UI Customization

[Starclopsofish]

Is there a particular reason that the hotkeys for Build, Research, Design, etc. are locked down in the keyboard configuration screen? Because I was looking at the WZ2100 source (disclaimer: I am NOT anywhere near competent at coding, just learning C and I know enough to write hello world, some simple unit converstion programs, etc.) and I was able to unlock these mappings by substituting the second parameter on the function that initializes the key bindings (don't have the source on this comp, I'll edit this post with the specifics later today...)

If I was able to do this, it's obviously pretty trivial to do, so is there a reason these are locked down or is it just something no one's gotten around to yet? It's really tedious having to jump up to the Function keys every time I want to build or research. Using the mouse to click the menu, then click through the menus is equally as tedious, though, and very time consuming!

Just to be clear, this isn't a demanding feature request or anything, I was just wondering what the rationale behind this was. Also, as a very inexperienced coder, (I basically know all the C syntax, but not much beyond that) I'm a little overwhelmed looking at the source. Does anyone have any recomendations for gaining experience at coding in general, and more specifically wrapping my head around a huge project such as this?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT:
The file is keymap.c and the function is keyAddMapping();
I just change the second argument to KEYMAP_ASSIGNABLE

[whippersnapper]

.

- I'll defer to the Developers to make code recommendations and tips.

- But I can refer you to Dev Elio's new UI prototypes here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2258 AND
here - viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2492&p=24220#p24220

- Anything in the way of new UI is contingent on what is already in development called Beta Widget and
you can read-up on that here: http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/Descri ... Betawidget AND
here - http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/Betawidget_reference

- IMHO major game play advances beyond Dev Zarel's "Re-Balance" will be contingent on "Betawidgets" full implementation.

- Regards, whipper.

[Zarel]

I believe the original reason they're locked down is probably because Pumpkin thought those would be used the most, and if a player played on a computer other than their own, not even having those hotkeys would be a really big deal.

...What? You think you can come up with a better theory?

Anyway, we've never made them configurable since no one's really considered it a big enough deal. I mean, their placement seems fine to me.

If you want to submit a patch, feel free. I think a better solution to the "new computer" problem would be a non-configurable hotkey to reset to default configuration.

[stiv]

...What? You think you can come up with a better theory?

How about: when the game was originally written, most computer keyboards had a row of function keys across the top. Laptops, with their crippled keyboards, did not become popular until later.

(I am assuming the original poster's "It's really tedious having to jump up to the Function keys every time I want to build or research." comes from not having accessible function keys.)

Does anyone have any recomendations for gaining experience at coding in general, and more specifically wrapping my head around a huge project such as this?

Learn about pointers

Run doxygen to generate browseable documents for structs, etc.

Start small. Look at main(). Play with something simple like keymaps.

[Starclopsofish]

Thanks for the responses and tips. Yeah, I'm totally a*** about my hotkeys when playing RTS, lol.I think it started with Red Alert 2, it was great having everything you needed in the leftmost 12 alpha keys. Anyway, what's the procedure for submitting a patch, sorry, I'm new to this!

[whippersnapper]

.

Anyway, what's the procedure for submitting a patch, sorry, I'm new to this!

- Have a look at this overview: http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/Coding

- Then go here; https://gna.org/projects/warzone

- Regards, whipper.

.

[Starclopsofish]

Ok, awesome! So do I need to apply for membership for the project, or should I just post the patch on the mailing list?

[whippersnapper]

Ok, awesome! So do I need to apply for membership for the project, or should I just post the patch on the mailing list?

- Far as I know you do NOT need to apply for membership to the Dev Team in order to submit a patch.

- Here are the guidelines for contributing: http://developer.wz2100.net/wiki/CommitGuidelines

- And there is this from the FAQ:

I want to work on the source code; how can I submit my changes?

If you are not a member of the project, you can't commit directly via SVN. You checkout the latest revision from trunk/. Then do your changes and check if they do what you expected. (And don't crash anything or similar.)

Separate separate changes. Means: Don't create a 2MB patch with all your work in it. Just put those features/changes in one patch which belong to each other or depend on each other, because we will review your patch and that is easier if it is small. And if we reject one part of the patch it wont happen that your whole patch get rejected, because we don't have time to separate the accepted parts from the others.

After you have finished your work, you right click on the directory you checked out. Choose “Subversion” from the menu, then “Create patch”. This will open a dialog where you can check your changes again give the filename of the patch. Then send us the created file.

How to send it? You should create a ticket in Trac and attach your patch.

You can also send it to warzone-dev at gna org. This is a moderated (for non members) mailing list. Your email will be accepted if it can be identified as not being spam.

A patch will only contain the files that are explicitly added to the SVN repository. Means: Only changes to those files will be included, which (the files) are already on the server or you requested SVN explicitly to add them to the repository.

- You can also talk to Project Devs on the IRC channel.... #warzone2100 on Freenode

- Regards, whipper
.

[Zarel]

Patches should be submitted here -> http://developer.wz2100.net/newticket

Membership is not necessary, as others have pointed out.

- Then go here; https://gna.org/projects/warzone

That's currently unused, except for the mailing list. I'd say it'd be better to direct them to developer.wz2100.net

How about: when the game was originally written, most computer keyboards had a row of function keys across the top. Laptops, with their crippled keyboards, did not become popular until later.

(I am assuming the original poster's "It's really tedious having to jump up to the Function keys every time I want to build or research." comes from not having accessible function keys.)

That wouldn't be jumping up to the function keys, though. It sounds more likely that the F1-F12 keys are just too far from the home row on any keyboard (I still can't touch-type well with the num row, and F1-F12 are even further from the home row than that.)

[Buginator]

There is a good reason for the way Pumpkin had it.
Read the docs (manual) to find out why.

As for changing it, right now, we can't modify tooltips to show what the keys have been changed to. Perhaps one day.

[Starclopsofish]

Hey all, sorry for the sudden disappearance, end of the semester/moving out and all. I'll have some free time for a while now though now that the summer's started.

@whippersnapper:
I just saw that today.... I have no idea how that escaped me the first time... sorry!

@Burginator:
Well that's a shame! I suppose we'll have to wait for Betawidget then. In the meantime now that classes are out for the summer, I'm going to try to learn a lot more about C coding. Hopefully, I can be useful some day!