AGI Base Logic Generator 2.0 ReadMe

For the Release Version of BLG Version 2.0

AGI Base Logic Generator written by Joel McCormick
Base Logic Generator © 1998-2002 Joel McCormick

WARNING

The BLG is designed to create files in your game's directory and is capable of overwriting source files for your game. You should take precautions to protect your game data before using the BLG. Although you should be prompted before any overwrites take place, it's better to be safe and back up your files than to chance losing lots of work. If you wanted to, you could set aside a BLG folder where generated files will go and then move them to your game's folder when you are certain that you've gotten what you want.

Release notes
Conditions for use of this program
Requirements
What's New In Version 2.0 Release?
Short introduction to using the program

Release Notes

The current release of this software is version 2.0. At this time, there are no known serious bugs. Nevertheless, you may run into some bugs I don't know about or that I was just too lazy to fix. If you find a bug that causes you problems, please report it and I'll look into fixing it.

Please report all bugs that you find in the software to weremoose@yahoo.com.

A note about reporting bugs: I will only accept bug reports for versions of the software that I created. This version of the software is 2.0, build date August 31, 2002. To find out the build date for the version of the BLG that you are using, right-click the BLG's title bar and choose "About the BLG." I will not provide support for modifications to the BLG written by other people.

Conditions For Use of This Program

This software is provided without any warranty of any kind, and use of this software is AT YOUR OWN RISK. I have no reason to believe that using this software will do any damage to your computer. Regardless, it is a condition for use of this program that the author will not be held responsible for anything bad that happens to your computer, even if what happens to your computer is a direct result of using this program.

This program is provided free of charge, and you may distribute it freely as long as a copy of this readme file accompanies the executable file.

IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE CONDITIONS OF USE, THEN DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM.

Program Requirements

This program requires Microsoft Windows 95 or later and no more than a few megs of memory.

What's New In Version 2.0 Release?

The changes from the beta 2 version of the program are minimal:

Changed the settings loading procedure so that it doesn't keep pestering you about registry errors the first time you run the BLG. Changing this also brought a bug to my attention where the Game Path was initially being set to random garbage, which may have caused problems. The BLG now gives just one message if it cannot open the required registry keys.
Fixed a bug with ego position control editing; previously, if you changed a normal position control into an absolute positioning control (or the other way around), weird things could happen
Changed the define name editor so that the Edit button is disabled when there is no selection

Version 2.0 Beta 2

allows you to set the game path once and then forget about it forever
performs bounds checking on number fields that must be within a certain range
allows you to choose not to generate a compiled logic file
prompts you before overwriting files

Version 2.0 Beta 1

generation of COMPILED logic in addition to source code; writing to the clipboard and pasting into AGI Studio is no longer necessary
if you liked the clipboard method of generating logics, that method is still available to you, go to the Options dialog, and check out the Source Code tab; check "Write to clipboard" and there you go
BLG 2.0 Beta even gives you the ability to generate a compiled logic only; you don't even have to generate source code if you don't want
unlimited ego positioning controls; BLG 1.0 limited you to 4
no more inputs of -1 to ignore values -- just leave them blank
should you want to, you can now use a picture resource other than the picture resource corresponding to the logic number
no more checking "Display" checkboxes if you want to display an edge code message -- just don't leave the box blank and it will be displayed automatically
no more concerns about which options have precedence over others; if one option overrules another option, the overruled option is disabled
you can now have an edge go to a new room and print out a message; in BLG 1.0, go to a new room overruled printing out a message
when multiple ego positioning controls are defined, BLG 2.0 Beta actually indents them properly
customizable indention; you can set whether to use tabs or spaces, and you can set how many of each to use
BLG 2.0 Beta gives you control over how you want quotes interpreted when you put them into a message box
BLG 2.0 Beta has a FAR more robust commenting system than BLG 1.0; BLG 1.0's comments were pathetic; BLG 2.0 Beta lets you customize the level of commenting you want (from no commenting at all to a few comments here and there to commenting every single statement the BLG generates). Even better, BLG 2.0 Beta lets you decide what STYLE of comments you want; if you like // comments, you can use 'em, but if you like /* */ comments, you can use them, too.
BLG 2.0 Beta allows you to choose whether you want your curly braces for if statements to be generated like this:
```
if (new_room) {
  // do some stuff here
}
```
or like this:
```
if (new_room)
{
  // do some stuff here
}
```
BLG 2.0 Beta allows you to set the define names that will be used by the generator. This is useful if you've written your own defines.txt and you don't use the AGI Studio template game's define names. But the default is the AGI Studio template game names, so you don't have to go to any extra trouble if you do use those.
Options are persistent from one run of BLG 2.0 Beta to the next; which means that once you set that you don't want comments generated, you'll never have to tell BLG 2.0 Beta that fact again
last, but definitely not least, if you're a heavy keyboard user and don't like using the mouse, you may have noticed that the tab order of BLG 1.0 was all screwy; BLG 2.0 Beta fixes that problem -- there is actually a predictable order that the controls are visited when you press the TAB key

Short Introduction to Using the Program

I think this program is fairly self-explanatory (if not, then let me know). I may build a help file eventually, but for now just play around with it. When you generate files, by default TWO files will be generated. One is a compiled version of the logic resource, which is saved in your game directory. The other is the source code for the logic resource, which is saved in the src subdirectory of your game directory. If importing into AGI Studio, you want to import the COMPILED LOGIC FILE ONLY. Trying to import the source code file will simply not work. At your discretion, you may choose not to generate a source code file. You may also choose not to generate a compiled logic file; however, if you do this, then you must copy and paste the logic code into AGI Studio (or write it to the clipboard).