Forcing text into a labeledstring?

[nezzir]

I've bumped into a problem. I had to add/change some items in the Combat Tracker for my ruleset. Part of this process is dragging some text form labeledstrings to the tracker. I've found that if there is nothing in the labeledstring (that is to say, it hasn't been filled out yet), then I get a nil error message. I'm sure there's a correct way to do it, but the quick and dirty way would be to force some default text into the string.

Question:
How to you force some default text into a labeledstring? I checked the documentation and couldn't find an entry for that function.

			<labeledstring name="combatweapons">
				<anchored>
					<to>combatminiweaponframe</to>
					<position>insidetopleft</position>
					<offset>15,22</offset>
					<size>
						<width>190</width>
					</size>
				</anchored>
				<anchorto>overviewframe</anchorto>
				<label>Weapons</label>
			</labeledstring>

[Dachannien]

You might be able to set the text in the object's onInit function. "labeledstring" is a template defined in the default ruleset's "common_templates.xml" file, and it already has an onInit function defined there. "labeledstring" also inherits from the "textbasecontrol" object, which provides the "setValue()" function for setting the contents of the object.

This is pure hypothesis, by the way, so it may not work

[nezzir]

You might be able to set the text in the object's onInit function. "labeledstring" is a template defined in the default ruleset's "common_templates.xml" file, and it already has an onInit function defined there. "labeledstring" also inherits from the "textbasecontrol" object, which provides the "setValue()" function for setting the contents of the object.

This is pure hypothesis, by the way, so it may not work

That's two I owe you. I'll see if I can work my way through this. Thanks again.

Edit: Yeah, I just looked at that. It's a bit beyond me at the moment. My mind says there should be a way to do like an "if nil then" kind of thing, but I don't really know how to do that. I'll poke around in some of the scripts and see if I can reverse engineer something. I'm not really a script writer yet.

[TarynWinterblade]

That's two I owe you. I'll see if I can work my way through this. Thanks again.

Edit: Yeah, I just looked at that. It's a bit beyond me at the moment. My mind says there should be a way to do like an "if nil then" kind of thing, but I don't really know how to do that. I'll poke around in some of the scripts and see if I can reverse engineer something. I'm not really a script writer yet.

I can't even drag a labeledstring when it's empty... o.0

However, what will probably work for you is:

	<template name="labeledstring">
		<stringfield>
			<font>sheettext</font>
			<frame>
				<name>textline</name>
			</frame>
			<script>
				labelwidget = nil;
			
				function onInit()
					if not getValue() then
						setvalue("")
					end

					labelwidget = addTextWidget("sheetlabelinline", string.upper(label[1]));
					
					local w,h = labelwidget.getSize();
					labelwidget.setPosition("bottomleft", w/2, h/2-5);
				end
			</script>
		</stringfield>
	</template>

Essentially, what that does is:

If getvalue() returns nil, false, or otherwise something that doesn't equal true, it will then call setValue and pass it an empty string.

Should fix the problem, but it's not the best way to do it.


A better way to do it:
The better bet for dealing with the problem is to deal with nil errors on the receiving control's side. In the control's onDrop handler, just specify that if it's passed a nil value then set it to something there.

The reason why this is better is because that way it handles if the labeledstring field is somehow not initialized.


(if you have problems, just give me the error message and the snippet of code that it relates to)

[nezzir]

A better way to do it:
The better bet for dealing with the problem is to deal with nil errors on the receiving control's side (I tried it as is and with a value between the quotes). In the control's onDrop handler, just specify that if it's passed a nil value then set it to something there.

The reason why this is better is because that way it handles if the labeledstring field is somehow not initialized.


(if you have problems, just give me the error message and the snippet of code that it relates to)

I tried the

					if not getValue() then
						setvalue("")
					end

(tried it as is and with a value in the quotes) and it didn't work. It blew up all my labeledstrings sheet-wide. I've attached all my combat_tracker scripts in a zip (because I really wasn't sure which one was responsible). If you get a few minutes to browse through them, I'd value your opinion.

