is there a way to count ALL objects in play area?

I'd like to be able to count how many objects *of any type* are in the play area at any one time. Failing that, I'd at least like to know how many *actives* there are.

Is there a way to do that? I feel like I might be missing something obvious, but I can't see a way to do it.

PS - I know the debugger can tell me this, but I need a way to do it through the event editor.

Cheers

Yes there is a way, all you have to do is put all the objects in a qualifier
example I used. qualifier group.good for this example

count objects of any type
http://www.sparckman.com/forum/download/file.php?id=125

http://www.sparckman.com/forum/image..._icons/rar.gif count objects of any type.mfa(76.44 KiB)


http://www.sparckman.com/forum/image...on_mrgreen.gif

Or you can set the counter to 'always' set to 'Total Objects'.
You can get this value in the expression editor under the object icon (the cube thingy).

This will count all objects, including the counter itself.

Yup you can count the objects like that too, the only problem is that it will also
include strings, buttons, extensions and counters. Here is an example.
http://www.sparckman.com/forum/downl...php?id=127&t=1


http://www.sparckman.com/forum/image..._icons/rar.gif object count with event.mfa(88.14 KiB)

Sorry Sparckman, but I forgot to mention that I need to be able to do it without qualifiers*.

Thanks for pointing out the "Total Objects" method (I wasn't aware of it), but it doesn't seem like it will work for objects only in the play area.




* it's a bit of a long story. But basically, I'm trying to build in an error-checking system for my workflow that will alert me - among other things - if I've placed something in the play area in a hurry and have forgotten to give it an appropriate qualifer. So your proposed method of course won't work, because for it to work it requires that I remember to put qualifiers on everything....but the thing I want to test for is whether I've remembered to do that in the first place. Hope that makes sense.

Something like this: "see attached mfa"

I can't see how you could do it without qualifiers. Using Sparckman's example you can count just actives by subtracting the amount of the other objects for example :
always set counter to:
( ( ( ( Total Objects ) - NObjects( "String" ) ) - NObjects( "Button" ) ) - NObjects( "Counter" ) ) - NObjects( "Physics - Engine" ) etc.

Painful to set up initially, yet once you have the code just cut and paste as needed. You already know that unfortunately it counts actives no matter where they are on or off screen.

Wow Decal, much better solution :)

Thanks Decal, but that method would have the same problem I mentioned above: It'd only be accurate if I remembered to add a piece that event to every new active I introduce.....which means I can't use it as an error-checking mechanism, since the method itself is prone to error (ie. I might forget to place that event).

I'm actually surprised that Fusion doesn't seem to have anything like this that simply tests for 'stuff', without you needing to explicitly specify what 'stuff' you're looking for. I would think it'd be useful for a number of purposes. There would be a number of ways you could potentially do it. For example:

-on each [object of any type]..........
-is x position of [any active]...........

I've just found some conditions I hadn't seen before, using the "new object" object:

"pick all objects in a zone"
"compare to number of objects in zone"

Surely there's a way to do it using one of these, though I'm not sure how these conditions are supposed to be used.

Any ideas?

Here
I have made a new example for you that might work for you.

This will pick every object that is in within a zone (the zone needs to be the size of the frame which is now set to X: 0 to 640 Y: 0 to 480)
You can see if this works for you.

Fantastic work, Decal. Works perfectly. Thanks!

I'm very glad to help :-)