Ultimate Variable Editor

[trevor]

Hot off the press...

I got tired poking around trying to find variables and having to replicate changes in a hundred different spots so I wrote this plug-in..

Features...

1. Structured display of objects types / names and variables.
2. Complex search functionality including use of " * " wild cards
3. Copy and paste variables.
4. Direct edit of Object names, Variable names and Variable Values.
5. Checking for duplicate and bad names and values.
6. Object name changing automatically fixes any variable references to those names.
7. Bulk value or variable-name changes.
8. Select, delete, or change visibility of objects.
9. Show or hide objects that have no variables attached
10. Window can be selected to be always on top or not.

Just run the exe or load it into MBS as a plug in...

Have fun.. let me know here it you find any problems.

---------------------------

NOTE 1: Edits made through the plug-in interface are not automatically registered as changes within MBS itself. Therefore, there is no undo functionality.
Further, YOU WILL NOT be prompted to save changes to your MBS design when you close it unless you make other changes directly within MBS itself.

Best practice is therefore...

a.) Save your current design
b.) Make changes using this tool,
c.) Test your layout,
d.) IF everything is working as expected, save your design. OR
e.) IF NOT... re-open your design to recover your last saved state.

NOTE 2: Unfortunately, at present, the plug-in interface only supports named objects. You will NOT be able to correctly edit objects with duplicate names.

NOTE 3: Object name changes and or variable name changes will NOT be reflected in indirect or custom references in your event manager code.

-------------------------------------------------- DISCLAIMER ---------------------------------------------
Use at your own risk. Although tested, there is no guarantee or warranty associated with this plug-in.
The author is not responsible for ANY damages or loss off data resulting from the use of this tool.

 

MBS_Variable_Editor.zip

[Henry]

hi Trevor,

excellent work, I am still testing It gives a good overview of objects, variables and their values.

Is it possible to to realize a printed output ?

regards,

Henry

[trevor]

51 minutes ago, Henry said:

hi Trevor,

excellent work, I am still testing It gives a good overview of objects, variables and their values.

Is it possible to to realize a printed output ?

regards,

Henry

Hmm.. there's an idea

[EASY]

Hi trevor,

... good idea

... i tested your plugin with the MBS project "Gablerspitzbergbahn" and i got some questions:

What is the condition for a "Bad Name" (name with blank seems to be one condition...) and...????

When i start the plugin, then i get this:

... as you can see there are 1600 "Duplicates"...
... so i fixed then...

...then i get 888 "Bad Names"...
i fixed them...

... there is still one "Bad Name" and i can't fix this name...
... but now i got 1 "Unknown References" (... is the reference the name which can not be fixed?) or what does "Unknown References" mean?

When i try the plugin with the MBS project "Gotthard Nordrampe" then 9493 "Duplicate Names" will be found. If i fix them it will take a long time (several minutes) to fix the names. I do not know if you do... but in this case (rename objects) using a "commandgroup" in the programm should be much faster...

EASY

[trevor]

Yes, I kind of wish I had left that menu item out. Fixing duplicates is only really needed if you have multiple objects with the same name that have variables attached. You could have a million trees with the same name so it would be a pain to sequence through them all and pointless since I can't imagine why ANYONE would add a variable to a tree.. LOL 

However, I will look at using my new command group handler for that, though I am not sure it would help much since changing an objects name causes MBS to do quite a bit of work to fix up any event handler references.

 

OK so bad names are anything with a space, period, semi-colon or left or right brackets.. for obvious reasons...

 

Bad references can be misleading. For the purpose of the editor I assumed that most text variables would be used to "point-at" some other object. Indeed I was using them for that purpose a lot. As such, the editor will highlight text fields that do not have an object with that name on the layout. If you are using the variable for some OTHER textual meaning you can safely ignore the warnings. I found it irritating that things did not run right because I had some typo like Signal = Singal_42 somewhere....and had to go hunt for it... hence the feature.

BTW... if you change the name of objects referenced in variables the editor will also update the variable references.

 

[EASY]

Hi trevor,

here is the last version for download... can you "synchronize" this thread... so the last version can be found.

