A question about display text reposition

This thread is a few years old. Some details may refer to an earlier version of Visionaire Studio. Current tutorials

• #1, by Uraal Monday, 28. October 2013, 21:32 14 years ago

  So I've returned to wonderful world of (attempted) scripting now that I'm taking some coding classes (maybe I have better chance of actually understanding this all).
  
  Tho there's something essential I must be missing with this code:
  
  

  -- let's create the function which sets the position of displayed text
  function setTextPosHook(text)
   -- if text owner is a character then...
   if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getId().tableId == eCharacters then
    text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=960, y=100})
   end
  end
  
  -- let's create the event listener for handling position of displayed text
  registerHookFunction("setTextPosition", "setTextPosHook")
  

  
  
  That's pretty much a copy pasted script file from wiki that I have put into my project's execution script library. Now I don't know how this is activated by I tried to:
  
  1. Call script
  2. Display text (of current character)
  
  Text of the character didn't change the position but is instead (and still) displayed on top of the character, I must be doing something awfully wrong here (probly something laughably simple I have completely misunderstood) .
  
  Do I need to use some command inside the Display text to run this script or what em I doing wrong?
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• #2, by Alex Monday, 28. October 2013, 22:31 14 years ago

  Your script should be set to 'definition script' so it gets executed automatically when the game starts. If you have trouble with a script you should make print calls to find out what's wrong.
  
  btw, you should rename the thread title to a useful title. Almost all threads contain a question...

• #3, by Uraal Monday, 28. October 2013, 23:12 14 years ago

  Ah yes that whole code is now definition script. How/where can I define when character text is displayed according to this definition script?
  
  Thanks in advance!
  
  (Ah oopsies, accidental topic , corrected now)

• #4, by afrlme Tuesday, 29. October 2013, 00:51 14 years ago

  with this script in question being a hook, & in particular an event listener - meaning it listens out for each time text is displayed - you would have to create multiple if queries to determine where to place text for x character for x scene.
  
  

  -- example 1: if character is "some character name" ...
  
  -- let's create the function which sets the position of displayed text
  function setTextPosHook(text)
   -- if text owner is a character then...
   if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getId().tableId == eCharacters then
    if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getName() == "add character name here" then
     text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=960, y=100})
    end
    -- etc ...
   end
  end
  
  -- let's create the event listener for handling position of displayed text
  registerHookFunction("setTextPosition", "setTextPosHook")
  

  
  
  

  -- example 2: if character is "some character name" & scene is "some scene" ...
  
  -- let's create the function which sets the position of displayed text
  function setTextPosHook(text)
   -- if text owner is a character then...
   if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getId().tableId == eCharacters then
    if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getName() == "add character name here" and game:getLink(VGameCurrentScene):getName() == "add scene name here" then
     text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=960, y=100})
    end
    -- etc ...
   end
  end
  
  -- let's create the event listener for handling position of displayed text
  registerHookFunction("setTextPosition", "setTextPosHook")
  

  
  
  you could create multiple variations on where, how & when to display text in a new position via the use of multiple if queries such as the 2 methods I've shown examples for above or by querying whether or not a certain condition is true/false or whether or not a value equals a certain integer value or even combine the various queries together & so on.

• #5, by Uraal Tuesday, 29. October 2013, 09:14 14 years ago

  So I gave scene a name "emohall" (at scene -> properties -> scenename) and also named character I want my script to affect the name "emo". Then I placed following code as a definition script:
  
  

  -- example 2: if character is "some character name" & scene is "some scene" ...
  
  -- let's create the function which sets the position of displayed text
  function setTextPosHook(text)
   -- if text owner is a character then...
   if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getId().tableId == eCharacters then
    if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getName() == "emo" and game:getLink(VGameCurrentScene):getName() == "emohall" then
     text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=9, y=1})
    end
    -- etc ...
   end
  end
  
  -- let's create the event listener for handling position of displayed text
  registerHookFunction("setTextPosition", "setTextPosHook")
  

  
  
  Unfortunately script does nothing when character "emo" starts talking in the room "emohall". The language I use for names is "Unnamed" <- default and my Visionaire editor version is 3.7.1 (Build 1149). I tried to take those "" away around the names (emo && emohall) yet it didn't work either. Some of the things character says is made with Display text and some are within the conversation tree, yet neither changes. Is there something fundamental I have misunderstood?

• #6, by afrlme Tuesday, 29. October 2013, 16:15 14 years ago

  && is not allowed in Lua...
  
  it is used in php, various c programming languages & a few others but in Lua you have to use "and"
  
  

  if
  else
  elseif
  and
  or
  end
  not
  
  etc....
  

  
  
  The game language names have to be written in English (I think, Alex or David can confirm this, or correct me)
  
  the name is not taken from the names you type/add via the fields where you can add names for different languages, but is taken from the object name itself... (see attachments)
  
  Check out this link @ http://wiki.visionaire-tracker.net/wiki/Basic_lua -for a quick guide to basic lua operators, conditions & other stuff, I have been typing up. Everything includes an example or two

  • 
  • 

• #7, by Uraal Thursday, 30. January 2014, 22:48 13 years ago

  Hmm maybe I have fundamentally misunderstood something, but the following script:
  
  

  function OnStartText(text)
  text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=9, y=1})
  end
  
  --function OnStopText(text)
  --end
  
  --function OnMainLoop()
  --end
  
  registerEventHandler("textStarted","OnStartText")
  --registerEventHandler("textStopped","OnStopText")
  --registerEventHandler("mainLoop", "OnMainLoop")
  
  
  

  
  
  Still makes the text appear completely middle of the character:
  
  

• #8, by afrlme Friday, 31. January 2014, 01:01 13 years ago

  use the hook function instead for character related text...
  

  function setTextPosHook(text)
   text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=9, y=1})
  end
  
  registerHookFunction("setTextPosition", "setTextPosHook")
  

  
  & remember - you can only have one of each event listener/handler/hook per game project.

• #9, by Uraal Saturday, 22. March 2014, 13:27 13 years ago

  Okay, finally cracked it. Thanks for the help!
  
  This code goes to "scripts" as an definition script (from properties). It basically runs on background waiting for event when a character "name" (name being any characters name you want to be affected by the script, name is taken from list of characters inside the visionaire editor) launches and then displays that text in given position (x and y).
  
  

  function setTextPosHook(text)
   if text:getLink(VTextOwner):getId().tableId == eCharacters and text:getLink(VTextOwner):getName() == "name" then
    text:setValue(VTextPosition, {x=750, y=330})
    return true
   end
  end
  
  registerHookFunction("setTextPosition", "setTextPosHook")
  

• #10, by afrlme Saturday, 22. March 2014, 15:59 13 years ago

  yeah
  
  I forgot to include the return true part to the example I gave you... d'oh!

• #11, by andiliddell Tuesday, 08. July 2014, 01:38 13 years ago

  can you unregister this hook function once you're done using it?
  
  I have some character custom animations with a different registration point and size so the text is out of position for a small time, which i would like to fix with this, but then stop listening for the hook once im done, and go back to the default above the head position.
  
  It would be a really great addition (and pretty simple i imagine) if they could add a "define text position" dialog for display text by character when you don't want the default over head position?