Hi All,

I've been working on a new version of the FullMoon plugin in my spare time
since the first release. I had many difficulties like changes in Moray's
SDK, changing the compiler to produce the plugin, changes in Lua's API etc.

Most changes are in the way the plugins are programmed. Object programming
is now more close to OOP programming, you can inherit your object from
another one, unecessary methods have been removed.

I put a pre-release of the new FullMoon plugin for Moray at
http://www.geocities.com/andre_leiradella/fullmoon2.zip. The contents of
ZIP file can be extracted inside Moray's Plugins directory, the DLL is now
called MryFMoon.dll and the plugins now must have .ful as extension so
there'll be now files overwritten.

As this is a pre-release there will be changes, but most of them will be
related to the configuration dialog (I want to let plugins insert images in
their dialogs).

I'd appreciate to get some feedback from you and I'd suggest that FullMoon
plugins developers start to use the new version (and port their plugins
from the previous version also). From those who aren't programmers I'd like
to get ideas for new plugins.

There is no license in the ZIP file but it's the same as the previous
release.

Happy new year!

Andre de Leiradella

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On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 07:14:36 EST, "Andre de Leiradella" <nomail@nomail> wrote:

>I've been working on a new version of the FullMoon plugin in my spare time

[snip]

I am not a programmer, but I have used quite a few of the plugins that others
have made. So thank you for making that possible.


Regards
        Stephen

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...
> I'd appreciate to get some feedback from you
...
I'll start working with it right away.
Thanks for your continued work.

Stephen

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I fling oneself  into this undertaking.
Thanks a lot
Friendly
Sylvain

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> ...
> > I'd appreciate to get some feedback from you
> ...
dialog:newLine()
The ability to place controls from left to right is very nice.

Function.ful
@funcID = dialog:addTextBox(@func)
The new 'TextBox' (and 'ListBox')is shorter, left to right visible space,
than in version 1.1. Is it posible to make it longer, maybe like how
dialog:addSeparator('Z', 2) does it?

The old :getProperties() has been changed to
.getInfo(), and .getIcon()
How do I get my picture for the icon in the new format?
Will the additional information in the .getInfo() be displayed somewhere?

Will you be allowing plugins to read or write(create) external files?

More questions to come as I play some more :-)

Stephen

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For the Version 1.1B of FullMoon i built a file named
Model.lua (Gabarit.lua) Where i can find every thing
i know: ListBox, EditBox, RadioButton, EditBox, Help.
Etc etc...
Is it possible to create the same thing for the new
version ? Because i'm not a programmer and have a good
chance to spend a lot of time to understand that.
Something easy to understand and transform.

Friendly
Sylvain

You're ok Stephen !!!!!!! ????? I don't believe it !!!
Thanks a lot ;0)


> Happy new year!
The same. Thanks

> Andre de Leiradella
>
>

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"Andre de Leiradella" <nomail@nomail> wrote in message
news:web.3ff16c2c172f9dc557904ff10@news.povray.org...
>  From those who aren't programmers I'd like
> to get ideas for new plugins.

I'd like one that would allow me to bend any object, like the "modifier" in
anim8or, http://www.anim8or.com , or Chris Colefax's Object Bender include
file for Povray, http://www.geocities.com/ccolefax/bend.html .

Steve Shelby

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StephenS wrote:
>> ...
>> > I'd appreciate to get some feedback from you
>> ...
>dialog:newLine()
>The ability to place controls from left to right is very nice.

I'm thinking about make it possible to place controls over a 2D grid...

>
>Function.ful
>@funcID = dialog:addTextBox([at]func)
>The new 'TextBox' (and 'ListBox')is shorter, left to right visible space,
>than in version 1.1. Is it posible to make it longer, maybe like how
>dialog:addSeparator('Z', 2) does it?

I'll probably solve this with the 2D grid. Full control over the widgets'
positions and sizes.

>
>The old :getProperties() has been changed to
>..getInfo(), and .getIcon()
>How do I get my picture for the icon in the new format?