I think it would be very important to point out that if a variable name is changed with this plugin the entry in the event control will not be changed.
(i.e. event -> variable is changed -> name: )... this can cause (big) problems...

I know it is only "optical" but is it possible to format the extension for (fixed) duplicats...
... in a sorted view i do not like "track_1", "track_10", "track_11, "track_2"... better -> "track_001", "track_002".... "track_011"

EASY

[trevor]

3 hours ago, EASY said:

Hi trevor,

here is the last version for download... can you "synchronize" this thread... so the last version can be found.

I think it would be very important to point out that if a variable name is changed with this plugin the entry in the event control will not be changed.
(i.e. event -> variable is changed -> name: )... this can cause (big) problems...

I know it is only "optical" but is it possible to format the extension for (fixed) duplicats...
... in a sorted view i do not like "track_1", "track_10", "track_11, "track_2"... better -> "track_001", "track_002".... "track_011"

EASY

Yes, unfortunately, the event handler is beyond the scope of the plug-in interface. Item's referenced in the EV directly should still be hooked, but things specified by name is a definite issue. Mind you, it's the same in MBS too.

re 1,10,100 issue, I understand.. I will look into it sometime.

Synchronize... hmmm how do I do that?

[EASY]

Hi trevor,

Zitat

vor 2 Stunden schrieb trevor:

Yes, unfortunately, the event handler is beyond the scope of the plug-in interface. Item's referenced in the EV directly should still be hooked, but things specified by name is a definite issue. Mind you, it's the same in MBS too.

... ... i know... but i think it's not in everybody's mind.... so i think it should be notified if you ever publish this as a plugin... (hope so) 

Zitat

vor 2 Stunden schrieb trevor:

Synchronize... hmmm how do I do that?

... if you have a new version it would be better to publish it in this thread (for download) and not "anywere" in the forum... better make a link in the other thread...
... i think it is easier to follow the development and discuss issues... (... but unfortunately I do not always do so)

EASY

[trevor]

New edition : Adds two new picks to the tools menu to let you randomize the shrubbery.

Random Rotate Selection In Z... and
Random Scale Selected Objects...

NOTE 1 : SELECTED means "Object Selected in the Variable Editor....", not in your layout, though you can select first from the tool if you want to.

NOTE 2 : It is assumed you will select greenery which have their origin at the bottom of the tree or bush. Scaling other object that have centered origins will cause them to no longer rest be on their current object.

NOTE 3 : Random scaling will change the objects current scale anywhere from 0.5 to 1.5 times it's current scale.

NOTE 4 : As with all plug-ins... unique object names are required.

As usual... remember to save your layout first, run the tool, and check things are the way you want, then save again so you don't lose the changes.

Enjoy...

T

 

MBS_Variable_Editor_20161206_1308.zip

[trevor]

Google German version...

If anyone wants to help with the translations, please edit the appropriate lines in the Application_Strings2 file ( T5: for De ) and post it back
. .. thanks

MBS_Variable_Editor_20161207_0900.zip

Application_Strings2.zip

Bearbeitet 7. Dezember 2016 von trevor

[EASY]

Hi trevor,

... in P3 "Copy" .... i think you mean to copy and not the copy
... in P69 "T0:Fix Bad Bames"... i think you want to "Fix Bad Names"... sometimes key "B" is very near key "N"

... so this is my suggestion for translation...
Application_Strings2_EASY.zip

EASY

[trevor]

52 minutes ago, EASY said:

... in P69 "T0:Fix Bad Bames"...

LMAO isn't that soooo.. ironic

Thanks Easy.. I'll plug it in tomorrow.

[EASY]

Hi trevor,

LMOA ???? (.... i know you like it short.... but this is to short for me...)

EASY
 

[trevor]

16 minutes ago, EASY said:

Hi trevor,

LMOA ???? (.... i know you like it short.... but this is to short for me...)

EASY
 

LMAO = laughing my A** off !  Another typo sigh... apparently my right hand is faster than my left....

Bearbeitet 7. Dezember 2016 von trevor

[trevor]

With EASY's translations. Thanks again bud.

