Zugg Software :: View topic - Does anyone actually use the "fly-out" settings panel?

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:49 pm

In CMUD there is a "fly-out" panel on the right called "Settings" that can be used to view your settings. This is a small subset of the full Package Editor. But you can't really do much with it. The fields for changing the value of a setting is very small.

Since I'm in the middle of rewriting the TreeView used in the main Package Editor, I realized that I'm going to need to incorporate the same changes into this fly-out settings panel.

But then it occurred to me to ask whether anyone actually uses this fly-out panel instead of the main settings editor? Is it useful? Should I spend the time to update it to the new TreeView too? Or should I just get rid of it as a bloated "feature" that nobody really uses?

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

Can't say I've ever used it, no probs here if it follows theming.

Enchanter Joined: 11 Feb 2003 Posts: 511 Location: USA

I'd get rid of it. I end up opening the help files instead of looking at them through it. Plus, I keep my mapper over there.

Apprentice Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 108

I have tried using it, when i am working on triggers. But I am not able to actually change the pattern matching in the settings fly out. This one thing has made me not use it at all

Wizard Joined: 11 Jul 2002 Posts: 1265 Location: USA

I never use it and about the only questions I ever see about it is how to stop it from flying out permanently...

Wizard Joined: 25 Mar 2003 Posts: 1113 Location: USA

I don't use any of the fly-out panels. I generally find them annoying in any program. I'd much rather dock/undock/show/hide panels the traditional way and avoid that "oops, I moused over it again" thing that keeps happening with the fly-out stuff.

Adept Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 250 Location: Austin, TX

I don't currently use any of the fly-outs. (On the other hand, if there were a way to cause a fly-out to open/stay/close from a script, I might well create some of my own display-only information windows over there. Apologies if this can be done, and I'm too ignorant to have figured it out)

But to answer the question, no, I never use the fly-out settings panel. I always go to the real deal with Ctrl-G.

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:23 pm

The settings fly out is annoying to me, but making custom flyouts is more appealing.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

I tend to get rid of all the fly-outs as well. I really can't see a use for settings flyout at all. The other flyouts are only mildly useful.

Wizard Joined: 03 Mar 2001 Posts: 1127 Location: London

Seeing as a few people have said the same I'll chip back in and say that it's not only the Settings flyout I don't use - I don't use any of them.
The status window seems a bit pointless to me since I just put things in a button and then put the button where I want. To echo others, maybe if they could be scripted to appear, vanish etc then I'd use them more, but generally they just get closed and ignored.

I'd quite like to be able to get rid of the reference flyout and just have the proper help window pop up straight away too.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:18 am

I dock my mapper window to the right side of the screen, needless to say I had to develop inhuman dexterity to avoid the fly-outs while scrolling maps. So in that way, i found them very useful. However, there is some data regading my character that I keep in the status window. Rather than qeury the MUD for the info I do use the status fly-out. The others, I don't find useful at this time.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:28 am

Anaristos: Is that in v2.18? Several versions ago I optimized the entire flyout system so that it was less sensitive to just moving the mouse over them. You should need to keep the mouse hovered over a tab for a bit before it will fly-out. This was a problem in older versions.

Keep the feedback on this coming though...it's very helpful.

Magician Joined: 23 Nov 2004 Posts: 364

Since its so small there is really no use in editting scripts in it, also if you have something in the background running (like a bot), trying to edit something in the flyout makes it horridly slow (1 gig ram, 2 ghz processor w/ win xp SP2). I'm also very keyboard based, so even if the help files were available there I would use #help blah instead. But I think some useful way to use them would be a simple overlay flyout that would be there until you clicked on it for things like clan/guild admin chatlines, ect that are important but rarely used on muds.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:55 am

I can't say I use the settings fly out editor, usually if I'm looking at a variable I wanting to edit and look at other things. Other wise the data is already represented as a gauge, button or in my status window.

I do use the other fly out windows though and definitely think they are a great feature.

Adept Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 250 Location: Austin, TX

FWIW, I think the main reason that I don't use 'em is that I rarely take my hands off the keyboard while I'm mudding. (editing my map or writing scripts is a different story) It's just too dangerous, especially if I wind up with the keyboard focus away from the command-line, like when the map window is selected. So, usually, if I can't do it from the keyboard, or in a script that I can invoke from the keyboard, I probably won't do it unless I'm parked in a completely safe area.

That's why I think it would be useful to be able to show/hide the flyouts from a script - I'd love to be able to fly out various sets of information on top of my map window (which I also keep docked on the right), and more importantly, keep it displayed until I'm done with it. I'm just not going to reach for the mouse to make any of it happen.

(Alternatively, allowing the system windows, like the mapper or the DB window, to be popped to the top of a tab set would allow me to achieve a very similar effect.)

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:55 am

Now that you mention it, it is not happening as often. I am using 2.18. I was so accustomed to how 1.34 worked that I assumed the same for 2.18. There is a marked improvement now. It is much harder to trigger the fly-out. I like it much better.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 3:59 am

I agree with Tech. I find the reference pretty useful, but I've never used the settings editor. Can it.

Wanderer Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 84

I never use the flyouts. They kept popping out when I didnt want them too, and that lagged my system up. If I want reference, I check the help. If I want settings, I check the package editor. I disabled all the flyouts long ago, they were more annoying than useful.

Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:53 am

Of course, until I make the same changes to the docking system 3rd party components that I did in 2.18, the 2.20 is back to the old sensitive flyouts :( I'm not sure if I'll be able to tweak that before the next beta, so be aware that the next beta might have the sensitive mouseover problems again. But eventually I'll find a better way to fix it without modifying the 3rd party source code directly.

Scripting the flyout windows is definitely on the to-do list for a future version.

I use the Help Reference flyout window all the time by pressing F1 on the command line. Just position the cursor in a command or function and press F1 to get quick help. Then press F1 again to make the Help Reference go away. Quick and easy without taking your hands off the keyboard. But it still works this way even if the Help Reference is hidden (and not set to flyout).

Also, the next version makes some changes to the docking system that will make it much easier for people to save their default window layout for future sessions. So it will be easier to close a flyout window, save as the default layout, and never see that flyout window again.

Adept Joined: 21 Sep 2005 Posts: 250 Location: Austin, TX

All good news. Very Happy

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

I don't use the settings flyout. I've considered using the status flyout, but haven't yet.

Apprentice Joined: 26 Apr 2007 Posts: 113

I've used settings flyout sometimes, but that's only for things that I don't need a large view of things for. (Checking a certain variable, etc.) all in all it's not too useful, in my experience.