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Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

unsure what the issue is, or how to go about starting to find this needle in a haystack. but i've got a window with many buttons, and lots of variable information. however, i'm finding that only a third of the variables are actually being reported from the main class. has anyone else had a similar issue?

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

Your question is rather unclear. What do you mean by "variables being reported"? By "main class", do you mean your session window, or something else? Is there some relationship between the buttons and the variables? You don't explicitly say so, but putting those together in one sentence implies there might be some relationship.

The only logical interpretation that I can extrapolate from your question is that you have a window (probably a secondary window) containing many buttons whose states are dependant on certain variables, but somehow the buttons aren't showing the right states to match the variables. Is that correct? Please give more details. Where are these variables defined? What makes you say that many variables aren't "being reported"? Are you somehow getting null values for variables that should have values, or are you getting the wrong values?

Things to check in general: Are there variables in different locations with identical names? Are the problem variables disabled, or within a disabled class?

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

yea, thanks rehab. heh, i was unsure how to get my question out, so thanks for the direction!

basically, yes, you are right. i have a subwindow, that has buttons, with a variable name and the variable itself. basically....

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

That is actually an example of a null value. The button cannot see the variable, so reads its value as null, which displays as nothing (not even a space).

The problem is that one window cannot use the variables stored in another window. If you want both windows to use the same variable, here is what you need to do:
Make a new module. It can be in the same package as one of the windows, or in a separate package.
Put the variables you want to share into that module.
Check both windows in the Package Editor, look at the menu labeled "List of packages enabled for this window".
Make sure that both windows have a checkmark next to the package containing the module with the shared variables.

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

hmmm, i've got a new module created, that i will move all my variables into. however, i don't see where that "List of packages enabled for this window" menu at anywhere. thanks again for all your great help Rehab! =]

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

Click on the Window object itself. The list of packages will be shown in the same window that you would go to to edit any other setting.

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

aaaahhh.... i think i see. when you click on the object. it says on the right side:

List of packages enabled for this w(for me, its cut off after this, so i can't see what it says)
English Keypad
English Directions
Clickable URLs
<session package name>

right? ok. well, the newly created module is under the default session name, and its grey'd out and already checked. so i'm assuming then that while my variables are in one, they are availabe in the other? brilliant! i'll check it out now, thanks again everyone!!! =D

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

hmmm... i must be missing something. i've circled the two area's that should be showing the same information, yet isn't. i've also got a ss of the package editor. am i looking in the wrong place?

EDIT: Wrong second screen shot URL, fixed. Sorry if there was any confusion. ^^

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

alright. i'm really confused now. comparing these two screen shots, there is NO difference between the configurations, just different times.

however, the variables that are actually showing, are hit and miss it seems. so, why is it that a few variables would work sometimes, some never work, and a couple always work? this is so very confusing!

also, why is it that you cannot use variables across different classes? i'm sure there is good reason, but to make it so hard to do that seems a bit funky in itself also. i'd love to make a button, to show quest information on a different window as well, because my session window is pretty full. =[

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

You _can_ use variables across classes. The only restriction is that variables defined within a _window_ cannot be seen by any script outside of that window. Other than that, any script can automatically see any variables anywhere in that same package, and in any packages which it has enabled. I believe that any new module has all other loaded packages enabled by default.

As for your problem, have you checked whether all the joint variables have been moved to the new module? Also check that there are no other copies of the variables elsewhere. If there are multiple variables visible with the same name, then Cmud uses scoping rules to determine which one to use. This can actually be useful in some cases (you could have a variable with a default value visible to multiple windows or modules, but one specific window could have it's own local value). Since this isn't what you want, make sure there aren't any extra copies of the variable elsewhere, such as in the individual windows. If the window couldn't see the variable before, it may have made its own local copy. Also, make sure the variables themselves are enabled, and that every class heirarchically above the variables are enabled.

Magician Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 496

The default for modules seems to be local only, that means by default they are same package only. To use variables in a different package, you need to put them in a new module AND set that module to publish AND enable the package containing the module containing the variables in any other modules/windows where you want to use the vars. It makes sense if you read the documentation, it just sounds like a bunch of steps at first.

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

oh man. document? =[ it was in the helpfile!?? ok lemme check. i feel dumb now.

Thread

Magician Joined: 17 Apr 2005 Posts: 496

If you open the settings editor and select that module on the left, it should have an option for Publish: Global, Local Only, External Only. What you want is Global.

Magician Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 334 Location: Chicago

ok, got it. was a lil confused having to make it published AND local. if its local, its already published. right? ok, i've done it. still not updating the information. i'm missing SOMETHING somewhere. for example:

button that has

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

To access a variable in another package:

1)the variable must not be in a window
2)the module the variable is in must not be local (local means other packages can't see stuff in that package)
3)the class that the variable is in must be enabled
4)the package containing the setting that refers to the variable must have a checkmark next to the package that contains the variable
5)the setting (and the class that contains it) that uses the variable must be enabled (this one is pretty obvious, though, since if it's not enabled it won't do anything)

That's all you have to worry about, if you are not dealing with thread issues (you are not dealing with thread issues if you are not using #wait, #waitfor, or the explicit threading commands like #SECTION).