ETScript 2 - Beta 1 download

[Flippy]

Hi!

I have just finished the first beta version of ETScript 2, a script editor for W:ET.

There is no readme file yet so I will explain briefly what ETScript is, and what has changed since version 1.

ETScript is a script editor designed specifically for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory map scripts. Usually, map scripts are written in simple programs like Notepad, with very little extra features or help available to you. ETScript is different. It has all the features Notepad has, such as normal copy/pasting, Find/Replace/Goto dialogs, the usual Open/Save file dialogs etc etc etc, but along with them, it also has a TON of very helpful features, specially for W:ET.

A few of the best features:
Syntax Highlighting:
Keywords, comments, operators and numbers are shown in a special color so you can quickly see what is what.

AutoComplete / Intellisense:
When you are in the middle of typing a keyword / operator / copmmands, any word of importance to ET, ETScript will recognize this and give you a little list of possible keywords you might be typing. Pressing enter will autocomplete the word for you, saving you maybe even up to 80% of typing!
Together with this list, there will also be a label with the exact usage syntax, in case you forgot how the command worked, and a brief description of the command.

MDI interface:
ETScript2 is now an MDI (Mutli-Document-Interface) application. You can open multiple scripts simultaneously, each in it’s own seperate MDI window. There are also a few ‘alignment’ functions which can align all windows either stacked, side by side or squared.

AutoBackups:
You will never loose another change in your script with AutoBackups. AutoBackup will automatically save your script to a backup script file in a special folder every few minutes.
You can use the AutoBackup Manager window to view, sort, delete or open all backups, ordered by map.

Bookmarks:
Save and load line Bookmarks. Find yourself going to that one piece of script alot? Save it as a bookmark and go there with the press of a button.
Bookmarked lines are shown in blue in the linenumber list.

Comment / uncomment selection:
Make all lines in your current selection commented, or uncomment all commented lines in your selection, with the click of a button.

Accum count / Bracket count:
Accum count will show you a little window that lists all used (global)accums in your script, so you can quickly see which ones are free.
Bracket count will count the brackets in your script and shows you a message when it detects that you are missing a bracket. It will also show on which line the culprit may be, but it could be on a line before that aswell.

I guess that’s all major features.

Check out a few screenshots:

ETScript2 in action, having two scripts opened and stacked:

AutoComplete & Intellisense in action:

Accum count & AutoBackup Manager windows:

Known bugs / errors:
Not really bugs, just some stuff I haven’t finished yet:

• The sorting function in the AutoBackup Manager window only works for Name yet.
• Bookmarks might not load correctly when you load a new script.

Important changes from ETScript 1:
Well, nearly everything has changed since ETScript2 is written in another language (VB.NET instead of VB6), but most things work the same.
One important difference however is that the scriptcommands import (the Treeview to the right, and the AutoComplete/Intellisense list) is no longer a database, but an integrated XML file. You can no longer change it.
Also, files such as the autobackups and the template file are stored in the Application Data folders. For WinXP this is usually “All Users\Application Data\ETScript2”, for Windows Vista it is usually “C:\ProgramData\ETScript2”. Note that both these folders are hidden by default.

Notes regarding this release:
I hope the install works on all systems, I don’t know if I did the publishing 100% correct (it is different for VB.NET, sorry! :P)
I tested it on my own PC and on my windows XP laptop and it worked fine there so you should be ok.
You do need the .NET Framework 2.0 or higher to be able to install ETScript 2!

If anyone wants to help me, you could test the program for bugs and crashes. If you find anything that doesn’t work or something you simply want changed, leave a post here or email me at " ‘r0fnick’ at ‘gmail’ dot ‘com’ "

Download:
http://rapidshare.com/files/89912445/ETScript2.rar.html

Enjoy!

[S14Y3R]

This is a great program, I love the AutoComplete/Intellisense. Everyone should have this just for the proper script commands and usage thereof.

With that said, I was surprised when it took close to 5mins to open my script :o The first couple times I thought it froze, because the screen went white for a while… but after coming back from getting a coffee it eventually loaded. I guess it’s because of the integrated accum/bracket count? Even goldrush.script took quite a while to load.

-Is there any way to speed up loading?
-Is it possible to only scrutinize accums(etc) when accum(etc) counter is loaded/active?(if that’s what its doing)

I’d be willing to drop Crimson Editor if your load times were faster. Keep up the good work!

[Flippy]

The long loading times are only due to the syntax highlighting. The accum/bracket count only counts when you ‘activate’ it and takes less than a second.