Hum, sorry about that. The new icon format is full colored, so it changed
from the previous version. The new format consists of 16x16 RGB triplets
one after the other. I'll post a little C program to make the conversion.

>Will the additional information in the .getInfo() be displayed somewhere?

Unfortunately when the user clicks on "View" and then "Loaded Plugins" the
only information from .getInfo() that is displayed is the object's UID. I'm
planning on adding a "About" button bellow the "Configure" button that will
show the author's information when clicked.

>
>Will you be allowing plugins to read or write(create) external files?

That could be a source of problems for FullMoon users as someone could write
a virus disguised as a Lua plugin. I do need the plugins to read files (to
implement bitmaps inside configuration dialogs) but I'm still thinking how
to make it possible without the security risk. I'll probably make a
"package" file that will contain the plugin's Lua code and any other data
needed and the plugins will be able to read data only from it's own package
file.

As for writing, why do you need it?

>
>More questions to come as I play some more :-)

Ok!

>
>Stephen
>

Andre de Leiradella

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StephenS wrote:
>....
>Some additional things I've noticed:
>The 'Configure' window is resizable but no scrollbars appear when you make
>it to small.

Ooops, I'll make the configuration dialogs non-resizable.

>
>In version 1.1 and 2 the message window can only be moved with the 'Title
>bar' (I think that's what it's called). If I make a message based on user
>options, the message can extend beyond the bottom of the screen and even
>taller than the available screen space. Would it be possible to allow the
>window to be moved by click and dragging anywhere on the window?

Hummm, the 1.1 messageBox and 2 showMessage just pop a regular MessageBox
from the Windows API. I could make a custom dialog with the message that
could be moved from anywhere but it's definitely low-priority. Why would
you need to show a message based on the user's options? Maybe I can come up
with something better...

>
>Version 1.1 'ListBox':
>Example: In Philippe Gibone's excellent plugin seashell.lua, while the shell
>type is selected, I can use the mouse wheel and scroll though the supported
>shells, and the screen is updated automatically. In v2 I need to sellect the
>'Ok' button to see any changes to the scene. I think I will miss this
>behaviour, or is there another solution?

Currently any changes inside :notify() do not reflect the config dialog, but
this will change very soon.

>I understand and agree with your concerns about security risk.

Thanks.

>> As for writing, why do you need it?
>I can not think of a programming problem that can not be solved currently
>with the :save(stream)/:load(stream) or with the generated POV-Ray code.
>Mostly it was a question of curiosity.

Well, if what you want is to generate the POV code for a plugin, I have
plans to write a standalone Windows application that will let the user
choose one object, enter its parameters through the config dialog and
export the POV code to a file or to the clipboard. Comments with the
base64-coded parameters (or something like that) would make it possible to
later change the parameters and re-generate the POV code with the changes.

That is a project that will start only when I'm happy with the Moray plugin
version 2.

>
>Stephen
>

Andre de Leiradella

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...
> Hummm, the 1.1 messageBox and 2 showMessage just pop a regular MessageBox
> from the Windows API. I could make a custom dialog with the message that
> could be moved from anywhere but it's definitely low-priority. Why would
> you need to show a message based on the user's options? Maybe I can come
> up with something better...
...

In 1.1 when you have lots of controls, Moray's Modify tab can be very long.
As a way to summarize the selections the user has made, I was listing them
in a MessageBox. This will be less of a problem in version 2 because it's
easier to see all the controls (and there value) at one time.

As my plugins become more complicated, they need more and more instructions
on how to use them. I was including the instructions in a MessageBox.

Other things....
The included plugins can be part of a group but not a CSG.

Will version 2 be able to output the selections from Moray's Flags (no
shadow, no image...) and Photons?

In Function.ful/:save(stream)/stream:write(@clip, @minZ, @maxZ)
@clip is a boolean and @minZ in a number, this suggests fullmoon knows what
type a value is and saves it accordingly. Will tables be supported?

The dialog:addEditBox() has changed, are whole numbers with decimals no
longer supported? Example 23.4 (they may be, but could not figure out how)

Stephen

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