I really gotta stop and teach myself some lua...

Thanks,
Nez

[TarynWinterblade]

I tried the

					if not getValue() then
						setvalue("")
					end

(tried it as is and with a value in the quotes) and it didn't work. It blew up all my labeledstrings sheet-wide.

That's... strange. That means that it's returning false for some reason.

I've attached all my combat_tracker scripts in a zip (because I really wasn't sure which one was responsible). If you get a few minutes to browse through them, I'd value your opinion.

What does the error message you're getting say?
i.e.: "Script error: [scripts/somefile.lua] Tried to do something wrong, somewhere..."

[nezzir]

What does the error message you're getting say?
i.e.: "Script error: [scripts/somefile.lua] Tried to do something wrong, somewhere..."

Script Error: [string "scripts/combattracker.lua"]:68: attempt to index a nil value

Line 68 of combattracker.lua is:
newentry.ac.setValue(source.getChild("combatarmor" ).getValue())

The labeledstring that sets that says:

			<labeledstring name="combatarmor">
				<anchored>
					<to>combatminiarmorframe</to>
					<position>insidetopleft</position>
					<offset>15,22</offset>
					<size>
						<width>190</width>
					</size>
				</anchored>
				<anchorto>overviewframe</anchorto>
				<label>Armor</label>
			</labeledstring>

I get the error until I put something in that string field on the combat page of the character sheet.

[TarynWinterblade]

So far, just from looking at things (I'm missing a few files - namely the windowclass for the combat tracker... can you attach your utility_combattracker.xml file?)...

In combattracker.lua:

function onDrop(x, y, draginfo)
	if draginfo.isType("playercharacter")  then
		local name = draginfo.getStringData();
		local source = draginfo.getDatabaseNode();
		local token = draginfo.getTokenData();

		if source then	
			local newentry = addPc(name, source, token);
		end

		return true;
	elseif draginfo.isType("shortcut")  then
		-- NPC code...
	end
end

You took out the two lines in red. Don't do that Those lines make sure that you have a valid source node in the DB so that you don't get more errors in addPc().

Also, you added the parts in blue there, thus passing an extra variable to addPc. Why do you want the name passed like that? The d20 code handles setting the name from the PC's database node (source)... what's different about your ruleset's code that necessitates having the name passed separately?

[TarynWinterblade]

Script Error: [string "scripts/combattracker.lua"]:68: attempt to index a nil value

Line 68 of combattracker.lua is:
newentry.ac.setValue(source.getChild("combatarmor" ).getValue())

The labeledstring that sets that says:

			<labeledstring name="combatarmor">
				<anchored>
					<to>combatminiarmorframe</to>
					<position>insidetopleft</position>
					<offset>15,22</offset>
					<size>
						<width>190</width>
					</size>
				</anchored>
				<anchorto>overviewframe</anchorto>
				<label>Armor</label>
			</labeledstring>

I get the error until I put something in that string field on the combat page of the character sheet.

Ahh. That's not because the string is empty, but rather because source.getChild("combatarmor") returns nil.

Change your code from:

newentry.ac.setValue(source.getChild("combatarmor").getValue())

... to:

if source.getChild("combatarmor") then
	newentry.ac.setValue(source.getChild("combatarmor").getValue())
else
	newentry.ac.setValue("")
end

It's odd though, that it would only complain about that particular field.

[TarynWinterblade]

Also, something to keep in mind:

In the d20 combat tracker, SmiteWorks coded the fields to keep track of changes in the database node they linked to. Hence, if you changed something with the character they were referencing, it would update on the sheet as well.

However, by just calling setValue, instead of copying the setLink functionality, you don't trigger the automatic updates.

Edit: Also, using SW's setLink code would have gotten rid of the error, since their code, by default, checks to see if the node it got passed was nil before attempting anything with it.