Experimental 3.6 features NEED YOU to test them!

Module Design
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I coded up two experimental features for 3.6, that COULD make the cut IF they get enough testing!

If you can help us test, please:

  • Pull down and install the appropriate branches from vassalengine.org/builds/
  • BACK UP your modules before editing them with the test builds.
  • Mostly I recommend you test on “throwaway” copies of your modules, albeit “the temptation will be great”.

Features/Branches to be tested:
(1) “Drag and Drop” for Editor items – look for the latest “DraggyDroppy” build at vassalengine.org/builds/ and install it. It should allow you to “drag and drop” items all around your module! It will also support Ctrl-Drag (that’s Cmd-Drag on Macs) to make copies of items in various places. The kind of testing needed is –
(a) That both “move” and “copy” modes basically work
(b) That it doesn’t let you drag something “where it doesn’t belong” (wrong kind of parent, or drag a parent to its own child, that kind of shenanigans)
(c) That it doesn’t make items disappear never to be seen again! (I don’t think it will, but remember, I did warn you…)
(d) No stupid stuff like throwing exceptions and eek-a-bugs

(2) Duplicate-in-Place and Insert-New-Below for Editor items – look for the latest “14372” build and install it. In this branch, right clicking on an item in the Editor window should give you new “Duplicate” and “Insert-new-item-below” options. The first makes a copy of the item you right clicked and inserts it below the item; the second makes a “brand new item of the same type” (but not a copy of the first) and inserts it below. This one’s less complicated than the one above, but still needs testing.

PLEASE test and let us know how things go!

Brian

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Both of the above features are now (together) in all future 3.6 snapshot builds, in addition to ANOTHER feature that needs your testing:

(3) FOLDERS - you can add subfolders to your Module, your Maps, your Decks, and to the [Global Properties] and [Game Piece Prototype Definitions] folders. The folders can contain many/most of the items that their parents can contain (including additional levels of folder), and should be useful for organizing e.g. your At-Start Stacks, Global Key Commands, Prototypes, Properties, or whatever.

Brian

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These are gamechangers!!!

Any plans to be able to paste in from other modules?

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Oh, and my other big wishlist item is to be able to select and drag (or Copy/Paste) multiple items :slight_smile:

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Yeah, that’s the Holy Grail. Hopefully it will happen one day.

In the meanwhile, every new module I make of late I am starting from my most recent one and adapting everything there, offsetting unwanted pieces to negative values…

This means that there are tons of ghosts of unused at-start-stacks, decks, prototypes from multiple previous modules leftover… just in case I need to recycle some logic or solution or piece later on…

But these are gamechangers already, indeed!

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Is there a target date for 3.6? @Cattlesquat?

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That won’t happen in V3.

The way to do it in V4 will be directly cutting and pasting in the module definition file, because it will be human-readable.

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Some things are still being worked on at this point. There might be a beta in a few weeks.

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Being able to create folders to organize files and drag and drop is wonderful.

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