Improving rooms editor

[egofree]

Eh, I really don't like that. I would like someone other than me and you to offer their preference.

LateralGm, as GM Studio, works in the rooms editor with the tabs context : for instance, if you want to work with instances (moving,adding,deleting), you've to be in the objects tab, and it's the same with others tabs. So the global delete of instances/tiles is consistent with the way LateralGm works. Of course this doesn't mean i could not change the way we delete instances/tiles, but it doesn't seem very important to me. 

Create an object without a sprite, then create a room and add the object, the icon used to represent it will be the object ball. In GM it was always a question mark if the object had no sprite, in LGM we just use the object icon. But anyway that icon is 18x18 but I'd like a 16x16 default grid where that icon fits properly into it since power of two is better. So in other words I'd like 16x16 default grid size and when an instance uses the default icon to display itself in the room editor it should scale itself down to 16x16.

Ok, i understand now. In this case, i think it would be convenient to have a specific icon for empty objects which has already the needed size. No need to scale every-time the icon.

[egofree]

I made a new pull request with the new default grid size and the new icon : https://github.com/IsmAvatar/LateralGM/pull/142/files

If it's ok for everyone, i will put it into the repository.

[Goombert]

Ok I've reviewed it and pulled it already, however I still think we should reconsider the former because I don't really think it's reasonable or uhm intuitive to make the user switch tabs in order for the buttons to work. It just doesn't seem like it is easy for people to pick up compared to them just being able to set what they want to delete and what they don't want to delete, plus it saves them a number of clicks by being able to do it all in one go.

[IsmAvatar]

* Deleting and shifting all instances/tiles are bulk operations and are not performed frequently, and the operations should ideally be global (independent of the tab).
* The Toolbar is for convenient access to frequently used things.

Therefore, the toolbar is not the best place for these two actions. I agree with Robert, it is rather unintuitive to have to switch to the Tiles tab for a toolbar button to delete all tiles.

Move the buttons. Either into their respective tabs, or into an Actions menu.


Also, I'm seeing that the Objects tab is starting to get cluttered. We should think of some ways to improve and declutter it.


Oh, and one more thing: NPE if you click on the Instance List with no instances present.

[egofree]

I've added the functions to manage tiles layers : in the rooms editor, the user can now select and manage tiles layers, with a drop down which contains all layers. An 'add' button adds a new layer and the 'delete' button erases all tiles for the selected layer. The check box 'Hide other layers' allows to see only on the selected layer. I've also discovered a bug which was already present before : when you move a tile, and try again to move the same tile, it is not working.

[egofree]

I added a new checkbox : 'Edit other layers'. If the checkbox is checked, the user can select a tile, regardless of its layer. Also i fixed the bug where it was not possible to move again the selected tile.

[The 11th plague of Egypt]

I added a new checkbox : 'Edit other layers'. If the checkbox is checked, the user can select a tile, regardless of its layer. Also i fixed the bug where it was not possible to move again the selected tile.

Looking at the title of the tab and the name of the buttons, the first thing that comes to my mind is "Add adds a layer", "Delete deletes a layer".
But from this discussion, I gather it doesn't really work like that, does it?
And why is there an Add tab too?
The difference between the Add tab and the Add button may not be so clear.

[egofree]

The add and delete buttons are used to add and delete layers. The add tab is used to add tiles. Perhaps i could use panel entitled 'Layers' around the first fields to be clearer.

[IsmAvatar]

Good work. The titled panel is a good idea. Also, ensure that the checkboxes are visually dependant. That is, when the first one is checked, the second one is grayed out and unchecked.

[egofree]

I've already implemented the basic functions for filling a selection. First, i added new settings in preferences for the multiple selection. By default, it's a filled rectangle with a blue transparent color :



In the rooms editor, you click on the selection button, and draw a selection :



Then you choose the object, and click on the fill button, and voila ! :



Now i need to do it also for tiles, and do more testing. Then i will implement also delete, and after that copy and paste.

[Goombert]

I actually have a few suggestions that relate to these features that I was actually going to start working on before you decided to improve the room editor, so this is great it means we're on the same page.
https://github.com/IsmAvatar/LateralGM/issues/188

Basically all of what I had planned you are already working on. I am going to go work on an undo manager for the background frame, an event transfer handler for the object frame, and a moment transfer handler for the timeline frame.

[egofree]

I've finished to implement the fill and delete functions for instances and tiles. I added two new buttons in the room toolbar : 'Snap to grid' and 'Add on top'. Instead of pressing the Alt and Ctrl keys, now you can switch on/off these buttons. When filling a region, if the 'Snap to grid' mode is set to on, the pieces will be placed on each grid's cell, otherwise the region will be filled according to the piece's size. Here is an example : on the left i filled a region with 'Snap to grid' mode enabled and on the right, with 'Snap to grid' mode disabled. You can see also in the screenshot the two new icons.

[Goombert]

These features are really handy for making RTS games and placing groups of soldiers and AI bots. I'm going to ask Josh to SVG those new icons for Calico though, they look a little aliased.

[egofree]

I've finished to test the fill and the delete functions for the selection tool. I added also a new switch icon for the 'Add multiple' mode.
I just made a new pull request : https://github.com/IsmAvatar/LateralGM/pull/189. So the new features are available in the main repository. The next step is to implement the copy and paste functions.

[Goombert]

So essentially you're all done and waiting for me to move on to the next part ego? Or are you planning on doing the copy and paste?