Dear Moderators and VASSAL Gurus,
After being away for a while due to a serious family illness, I returned to find 3.2.12 released, including the fine documentation for Expressions and the Bean Shell items. Thanks to all (esp. Brent) for that helpful addition, as I’ve been stumped a few times regarding syntax with Calculated Property Expressions.
I have three questions that all relate in some way to Prototypes and “best practices” in VASSAL coding (and coding in general):
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Copying Code - This may have been asked previously, but I cannot find the thread for some reason. Is there a way to transfer Prototypes or other portions of module code between modules? By this I mean via the GUI, such as having 2 modules open and C/P between them? I think someone said that you could do this by opening the file that stores all the raw code, but that this file was not entirely human-readable, so it might be hard to track down individual parts of a module that you wish to clone. Am I recalling this correctly, or has something changed with recent updates? If this capability is not currently available, is it at all feasible? Surely this is a common occurance for those of us who work or have worked on multiple modules.
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Global vs. Zone Properties - In Java (and in many other languages), programmers are vehemently discouraged from using global variables, as this violates encapsulation and risks generating effects / errors that are hard to trace. I realize that in VASSAL, Global Properties are both necessary and essential to overcome certain issues with the interface. However, I was wondering if people often create Properties within Zones or Boards in an attempt to maintain encapsulation. Is this common practice, or does this tend to create collateral problems with visibility that, in the end, must be solved by making a Property global to the Module after all? Should I potentially revamp a work-in-progress to restrict the visibility of some Properties? How do people feel about this and what do all of you do in this kind of situation?
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“Best Practices” Library - Is there some place (a sub-forum, sticky thread, etc.) were people could post snippets of Prototypes or Traits that constitute “standardized” ways of achieving certain actions or characteristics? For instance, I have figured out on several occasions how to use various Global Properties, Markers, etc. to create generic Prototypes that can apply to many different units in all kinds of modules. In addition, I have by trial and much error discovered how to automate some types of common game rules using various combinations of Properties, generic Prototypes and Traits. Is there a clearing house in which developers could post some of these discoveries so that we can share our collective knowledge? I’m certain that amongst us we re-invented the wheel many times over. Moderators, if this was possible and practical, what would be the best way to do this? In conjunction with this, could a portion of this “area” be set up as a “tutorial clinic” for newer users, thereby expanding the user base? I know the web site has some examples, but something within the forums may be easier to manage and maintain. Thoughts?
Thanks to everyone who has helped me in the past. Sometimes we all need a second (or third) pair of eyes to catch the errors!