Viz Artist User Guide

To explain the described terms and definitions, this section shows some source code examples and explains the important steps and commands.

Most of the examples detailed here are written in an easy and understandable form for programing beginners. Some are basic, while others are more advanced and specific for their use case. More efficient code structures and improvements are possible.

This section contains information on the following topics:

Initializing Scripts

This example declares and defines two variables with a value. In the main procedure OnInit() those two variables and their addition are output to the console using Println.

Callback procedures like OnInit() are used to initialize scripts.

'Declaration of the variables 
dim a as Integer 
a = 10000 
dim b as Integer 
b = 5000 
'Start of the main procedure sub OnInit() 
'Executing the commands 
println "\n" 
    println "The variable a has the following value: " & a 
println "\n"
    println "The variable b has the following value: " & b
println "\n"
    println "The sum of the variables is: " & a + b 
'End of the main procedure 
end sub

Result output to the Viz Engine console:

Register Parameters

This script example creates a custom editor for filling in index and alpha values. The index value decides which container does not receive the alpha value, whereas the alpha value is set for all other containers.

sub OnInitParameters()
    RegisterParameterInt("index", "Index", 1, 1, 7)
    RegisterParameterDouble("alpha", "Alpha", 50.0, 0.0, 100.0)
    RegisterSpacer("space", 30)
    RegisterSeparator("sep", "Actions")
    RegisterPushButton("action1", "Action 1", 1)
    RegisterPushButton("action2", "Action 2", 1)
end sub 
sub OnExecAction(buttonId as Integer)
    dim c as Container
    dim i, index as Integer
    dim a as Double
    index = GetParameterInt("index")
    a = GetParameterDouble("alpha")
    i = 1
    c = ChildContainer
    do while c <> null
        if i = index then
            c.alpha.value = 100.0
        else
            c.alpha.value = a
        end if
    i = i + 1
    c = c.NextContainer
    loop 
end sub

Mouse Events I (Set)

This script example shows how to use a ‘mouse event’” to set an object’s alpha value with OnEnter and OnLeave.

sub OnEnter()
    alpha.value = 100.0 
end sub 
sub OnLeave()
    alpha.value = 50.0 
end sub

Mouse Events II (Start, Stop and Reverse)

This script, when added to a container, allows an animation to be started with the click of a mouse button over an object (for example, rectangle). Press again and it stops. Press again and it continues from the point it stopped.

dim my_dir = stage.FindDirector("Default") 
sub OnLButtonDown()
     if my_dir.IsAnimationRunning() then
          my_dir.StopAnimation()
     else
         my_dir.ContinueAnimation()
     end if 
end sub

With the script detailed below, start an animation and let it run until a stop point. Click again and it runs in reverse:

dim my_dir = stage.FindDirector("Defult") 
sub OnLButtonDown()
     menu.ContinueAnimation()
     if my_dir.reverse == true then
         my_dir.reverse = false
     else
         my_dir.reverse = true
     end if 
end sub

Mouse Events III (Grow and Shrink)

With this script added to a Container an object grows when the mouse is hovering over the object and conversely. In this case, the center of the object is set to the lower right corner to let it grow out from that center.

dim growing as Boolean = false 
sub OnInitParameters()
     RegisterParameterDouble("min", "MinScale", 1.0, 0.0, 10.0)
     RegisterParameterDouble("max", "MaxScale", 1.5, 0.0, 10.0)
     RegisterParameterDouble("fac", "GrowFactor", 1.1, 1.0, 10.0) 
end sub 
sub OnEnter()
     growing = true 
end sub 
sub OnLeave()
     growing = false 
end sub 
sub OnExecPerField()
     dim min = GetParameterDouble("min")
     dim max = GetParameterDouble("max")
     dim fac = GetParameterDouble("fac")
     if growing then
         scaling.xyz *= fac
         if scaling.x > max then scaling.xyz = max
     else
         scaling.xyz /= fac
         if scaling.x < min then scaling.xyz = min
     end if 
end sub

Simple Gesture Recognition

This example script can be used to detect a drawn square on the screen:

dim gRecognizer as gesturerecognizer 
sub OnInit()
    gRecognizer.handlepatterns = true
    gRecognizer.addhandler(scriptplugininstance) 
end sub 
 
sub OnGesture(gesture As Gesture)
    if gesture.patternid == PATTERN_SQUARE then
        println("This is a square")
    end if 
end sub
 
sub OnTouchTrace(trace as Trace, touch as Touch)
    gRecognizer.addtrace(trace) 
end sub

Note: Some gesture patterns need to be checked for their alignment as well, for example up, down, left, and so on. For this you can activate the CheckPatternOrientation property in the gesture recognizer object.

