General Help with my first Project

[LuciferVisuals]

Hi all,

I actually don't have a specific question ATM, I think most have been answered elsewhere.

The reason I'm somewhat hurriedly posting this here, is because elsewhere I have been very nicely pulled up for drifting of the subject, which should be here, do I have done this simply to start a new conversation, and probably continue an old one but in the correct place.

Please feel free to also use it

Keith

[Yincognito]

Please feel free to also use it

I'll take advantage of this and link the start of the conversations about your first project from the other threads here, so that it's easier to find something related to it that has been previously posted or uploaded:
- Running VBS script from button
- Help with animation - I'm new here
- Simple Text Marquee
Hopefully this will help in "centralizing" stuff in a more coherent manner so that help is easier given and easier received for subjects more or less related to each other in terms of project affiliation but spread out on multiple threads. Feel free to ask for help here if any other questions arise regarding the development of this project.

[LuciferVisuals]

Feel free to ask for help here if any other questions arise regarding the development of this project.

Hello Stranger... LOL

Don't know if you saw my last post in previous place but with regard to taking an action IF something is present, and Not doing it or doing something else if not. I was not keen on any of the suggestions, but did look into them all and then had an original idea (well was not on your list)

Basically check for one file and if its there then activate the full version of credits (or anything else)
If not just use the light version.

All done with a few basic lines of rainmeter code, no errors or warnings. Be a chance to see if I rember how to create a RM skin as well I have attached one, Basically it will look for Stargate icon, or remote Icon, IF present it will close the iris, but anything would have done just to see it work really. What do you think?

You will have to manually remove the icon, and refresh to se what it does if not present, put it back and refresh and see it react when it finds the file.

Keith

Oh there were thanks in last post, but I'll lavish another set on you

[LuciferVisuals]

Actually it is just checking to see if there is a file in a specific directory, (that installing one of my skins) would have put there.

Thanks for bringing those other links forward for me, I didn't think of that.

Keith

[Yincognito]

All done with a few basic lines of rainmeter code, no errors or warnings. Be a chance to see if I rember how to create a RM skin as well I have attached one, Basically it will look for Stargate icon, or remote Icon, IF present it will close the iris, but anything would have done just to see it work really. What do you think?

Yes, it works well, good job. I actually thought of including the FileView approach to that list of methods, but although I knew it could be done, I skipped it. Fileview is great and I can do useful things, but it's also a plugin - and an area - that I rarely worked with (simply because I don't need it myself), and I wouldn't have liked to miss some detail about the way to do it. Glad you found a solution on your own, you're making good steps to advance past the beginner level.

By the way, only one of the five variants I listed produced errors, and those errors were actually useful in reaching the objective, as mentioned. Most Rainmeter errors don't have the same impact as with other software, they don't mean you're breaking stuff and they act more like heads up messages. That being said, they can induce a sense of "danger" to some users, despite being mostly harmless in nature.

[LuciferVisuals]

Yes, it works well, good job. I actually thought of including the FileView approach to

Think, it was partly luck finding the idea, but the application was all my own, though I'm realizing more and more that probably 2Nothing" i''m likely to do is actually new...... its just new and original for me...

Glad you found a solution on your own, you're making good steps to advance past the beginner level.

Thanks, i'm much more confident in attempts to experiment, now I realize it doesn't matter if it doesn't work. I'm unlikely to actually break anything.

By the way, only one of the five variants I listed produced errors, and those errors

Yes I realized that, but that was not why I was not keen on the other solutions. there was at least one thing about each that I did not like about each approach, sometimes more than just one thing. It was the one with the errors I liked most. It looked like the simplest approach and I liked that but I started thinking "there must be a way to do this without errors". And that's where I wandered off and ended up with what I sent.

. errors..... can induce a sense of "danger" to some users, despite being mostly harmless in nature.

Yes my early code was full of them, it still worked, but since Balala pointed out the error log to me. It took me ages to fix them all, so now I routinely check everything in it and so far, have since removed every error. It's quite satisfying seeing a whole screen full of blue dots... Feels like teacher giving you a smiley sticker on your work at school.... That does take me back.

Keith

Next I am going to pick up on you suggesting about the .inc files, By looking into having one list of credits, and then having that info read into either the lightweight or cinematic credits screen, depending on what they have.