MBS_Variable_Editor_20161208_0850.zip

[ademes]

Hello,

I discovered this plugin and I used it a lot as this makes so easy to develop my layout.

Unfortunatally, and I don't know why, since 3 days, it doesn't work any more; in place of the normal screen, I receive a full black screen.  I currently work with Windows 10 and, as I know, no modification was implemented, except of course the normal automatic updates.
I've reload and install once again both MBS_Variable_Editor and 3d_studio, but the wrong result remains.

I need some help and I also have 2 questions :

1. How to implement MBS_Variable_Editor as a plugin instead of lanching it from its resident directory?

2. Is there a place where all existing plugins are defined and described?  When you search for plugins from 3d, you receives only some of them.

Many thanks and regards

André

[Andy]

Hi André,
investigated a little bit. Which version do you use? I took the one before your post and it works.

to 1. - not possible, you would to have the source code and modify it. A plugin isn't an exe. A plugin has the extension .mbpl. This editor is not a plugin! (or there's something that I don't know about)

Am 21.10.2016 um 15:43 schrieb trevor:

... or load it into MBS as a plug in...

i wonder if he ever tried.

to 2. plugins are either in the catalogue (those are tested ones!!!), or you may find one here in one of the threads. so why do you think there are more than the available ones?
Where the heck should they be?

Then: it looks like the editor doesn't do anything with files - and it needs no. It's absolutely standalone, except it seems to be a Visual Basic Program that maybe needs some runtime-dll. But then an error message-window would open. I really don't know how such a program suddenly should change its behaviour. Don't even know if internal ports may be blocked by a firewall - in case your windows defender changed access rights. But then this one would cry. Also have no idea which graphics driver the editor uses. Maybe try a compatibility mode. What happens if you launch it on a fresh layout? Maybe it changed something in your layout that caused the situation and it cannot even handle all of its own changes...

Andy

ps wait! if you change the size of the window and leave, it starts with the last one used again. There must be a file for that or something in the registry. I'm searching.

Bearbeitet 23. Mai 2019 von Andy
ps

[Andy]

The program got registry entries. The settings get stored in the Visual Basic section. You can delete the program, but it won't cleanup completely. There's also no uninstall for it. EVIL!
If you can handle the registry editor, I suggest you search for MBS_Visual_Editor. It appears a few times. You can delete it when it's a folder inside a VB & Visual Basic folder. (happens two times!). Maybe it works again when launching it after it. It should recreate those entries then.
You shouldn't delete when it's a binary entry. That's the harddisc section, I wouldn't touch that. Either it corrects itself there at some point, or, it stays as garbage.
Can't say more.

greetings
  Andy

[ademes]

Hi Andy,

Thank you very much for your help and researches.

I will try the solution you suggested and I come back to you with the results.

Regards

André

[Andy]

If not, last idea is the visual basic runtime (maybe google that). Perhaps some other installation of yours did overwrite it with a dirty version. Maybe refresh that - different versions available, the editor doesn't say which one..

[ademes]

Andy,

I restart the program MBS_Visual_Editor and, as described before, it remains as a gray reduced window; but when I right click in it and ask to enlarge, the window takes the whole screen with the correct data in it.

So it works, but I cannot reduce this window as I don't have the opportunity to click in the corners of the frame.  I'll now search how to do this.  And, also, I don't kwow how this happened!

Concerning the second point in my former intervention, the question was to have a place (wiki or something like it) where all plugins available are described.  The reason is that, for example, the plugin MBS_Visual_Editor is quite unknow by most of the users and I find that regrettable.  Maybe some other "unknown" plugins could help in designing complex layouts.

Best regards

André

[ademes]

Last info concerning MBS_Variable_Editor : it works, I finally reduced its window and... Now... It is in FRENCH!  How is this possible???

Regards

André

[Andy]

Multilingual, using some visual basic feature looking into windows environment, my one is in german
I assume you installed it more than once, maybe updated the version, because those language extensions came late.
But it then probably didn't update the setting in the registry, and then the newer version missed something. That's how I think it can be explained.
After all, it's important that you made it running again.

greets
  Andy

[ademes]

Thank you Andy,

What about my second point?

Regards

André

[Andy]

already answered!