The only way to speed up loading for now is to disable Syntax Highlighting (go to Edit - Options, “Writing” tab). The script will now load instantly but unfortunately, no syntax highlighting

But does it really take 5 minutes?! That’s ridiculous. I know it can take long, but goldrush (which is a large script) takes about 30 seconds here, which I thought was long already…
I’m really interested in this… Can you please do a more thorough test for me? I can’t imagine it taking 5 minutes when it takes 30 seconds on my computer. What are your specs? Were you running any other heavy programs in the background?

EDIT, it takes 34 seconds to load goldrush on my computer. That is, the uncompiled version of my program, which should according to theory be slower than the compiled version you have.

I’m doing all I can to improve the speed but I’m afraid there isn’t a whole lot I can do.
I’m currently researching the usage of threads to be able to do the script loading in a different thread which will hopefully speed it up, although I’m not sure… It is also quite advanced, I’m not sure if I can do it.

If you can live with the speed (I can imagine you can’t if it takes 5 minutes lol… but 20 seconds orso should be acceptable, no?) then you can also choose the option “Stay responsive during long load”. This will prevent the app from freezing as you say when it is loading, but it will add another few seconds to the loading time.

Thanks for your comment though!

[Flippy]

I am currently experimenting wildy with a new idea I had. I am trying to get the syntax highlighting to only happen on the lines that are currently visible.

It works when you load a new file, it will only colorize the first 50 lines orso, making it load almost instantly, and now I’m trying to get it to work when you scroll, but unfortunately, I’ve written the code to be pretty much impossible to integrate with scrolling, doh!

[S14Y3R]

I’m really interested in this… Can you please do a more thorough test for me? I can’t imagine it taking 5 minutes when it takes 30 seconds on my computer. What are your specs? Were you running any other heavy programs in the background?

Cool, it was the syntax highlighting, with it off everything loads instantly.

My specs:
2.66GhzP4 533FSB
512 ram, 1024 Vram
10,500 80gig
256Mb Radeon 9250 8xAgp
(i know is dinosaur, don’t laugh)

With syntax highlighting on, goldrush loads in 35s for me.

My script is obscenely large man. atm is 11k+ lines, and probably not fair to your program but with syntax highlighting on, it takes 3m40s. It loads instantly with it off though.

I can live without the colours, and by the time any new script gets that big you know your syntax like back of hand.

Would it be possible to have that option on a toolbar button? It would be cool to flip on/off quick for tester maps.

Maybe question if you want it on for script over 5k lines or something? heh heh, just a thought.

oh, and i didn’t have radiant and .map open in background. 8)

Edit- you posted while i was writing, that would be very cool - “colour only visible”

[Flippy]

Would it be possible to have that option on a toolbar button? It would be cool to flip on/off quick for tester maps.

Currently, no. Well, I could make it, but then when you press the button, you had to wait 3m40s for it to color everything

But if the solution I’m currently trying works, then certainly yes. Although there would be no need for it, since loading times would be brought back to seconds

There’s just a few problems left, I’m getting quite close already.
I’m hoping to get it done by tomorrow even!

[Diego]

Regarding the slow syntax highlighting.

For me, the best feature of the scripting tools is the highlighting - especially when dealing with long complex scripts. Mine is only about 5000 lines right now, but I’m only half way done.

Currently, I use the Crimson Editor with a RTCW syntax file that colors the text. The syntax file doesn’t cover everything that ET uses, but it has worked well enough. I’m not savy enough with that stuff to write my own syntax file for it. But anyone can make one so that the highlights work for whatever scripting language you are using.

Also with this editor, It will remember all of the scripts, shader files, or whatever that I had open before closing the program. So everytime I start it, all of my scripts and shaders are automatically loaded. Every page comes in with the syntax highlighting and it does it instantly.

I’m not trying to dissuade you from the great work you are doing. But I thought I’d mention it in case there is a way to find out how that program is highlighting the text so quickly and adapt that method to ET script.

[Boosted]

i guess theres no chance for a linux port? :roll:

[aaa3]

i dont want to be seen as an always criticising annoying man, i think ur app is really cool, comparable to radiant and q3map2 in regadrs of usefulness in et map development, but why in application data instead etmain\maps\backups or the program’s own installation directory\backups, or a custom dir given by the user? :((( i h8 and never use those default windows stuff like my documents, my pictures, et c but some of the apps are forcing their stuff to documents and settings
and i have read that for windows os, that *.msi is the best & safest (in regard to uninstalling, integration to the os, et c matters) way to make installers and microsoft recommends to use it. just coz u said u r in search for a proper installer for windows.

at the about window, when i click the link it gives an “unhandled exception occured” message, with “the app cant find the file”, dont freezing the app nor os but still it doesnt work. (roughly translating back to english coz i use local languaged xp)

edit: oh and to where is it installs itself? at installation there was nothing asked nor stated, it simply suddenly started the program after some delay. is it a single exe file? or puts files into system directories and keys into the registry?

