Maybe *I'm* the one that's misinterpreted the question! :-) I think what you're telling me is that I'm over engineering the problem and that all I'm really after is a self-contained group that has all of the functions I'd need to manipulate the tank which I would then copy (or clone?) as many times as I needed to get the required number of tanks. I guess in the end, a Data Grid is nothing more than a group.

This actually brings up another question though: There are some cases of tanks in the current system that display the feet of water in the tank next to the tank, and some where the number is shown IN the tank. If we temporarily ignore how I'd let the user move around the component parts of a tank (assuming I'd let them), what are the "locations" of the components in the group (i.e., oval and rectangle for water graphic, text box for numeric level, etc) telling me? Are they the physical locations on the screen at that instant or are they (or can they be) relative to the location of the group as a whole?

len morgan

On 3/27/2010 9:18 AM, Björnke von Gierke wrote:
I'm not sure what would make your "object" not be portable?

the main things to look out for are:

Changing the rectangle or location will of course change some movement 
dependant scripts. you need to look out for that if you do graphical stuff 
(like resizing a water level graphic for your tank).

Use a group, and set its lockLoc to true. Generally It's easier to handle 
various objects that belong together if they're grouped.

Keep your scripts together.  Group all objects that belong to your "custom" object, and 
move all "toplevel" scripts into that group's script.

Try to keep all custom properties in that group too, so that you have one place 
to go to for setting stuff and calling scripts.

To be able to identify the correct "object" when there's several on one card, I 
suggest to change the groups name to something unique.

Beyond that, there's really no additional measure to take, unless I 
misinterpreted your question.

On 27 Mar 2010, at 14:32, Len Morgan wrote:

Has anyone created a tutorial for creating and using a custom control?  What I'd like to 
end up with is a custom control that I could copy onto a stack similar to Trevor's Data 
Grid.  As an example, I've been tasked with redesigning the GUI for a pipeline control 
system that comprises various tanks, pumps, valves, etc. and I'd like to just create one 
of each and be able to put multiple instances on a "page" (the system currently 
uses 6 HUGE monitors hung on the wall of the control room).

To the a "water tank" as an example, it needs the following:

It needs to look like a water tank (cylinder of varying hieght) with "water" in 
it that goes up and down to reflect the amount of water that is actually in the tank.

A number to show the current level (in feet) that is in the tank.
Some parameters like tank height, spill height, minimum level with an alarm if 
the level goes below it.
A visual indication that it is spilling or has gotten too low.

I created a little stack and I can do this graphically and I can set variables like currentTankLevel and have 
it change the number and the "water level" but it's not "portable" so I guess what I'm 
asking is if there is a tutorial that can tell me how to take this one-off widget I've created and turn it 
into a custom control/widget that I could copy on to a stack and then "set up" to make that 
instance unique?

I know it will probably need behavior scripts and such, and I'm pretty sure all 
the pieces to do this are laying around in the mail archives somewhere but I 
was hoping that there was some sort of a step by step guide.

Any pointers would be welcome.

len morgan



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