D'ni Imager Improvements

[Nev'yn]

So as a Cavern Crier, I've decided to ask about Imager improvements...Here are just few questions I have:

1. Is there any way to increase the number of posts to the "Pub" imagers to perhaps 10 ki-mail/pics?
2. Can we overcome the posting size of 16 lines by 44 characters?
3. I know this is under maybe unicode support....but simple bold/underline/italics would be kinda' nice.
4. Marten, the former GoMe GM long ago had an idea from "downloadble" ki-mails from an imager into a person's Ki.

Anys, these are just a few thoughts/idea of someone who actually has to use the Ki and it's funtions on a frequent basis.

*****
Addendum: Also if anyone has advice on getting the "advanced features" of the Imagers to function for Doobes in the part of the cavern he's working to restore, it would be appreciated.

[Ehren]

1. The pub imagers already can take 10 items.

[Tsar Hoikas]

The imager python (like most of the rest of it) has been asking for a rewrite for a very long time. The only thing I see that is not easily possible is #3. Putting more text on an imager would probably be some tricky code, but I think we could do it. We'd have to be cautious to not make the text too small, however

(edit: don't mistake this to mean "I'm working on it!" -- I've had my hands full with 9th and 10th graders as of late)

[Nev'yn]

Hmm....I was thinking the pub Imagers only held 8 items....but I will admit I could be wrong on this one.
(Perhaps because two slots are ""taken up" by ki-pics of the D'ni language at times?)

At current, here are the existing ki-mails on the GoMe imager:
*About GoMe
*Open jobs in GoMe (mental note, revise sometime soon)
*Recurring Events
*Actions/Emotes
*Gestures/Chat Commands
*Cavcon Info
*Handling Griefers
*D'ni Letters
*D'ni numerals
*AGM Pic of GoMe members

These last three are the ki-mails I replace for "Event" posts. Either way, 3-5 more ki-mail slots for posting would be nice. To be honest, some of these could be posted in the GoG pub, as they are really more "Greeter" than "Messenger"...That being said, Cavern Criers have always been a weird bridge between the two. Anys, getting off topic at this point....

@Hoikas: I understand, never enough time for everything....I have three article to write this weekend, not quite sure where I will find the time.

[Acorn]

(I've had my hands full with 9th and 10th graders as of late)

Good luck with that! Exhausting!

[johnsojc]

I do have the time to tinker with the code so I'll give it a look. I can't promise anything since I'm very new to Python but I've had success at tinkering with lots of code I didn't know well (an occupational skill). I'll start at increasing the number of images to 15 and then see how to adjust the font size.

[johnsojc]

<sigh> The number of GuildPub images is set in the PRP file GuildPub-<name>_District_Pub.prp. I believe that is one of the files we aren't supposed to touch per the license agreement. It might be possible to override the number of images in the Python script itself by looking for the device name in xSimpleImager.py. I'll look into that next... code might get ugly though...

It also appears that when you exceed the image limit, the code (at least in H'uru scripts) deletes the first image in the list instead of the oldest. The comment in the code indicates that this was on a TODO list but never got implemented. This would also affect the hood imager and probably the personal Relto imager.

EDIT: The quick and dirty fix: adds 5 more slots to all simple imagers...
In xSimpleImager.py.IRefreshImagerFolder() change

Code: Select all

if len(ImagerContents) > ImagerMax.value:

to

Code: Select all

if len(ImagerContents) > ImagerMax.value+5:

I have a way in mind to just change the pub imagers but I need to play with it a bit.

[johnsojc]

OK. Here is my simple fix to adding an arbitrary number of slots (5 in this example) to Pub Imagers without hacking the PRP file...

Change xSimpleImager.py.IRefreshImagerFolder() from

Code: Select all

            # check to make sure we are not over budget... but only on the master
            if ImagerObject.sceneobject.isLocallyOwned():
                if len(ImagerContents) > ImagerMax.value:

to

Code: Select all

            # check to make sure we are not over budget... but only on the master
            if ImagerObject.sceneobject.isLocallyOwned():
                budget = ImagerMax.value   # get the original budget
                GuildPubImagers = ["Maintainers Imager", "Writers Imager", "Greeters Imager", "Messengers Imager", "Cartographers Imager"]
                if ImagerName.value in GuildPubImagers:  # if this is a Guild Pub Imager
                    budget = budget+5                    # ... tack on 5 more slots
                if len(ImagerContents) > budget:

[johnsojc]

The previous post should take care of your #1.

The number 2 question might be equally simple as the formatting of the screen is controlled by xSimpleImager.py. I believe the basic size of the screen image is 640x480 with a font face of 18pt arial. The display starts at pixel coordinate (100,100) and wraps horizontally at 550 pixels and vertically at 400 pixels. Using the same idea as #1, the pub imagers could be set to some other set of values to increase the number of visible chars. I find the 18pt font to be hard to read without getting right up on the imager or using 1st person which causes keystoning since the pub imagers are above avatar eye level. Younger eyes and hi-res flat panel monitors may make a difference .

I'll run some tests to see how much I can squeeze into view and still have it readable.

#3 will not be easy since an entire routine would need to be written to support something like html tags or bbcode tags. Perhaps something like the formatting done to display journals could be used. I have to check just how many chars a textnote can have... dirtsand limits titles to 64 chars and unlimited body size... MOSS has unlimited title and body size... I don't know the limits on the MOULa server.


#4 would require messing with the KI code which is one script I am not comfortable with messing about with (yet).

[johnsojc]

Re: #2

Reducing the font to 14pt and increasing the horizontal and vertical wrap points, I was able to make a "fairly" legible textnote with 65 chars x 22 rows. The first 3 lines are for the message header and then 22 more lines of text body. I was forced to retain the starting point of (100, 100) because of the imager corner distortion or I might have made it to 70 chars.

Bottom line is that #2 can be done but quality of the characters suffers greatly. If I can get some screenshots, I'll post them.

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