[Flippy]

Diego, I know there are programs out there handling syntax highlighting much better, but they are most probably not written in VB.NET. Programs written in C++ for example can handle these things way, way faster. But I don’t know C++ unfortunately

About remembering all the scripts, that’s a good idea, but will only work when the scripts load faster obviously, so I’m going to look at that later.

Boosted, sorry, I don’t know anything about Linux so I guess not

aaa3, putting program files in the Application Data or ProgramData (for Vista) folders is actually the recommended way by microsoft. These folders are intended for program files. I know that most programs in XP write files directly to the Program Files \ company \ program name folder, but this is no longer possible in Vista due to file acces restrictions. I want my program to be able to run on Vista as well as XP (mainly because I use Vista :P) so this was the only option for me.
You might say, why not save them in ProgramData if using Vista, and in Program Files if using XP, but afaik it’s not that easy to tell if a user is using Vista or XP. The Application Data and ProgramData folders are actually the exact same folder for windows. They are not hardcoded into the code, but requested during runtime with the same command. This command returns the Application Data folder in XP and the ProgramData folder in Vista.

Also, there is really no need for you to go to these folders. The only things saved are the template file, which you change via the File - Save to Template menuoption, and the AutoBackups, which you can manage via the AutoBackup Manager.

About the About window, I will look into that, it is supposed to open Internet Explorer. I don’t know why it can’t find yours.

Hmm good question actually. I know it’s not really a good installer, it was also only temporarily. I will make a proper installer later.
On my PC, it is listed in the Start menu under the “Nick Thissen” tab (which is my name lol). I never choose that, it did that by itself lol…
I think it might be a single exe file though, not sure… it might just be the exe file in the rar file you downloaded.
Anyway, I will be making a proper installer, maybe in the next release.

Thanks for your comments, they are very helpful!

[th0rn3]

AWESOME :shock: :lol: :rocker: :nod: ! Keep up good work

[aaa3]

About the About window, I will look into that, it is supposed to open Internet Explorer. I don’t know why it can’t find yours.

then leave it, sry, its my side “problem” (tricked my pc because of an mmorpg to that if a program wishes to open an ie window lets dont happen anything). i didnt thought it was coz that, i use mozilla firefox for browsing.

edit ye i watched more thoroughly i c now its not that easy with the program its rly a strange vb.net stuff (not an usual icon and not an usual exe), and i understand that for compatibility for both windows u have to save there, sry for complaining

[murka]

awesome, and just as i was getting back to w:et mapping this pops up
a bug i found with the accum counter, if the scriptname has a comment on the same line it will give an error saying that scriptname could not be found.
also the bookmark thing doesn’t seem to work, i click on a line and press on a slot but nothing gets saved, and trying to load it will give an error.

[Flippy]

aaa3, I thought it would be something like that
No problem about ‘complaining’, it’s all to help me! Thanks!

murka, woops, now you mention it, that’s kind of a stupid bug you found there It is intended to only find the scriptname when the scriptname you type is exactly equal to the line it is found on, to prevent, things like the scriptname occuring in a comment, or in a “trigger” command. I will fix this.
And I know there are issues with the bookmarks, although I never got an error yet. Can you tell me what the error said exactly?

[murka]

the error i get is because there is nothing saved on the slot(saving doesn’t seem to work), it says "conversion from string “” to type ‘Double’ is not valid.

[Flippy]

I see. It’s exactly the ‘issues’ I meant in the first place
It works just fine if you have only one script open, but if you have two scripts open, and ‘activate’ (select) another script, the bookmarks don’t get reloaded for that script.
So if you open battery, save bookmark on line 18, then switch to goldrush, you can load bookmark on line 18, which doesn’t exist.

[murka]

no, it wont let me save any bookmarks and i have only one script open, so this is a different issue.

[Flippy]

Hm that’s weird. It works for me.

[murka]

it might be my win xp

[Flippy]

Don’t think so. Can you give me an exact description of what you do prior to the error? From starting the program to the error. Don’t hold back on details like map name, the line you were trying etc…
Would be grateful if you could do that