Then the dreaded reorganization, No fun at all that, but it's go to be done.... Sometimes it'snow taking me longer to find where I put something than to simply do it again

[Yincognito]

Yes I realized that, but that was not why I was not keen on the other solutions. there was at least one thing about each that I did not like about each approach, sometimes more than just one thing. It was the one with the errors I liked most. It looked like the simplest approach and I liked that but I started thinking "there must be a way to do this without errors". And that's where I wandered off and ended up with what I sent.

Perfectly understandable. Frankly, I would have done the same if I were you (like preferring an internal built-in solution that is error free).

[LuciferVisuals]

Perfectly understandable. Frankly, I would have done the same if I were you (like preferring an internal built-in solution that is error free).

Working of about four things at once at the moment, so many ideas and know how to do most of them. Must be getting the hang of it, but have just thought of something that I cant see how to do that would be an improvement.

I have worked out how to use a .inc file for the first time, and read that info into the credits file. So can use one set of credits.inc for both versions of credits, I got that bit worked out. But being optimistic, if someone downloaded more than one of my skins, they would have more than one credits.inc file. That's not a problem, and could be an advantage, if I used Credits-vrs-1.inc and vrs-2.inc etc then is there any way to code something like the folowing

@include vrs-10, if not there vrs-9 if not there vrs-8 etc, (using native RM code of course, unless totally impossible)

so that users would automatically use the most recent version of the credits.inc they had in they had downloaded, and it could in fact also update the credits on any and all of my skins......... This could be useful for other improvements as well,?

Being a specific question I should prob ask it as a new subject in the forum, but thought I would ask you first, bearing in mind you know the full context without me having to explain, and it might be easy (for you, at least lol)

Keith

[Yincognito]

I have worked out how to use a .inc file for the first time, and read that info into the credits file. So can use one set of credits.inc for both versions of credits, I got that bit worked out. But being optimistic, if someone downloaded more than one of my skins, they would have more than one credits.inc file. That's not a problem, and could be an advantage, if I used Credits-vrs-1.inc and vrs-2.inc etc then is there any way to code something like the folowing

@include vrs-10, if not there vrs-9 if not there vrs-8 etc, (using native RM code of course, unless totally impossible)

so that users would automatically use the most recent version of the credits.inc they had in they had downloaded, and it could in fact also update the credits on any and all of my skins......... This could be useful for other improvements as well,?

Didn't the code here helped with that already? Like I said, if the .inc structures are similar (so that older versions' stuff is overriden by the newer versions'), it's all about the order in which you @include them (from older to newer, probably). In theory, you could include an indefinite number of .inc files that way. There are, most likely, other native ways to achieve it too (you may consider what's written at Step 3 from here, maybe it can help with what you need), but...

...aren't you overcomplicating things? I mean, if you're talking about the same skin updated to a new version from a .rmskin, Rainmeter will automatically delete the old version (or move it to the @Backup folder, if Backup Skin was ticked at skin installation) and copy the new one instead, along with its .inc; if you're talking about different skins, they will be again automatically installed into different folders anyway, along with their .incs. Even if you had more variants of the same skin, you can freely @include any .inc you want in each variant, or even the same .inc. What I'm saying is that I don't entirely follow you on what you have in mind. Can you give a simple example of what you envision, so I can better understand when I'll get back to this?

P.S. The Variables Files and Merge Skins at Step 3 mentioned above have a drawback. I didn't use them for my skins, so SilverAzide knows better what that drawback is about.

[LuciferVisuals]

Actually | may well be over complicating things, My head is spinning atm. nothing new there, lol.

That said I am certain I have seen that type of code somewhere, and now it's bugging me. I just cannot for the life of me remember where. But I bet it was is the lot of code you referred to in this post. I did wade through all that, crossing possibilities off one at a time, when I decided I wasn't happy with that solution.

It doesn't matter, I thought you might have used it before and immediately place it.

In any event I can always revise it later, I need to get a few things finished first before there is any point to it any way. And now I have discovered and tried @include, I could literally re write everything. But I took a break just now and decided that is the most stupid thing I have ever thought of, I will never finish anything if I keep doing it over every time I discover something new, or a better way to do it. Best to finish it....... Always revise it later.


Keith