should be simple - have movement controls apply to object i select with my mouse

hi,

so i'm trying to learn fusion 2.5 as a general purpose programming platform so i'm just trying to come to grips with programming concepts and i'm having trouble with some simple things.

SETUP:
- in the frame, i have a "keypad" of buttons with directions like N,S,E,W. i also have 3 active object default diamonds.

ISSUE:
- it's very easy for me to hook things up so that when i press the direction buttons, a particular diamond moves around.
- what i'm having difficulty is figuring out how to make it so that the direction buttons apply to the last active object i selected with my mouse.

PROGRAMMATIC WAY:
- i figured it would be something like store the name of the active object that i last clicked on in VARIABLE A.
- when i click on the directional buttons, apply movement to the object referred to in VARIABLE A.

but i can't seem to find the entity that is supposed to serve as VARIABLE A and i can't find a way to apply my movement commands referred to by VARIABLE A.

how can i accomplish this? is there a particular fusion way to do it or does the "programmerly" way work?

also, is there a guide anywhere that talks about fusion in programming terms?

thanks.

jin

Hey!
You could store the FIXED VALUE of the active object in a counter, and then compare the active object's fixed value to the value of the counter in the event you move the object.

* User clicks on Active
- Counter1: Set current value to Fixed("Active")

* Continue while pressing mouse button
+ Mousepointer is overlapping E
+ Fixed value of Active = Value("Counter1")
- Active: Set XPosition to XPosition of Active +1 // or whatever other way you want to move the object

holy moly,

geez, you guys are terrific. thank you very much for the ludicrously detailed help and information! i'm currently running malwarebytes (i suspect i've picked up a rootkit) but as soon as i get cleaned up, i'm going to try both versions to see which one gels with my loony head.

one question - what are the +, - prefix you guys are using for your line statements? do +'s indicate a statement and the -'s indicate the action that happens for that statement/condition?

thanks again.

jin

In my post the * is the first condition, and the + is the rest of the conditions, and - is the actions. I always use this formatting as I find it logical.
In Snail's post the - is the conditions and the + is the action.
I totally get how you got confused :D

hi popcorn,

aha! that totally makes it clear! i did get totally confused when i was looking at the symbols so i just made sense of it by ignoring them!

hey, do either of you guys have a book out that i can buy? i purchased the other fusion book (golden color cover) and it's ok as a VERY general intro but i'd love to be able to do some deep dive reading on how the nuts and bolts of fusion really work. in other words, i WANT to break out my hiliter and do some studying!

jin

hi snail,

yes you are indeed accessible and thank you very much for being so. and yeah absolutely, i'm a big fan of your videos! i guess i'll just have to take more notes while watching then and compile my own notebook from your very informative presentations.

jin

Also a fan of the videos. Just didn't like the music playing in the background, I usually have my own music playing while listing to tutorials and working and that didn't work out ;) but I see it's now not there anymore.
Thanks for making them Snail.. as a noob I'm learning a lot from them.

AHA!!! it works!!! thank you popcorn and snail!

this is what i did using two active objects i want to be able to control:


* user clicks with left button on Active 1
- string object: display paragraph 1 //just diagnostic
- VariableActiveObject: set alterable value A to 1

*user clicks with left button on Active 2
- string object: display paragraph 2 //just diagnostic
- VariableActiveObject: set alterable value A to 2



* button North clicked
+ alterable value A of VariableActiveObject = 1
- Active 1: set y position to Y(Active 1) - 10

* button North clicked
+ alterable value A of VariableActiveObject = 2
- Active 2: set y position to Y(Active 2) - 10


----------------------------------------------

so that technique does in fact work but i have some follow up questions:

1. is it best to use an active object as my "variable holder"? i used VariableActiveObject, a renamed active object - is that best practice? is there a "null" object that i should be using to store alterable values that has the lowest possible processing overhead just to store variable values?

2. with my string object, i actually had to type in multiple paragraphs "Active 1" , "Active 2"... can i feed in a variable?

3. the above technique worked but it involved a lot of repetitious statements... in other languages, i could have the statement reading the North button then QUERY a variable to see which active object is currently selected and then move that one... is there no equivalent in fusion? actually, i'm hoping there is NOT... repetitious statements may not be elegant but it's straightforward and for keeping things simple, it's just dandy.

thanks again! with every new discovery, fusion is revealing itself to be wonderfully powerful indeed!

jin

I'm glad it worked!

1: You can use a counter. Counters are used for holding one single value. You can set it to Hidden in its properties so it wouldn't be a visual object. However, using active objects like that is not a bad idea either. It might actually be better in situations where you have lots of similar counters. It helps keeping your frame editor clean. If you use actives, it is important to rename the alterable values you use (in the properties of the active object).

2: The String object has an action called "Change Alterable String" which lets you change the text at runtime.

3: There is. I think that if you give all the buttons the same qualifier (in the object's properties -> Events tab), you can use the same approach as I explained in the above post.

thanks again popcorn! that clears up much.