Calculate the Days of a Week and Month

This script example calculates the day of the week and the number of days of the month:

DIM smap AS Array[String]
 
smap.size = 7
smap[0] = "Sun"
smap[1] = "Mon"
smap[2] = "Tue"
smap[3] = "Wed"
smap[4] = "Thu"
smap[5] = "Fri"
smap[6] = "Sat"
 
function CalcDayOfWeek(iYear AS Integer, iMonth AS Integer, iDay AS Integer) AS String
 
DIM dt AS DateTime
    dt.year = iYear
    dt.month = iMonth
    dt.dayofmonth = iDay
    dt.normalize()
 
    CalcDayOfWeek = smap[dt.dayofweek] 
end function 
 
function CalcNumOfDaysOfMonth(iYear AS Integer, iMonth AS Integer) AS Integer
DIM dt AS DateTime
    dt.year = iYear
    dt.month = iMonth+1
    dt.dayofmonth = 0
    dt.normalize()
    CalcNumOfDaysOfMonth = dt.dayofmonth
end function 
 
sub OnInit()
DIM dt AS DateTime
    dt.year = 2019
    dt.month = 2
    dt.dayofmonth = 23
 
    println("Date: " & CalcDayOfWeek(dt.year, dt.month, dt.dayofmonth) & ", " & dt.year & "" & dt.month & "" & dt.dayofmonth)
    println("Days: " & CalcNumOfDaysOfMonth(dt.year, dt.month)) 
end sub

Update a Scene Using a Text File

This script example updates a Scene from a text file.

dim timer,limit as integer 
timer = 0 
sub OnInitParameters()
    RegisterInfoText("Text File Grabber 1.0" & chr(10) & chr(10) 
        & "Grabs text file and puts optional prefix/suffix around the contents of the text file." & chr(10) 
        & "Filename supports paths with drive letters and UNC paths." & chr(10) & chr(10) 
        & "Text in \"Default Text\" box is used if file specified in File box cannot be opend or accessed." & chr(10) & chr(10) 
        & "Listens to scene map variable \"text_update\" -- text files are re-read when this variable changes.")
    RegisterFileSelector("file", "File", "c:\test", "1.txt", "*.*")
    RegisterParameterString("default","Default text","",40,50,"")
    RegisterParameterString("prefix","Prefix (optional)","",40,50,"") 
    RegisterParameterBool("prefixIfNull","Include prefix if file not found",FALSE)
    RegisterParameterString("suffix","Suffix (optional)","",40,50,"")
    RegisterParameterBool("suffixIfNull","Include suffix if file not found",FALSE)
    RegisterParameterInt("updateFields","Auto-Update interval (fields)",300,60,999999999999)
    RegisterParameterBool("debug","Debug output to console",FALSE) 
end sub 
 
sub OnParameterChanged(parameterName As String) 
   're-populate text when a parameter changes
    if parameterName <> "updateFields" then UpdateText 
    if parameterName = "updateFields" then
        limit = GetParameterInt("updateFields")
    end if 
end sub 
 
sub OnExecPerField()
    timer = timer + 1
    if timer >= limit then
        if GetParameterBool("debug") then println "Timer limit reached"
            UpdateText
            timer = 0
    end if 
end sub 
 
sub OnInit()
    Scene.Map.RegisterChangedCallback("text_update")
    limit = GetParameterInt("updateFields")
    UpdateText 
end sub 
 
sub OnSharedMemoryVariableChanged(map As SharedMemory, mapKey As String)
    if mapKey = "text_update" then
        UpdateText
    end if 
end sub 
 
sub UpdateText()
    geometry.text = GetTextFile() 
end sub
 
function GetTextFile() as string
    dim content, path as string
    path = GetParameterString("file")
    if GetParameterBool("debug") then println "File path: " & path
    if System.LoadTextFile( path, content ) then
        if GetParameterBool("debug") then println "Successfully loaded file"
        content.trim
        if len(GetParameterString("prefix")) > 0 then content = GetParameterString("prefix") & " " & content
        if len(GetParameterString("suffix")) > 0 then content = content & " " & GetParameterString("suffix")
    else
        if GetParameterBool("debug") then println "Could not load file; using default text"
        content = GetParameterString("default")
        if GetParameterBool("prefixIfNull") then content = GetParameterString("prefix") & " " & content
        if GetParameterBool("suffixIfNull") then content = content & " " & GetParameterString("suffix")
    end if
    GetTextFile = content
    if GetParameterBool("debug") then println "Returning '" & GetTextFile & "'" 
end function