r22979 : New Forge Menubar

[spr]

Introducing the new Forge menu bar (update 1 of 2).
- This update contains two common menus that will always be displayed regardless of the active view/screen.
- Forge menu contains Exit and Restart options.
- Help menu contains links to online articles and the local TXT files.

Part 2 will include new menus for the duel/match screen and enable any view to add its own menus to the menubar.

Cheers,
Steve

[Max mtg]

To my opinion, a menubar makes Forge (or just any game) look less like a game and more like an application to perform some job duties.

[spr]

To my opinion, a menubar makes Forge (or just any game) look less like a game and more like an application to perform some job duties.

I wanted an option to hide the tabs on the game screen and a menu mechanism was the easiest to implement. Personally, I find it works well and I think it opens up the opportunity to declutter, certainly the game screen, but probably other views as well. But I can add a GUI setting to toggle the menubar on or off easily enough. In the meantime, you can set UI_HIDE_MENUBAR to true in forge.preferences to turn it off.

Cheers,
Steve

[LordHelmchen]

My two cents, in case anyone cares:
A Menu bar is a tried and working way to quickly access a number of actions that are used seldomly, leaving more screen estate for the core functions.
We're dealing with two layers of abstration already: a computer prgramm that simulates a card game that simulates epic wizard battles. I would think breaking immersion only a secondary concern here...

[moomarc]

Perhaps the solution would be to have the menu hidden until a hotkey is pressed? Alt in most programs would give focus to the menu bar and isn't tied to any other shortcuts by default so maybe it would work?

[spr]

Perhaps the solution would be to have the menu hidden until a hotkey is pressed? Alt in most programs would give focus to the menu bar and isn't tied to any other shortcuts by default so maybe it would work?

That's a good idea.

Cheers,
Steve

[moomarc]

If we go that route then F1 might also be a good option and fairly intuitive.

[spr]

If we go that route then F1 might also be a good option and fairly intuitive.

Lets go with F1 initially and see how that is received. On Windows, F1 tends to be used to show help but I think this fits nicely with idea of the menu bar offering additional help and options. Since this F1 solution is so convenient we can use this instead of creating a user setting to toggle visibility. I intend to include this as part of the next update which should be released in the next day or so.

Thanks moomarc - that was a great idea! Sometimes as a developer I can't see the wood for the trees.

Cheers,
Steve

[Max mtg]

Most games have a menu that is shown at the center of your screen when ESC is pressed.
Besides that menu, most commonly used screens have shortcuts represented by icons docked to an edge of window.

[spr]

r22995
- Menu bar visibility can be toggled using F1 key.
- Hints or status info can be displayed on the right-hand side of the menu bar.

Cheers,
Steve

[Marek14]

Will it allow toggling sound on/off from within a duel?

[spr]

r22997
- New menus added to the match screen menu bar. All options that are in the Dock and DevMode panels are implemented.
- - Game = Dock panel options.
- - Layout = Dock panel options.
- - Dev = DevMode panel options.

The menu bar can now be updated by any screen/view with its own menus by calling
"Singletons.getControl().getMenuBar().setupMenuBar(<IMenuProvider>)". You need to supply a class that implements the very simple IMenuProvider interface.

You can also display progress status, hints and tips at the right hand side of the menu bar by calling Singletons.getControl().getMenuBar().setStatusText().

Still to come :
- Removal of Dock and DevMode panels from the match screen.
- Option to hide tabs.

Cheers,
Steve

[spr]

Will it allow toggling sound on/off from within a duel?

No reason why not. I would imagine their are quite a few settings that could be migrated from the preferences page to the menu bar - for example, I have already moved the the "Toggle Background" option into the Layout menu.

Cheers,
Steve

[Diogenes]

Looks great so far, Steve.

I disagree strongly with the removal of the dock panel, however. It's incredibly useful, and places frequently used options in the middle of the screen right where the cursor wants to be. Its location is customizable, so users can already hide it if they feel it's cluttering their space. I, personally, very much want it to stay.

Also, not all users use keyboard shortcuts, and those on tablets might not have a physical keyboard at all; the large buttons in the dock probably help them out a lot. I think the dock can even be a useful aid to the menu bar, it's a good place to put a button to hide/expand it for users without keyboards.

I'm looking forward to seeing things incorporated into the new bar (can the card overlay settings go under the targeting arc options?) Thanks for doing all this work!

[spr]

r23000
- Added option to hide panel tabs to Layout menu.

Please note in the case of a multi-tab panel then only the active panel will be displayed. However, if the Combat and Stack tabs are in the same panel then whichever is active will be displayed which is quite a nice side effect.

Cheers,
Steve