Oolite Bulletins

1. On the new galactic chart, can a message be display when you press "?" to switch highlight modes, to indicate what mode you're in? Or could the mode be displayed somewhere on the screen? (Also, can a legend be included in the readme or the reference sheet)

2. When you have a long path charted on the galactic chart, when you go to the F7 screen you will see the planet at the end of the path. But what I sometimes want to see is the next destination. Can the F7 screen have two displays you can flick between: the final destination, and the next destination? The only way I can find to currently show the destination is to click on the planet on the chart, removing whatever path I currently have, go to the F7 screen to view the info, then go back to the F6 screen and redo my plot.

Edit: Actually, with point 2, if there could be a way of moving through all the systems on your current plot, maybe with a next/back button combo, that would be uber-cool.

Actually, with point 2, if there could be a way of moving through all the systems on your current plot, maybe with a next/back button combo, that would be uber-cool.

I second that!
Also in the f7 screen perhaps info about secondary planets could be displayed if any is available from an oxz. maybe with up down arrows?
but that is no minor tweak I guess

Count me in, although I would find a "Current System" option (maybe hit F7 twice?) more useful than "Next System." It's usually the planet description of the current system with which I'm interested.

phkb wrote:

When you have a long path charted on the galactic chart, when you go to the F7 screen you will see the planet at the end of the path. But what I sometimes want to see is the next destination. Can the F7 screen have two displays you can flick between: the final destination, and the next destination? The only way I can find to currently show the destination is to click on the planet on the chart, removing whatever path I currently have, go to the F7 screen to view the info, then go back to the F6 screen and redo my plot.

That should be possible with an OXP without any core changes.

Wildeblood wrote:

That should be possible with an OXP without any core changes.

I guess the solution I was looking for was a bit more integrated. I think the only event you could capture (and would want to capture) from the F7 screen would be the F7 keypress itself (correct me if I'm wrong here), with the guiScreenChanged or guiScreenWillChange, so, I guess, yes, you could put a solution together that would kind of work. Keep pressing F7 to see all the planets on your plot. But it's not very integrated or intuitive. It would also be a pain in the neck to code, swapping out players real destination with a pseudo one, then swapping it back again. I dunno, but that feels very kludgy to me, prone to error as well as unexpected interactions. My feeling is a "next/back/start/end" keypress combo would make navigation a lot simpler and easier to describe to new players. If we can't get a more integrated solution I can certainly have a go at putting something together with the F7 keypress, but I'd like to hope for a more complete version in core code.

phkb wrote:

Wildeblood wrote:

That should be possible with an OXP without any core changes.

I guess the solution I was looking for was a bit more integrated. I think the only event you could capture (and would want to capture) from the F7 screen would be the F7 keypress itself (correct me if I'm wrong here), with the guiScreenChanged or guiScreenWillChange, so, I guess, yes, you could put a solution together that would kind of work. Keep pressing F7 to see all the planets on your plot. But it's not very integrated or intuitive. It would also be a pain in the neck to code, swapping out players real destination with a pseudo one, then swapping it back again. I dunno, but that feels very kludgy to me...

You don't need to do that, you just throw a mission screen over the usual F7 screen, that happens to be laid out the same. I did it years ago, before your time, to have an F7 screen that switched between planet and sun data.

You'd have to leave off the rotating planet, wouldn't you? The "backgroundSpecial" options for the mission screen have the long range and short range chart options, but no planet options (unless I missed that option in the doco). Also, any OXP's that integrate data on the F7 screen would need special attention.

So, rotating planet aside, yes, I guess it's possible on a mission screen, but I think it would still be preferable to have the F7 screen do the work.

Edit: But you said "mission screen over the usual F7 screen". Okay, I'm lost. I have no idea how to overlay a mission screen on an existing screen. I know how to intercept the F7 key press event, and would be able to display a mission screen instead of the F7 screen, but to integrate both... beyond me at this point. Do you have your sample still around that I can check out?

phkb wrote:

Edit: But you said "mission screen over the usual F7 screen". Okay, I'm lost. I have no idea how to overlay a mission screen on an existing screen. I know how to intercept the F7 key press event, and would be able to display a mission screen instead of the F7 screen, but to integrate both... beyond me at this point. Do you have your sample still around that I can check out?

Okay, that's not what I meant. Are you going through a literal parsing phase? So you've identified two problems:
You'd have to leave off the rotating planet.
Any OXP's that integrate data on the F7 screen would need special attention.

The first wouldn't bother me at all, since it would provide an obvious visual cue which screen you were looking at. Use a background image with "First stop en route" in big letters where the model would normally appear. Confusion is likely to arise without some such indication.

The second would be the deal-breaker, since it would give it the home-made vibe. Explorers' Club provides a public function for just this situation, but what other OXPs would need to be considered, I dunno.

Other people would think it the other way around: wanting the planet model present to avoid an amateurish look, and accepting the replacement of the description text to indicate which screen they were viewing.

I'll mind my own business now; excuse the interruption, please, thank you.

Wildeblood wrote:

Explorers' Club provides a public function for just this situation, but what other OXPs would need to be considered, I dunno.

No, it doesn't, does it? No. I was thinking of another function in it, which returns a string. Add that to the Explorers' Club to-do list, then.

Wildeblood wrote:

Are you going through a literal parsing phase?

Hopefully the phase comes with some good in-flight movies...or at least some cheap medication options.