UI Builder difficulties
 

ive been trying to do some xml modifying with the built in UI Builder program. the problem i am encountering is the visual window that accompanies the main program window doesnt show all of the xml file. when i try to modify some objects they arent in the field of view. its as if the window was shrunk to smaller than the size of the xml programmed window, and i cant find any way to stretch it out to a larger size.

anyone know a solution for this?
or a better xml editor with a good visual window?


thanks =)

Copy eq2ui.xml to your editing folder, and open that. Then you can use the tabs in the window pane to view what you need.

k so I tried to play with the builder myself. You can't view each window independently? I go to main hud and every window is in editor window, all on top of each other. I did shift everything around and get right to the one I wanted to play with but then... is there no zoom?

thanks deathbane, got me up and running now =) i was able to get into the equi file and mess around, tweaked my bank window to exactly what i want it to be....

now the only difficulty is that i cannot figure out how to export just the bank section out.... ive tried deleting everything else, which works fine, but i cant save it as the bank window =P it just saves as the default equi file. altho it did magically appear in my folder somehow, i just dont know how or what magical gnome made it happen =P

When you save it saves out all files that are different than the default..

Lots of times it saves out files you didn't even think you touched..

What I do is use two folders.. I keep a folder called _changed in my dev folder and copy only the files I know I changed to it.

If I mess up I just copy all the files in my _changed folder back to my dev folder..

When I'm ready to release I just zip up the contents of the _changed folder..


* Edit * Kalinn in your case for bank window.. Only files needed to release it would be EQ2UI_Inventory_Bank.xml and maybe an EQ2UI_SkinInfo.xml (needed for /LoadUI command, which is currently broke)

For the main hud I make a special letterbox.. It looks just like the letterbox but I make the background, in the FramePage, black instead of transparent..
**Edit: Forgot to mention you have to remove the value of the style property..


I then move it to the top of the MainHudPage.. All windows will be under it..

The windows I'm modding I move on top of that.. They appear and I can see them without all the other windows around it..

When I save I don't move the EQ2UI.xml(saves z-order) or the EQ2UI_LetterBoxFrame.xml to my _changed folder.. (see above post)

THe reason it saves files you didn't really modify is because you might have moved it in the builder (the window location) or moved the file up and down in the window tree.

If I make a new folder and copy EQ2UI.xml to it.. Then load UIBuilder and open it.. Do nothing but save and exit.. I have now a:

EQ2UI_Inventory.xml
EQ2UI_Inventory_market.xml
EQ2UI_Inventory_store.xml
EQ2UI_Inventory_trade.xml
EQ2UI_Journals_Quest.xml
EQ2UI_MainHud_Help.xml
EQ2UI_MainHud_QuantitySelector.xml
EQ2UI_Popup_UsageAlarm.xml

Didn't touch a thing just saved the UI. So yes some files are saved because of moving location.. Other files just magically appear..

It doesn't actually have to save the file you move up the tree only the file that defines the tree.. If you move the file up and down the root tree it only needs to save the EQ2UI.xml.. If you move it up the a page like MainHUD only the EQ2UI_MainHud.xml needs saving...

Is there a way to make SidlWidl work with eq2 ui? As buggy as it was, I was able to edit with it. I am pretty much feeliing clueless with the new one. I've read the tutorial but I just haven't seen the light yet with sony's editor. :p

I wish. ask the author. It was being developed, but they stopped when they heard about the ui builder.

Unnecessary saves
 

Talyns,

Thanks for pointing this out. If you diff the before and after versions, you'll notice that most of the changes involve properties that are computed. The other category of change is UTF8 vs text encoding (the characters at the start of the file.)

I believe eq2ui.xml is flagged to be always be saved, even if it is identical.
That's why it is created even if you do a "save as" to a new directory.

As you can tell, sometimes we revert to using a text editor. I'm going to touch these files so they won't save unnecessarily in the future.

MrBobble