rating. What you're seeing is your cargo manifest. Ideally it should show what you actually are carrying, and maybe add a note about what you've lost compared to what's on your cargo manifest, if that's at all possible.

I didn't check to see if it adds what you scoop up during flight...