Difference between revisions of "MouseInfo Script"

Revision as of 07:00, 12 December 2008

Context: HL Kit … Kit Reference … Script Types 

Technical Details

Initial Context:	Pick or Thing
Alternate Context:	None
Fields Finalized?	Yes

The MouseInfo script utilizes the following special symbols:

text	Entry: Contains the default mouse-info for the object, which consists of the basic description text assigned to the object and any failed pre-requisites. Exit: Contains the text to be displayed to the user as the mouse-info text. The final text may contain encoding.
ispick	Entry: Indicates whether the text is being rendered for a thing (zero) or a pick (non-zero), allowing different handling to be performed for the two separate cases. Exit: Ignored.

Description

HL makes extensive use of visual elements that the user can move the mouse over to obtain further details about an object. This is generally referred to as mouse-over highlighting, or simply mouse info, and it is accomplished via the MouseInfo script on various portals. The purpose of the MouseInfo script is to synthesize the actual text to be displayed for the pick/thing that the user is inquiring about.

NOTE!  The MouseInfo script is read-only. Within this script, virtually all aspects of the structural hierarchy can be accessed, but nothing can be changed.

Example

When displaying weapons, it's useful to show the damage and range. This can be easily appended to the default text for display.

@text &= "\n"
@text &= "Damage: " & field[wpDamage}.text & "\n"
@text &= "Range: " & field[wpRange].text & "\n"