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[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (Phantasm @ Sep 9 2003, 07:37 AM)

Hey BJ, Just a quick question for you...In the next release, Will there be a way for me to back up a game in the DVD tray to the HD right in the UI?  Right now I am using BoXPlorer to back up my games, but it would be eaiser if it was an option in the dash itself.  I'd also like the ability to name the directory myself if that would be a possibility. Great work as always!

I'll see about throwing that in there, now that there's a valid COPY Action command.

Let me cogitate on it a bit... I've got some ideas on how to implement that.

[thetruethugg]

What about something like <action>COPY D:\* F:\Game##</action>, and MXM would look at the last number (for instance 01), and know to copy the files from D: to "F:Game02"..

[Schweeze]

it'd be nicer if one could name the game directly before/after you copy it... that way you can keep your stuff straight...

all these different suggestions show how lazy we really are....  i love it.

[PuddWakkr]

I'm even lazier than you guys . MXM can already look at a default.xbe and read the games name. Can't it look at the default.xbe it's copying and name the folder accordingly.

[oswald]

yeah thats what I was thinking, in the release thread, I proposed a simple two action setup

MKDIR F:\Games\$CurrentTitle
COPY D:\ F:\Games\$CurrentTitle

[thetruethugg]

Yea, oswald's got it.  I forgot how XBcopy did things, and how it sucked.  That's why I always used XCommander..

[BenJeremy]

Well, I may consider having some "environment variables" ala DOS - you set it with a function type argument that would extract the game title from the XBE, for example.

I haven't had time to work on it tonight, but I might have some time tomorrow to do some things.

I am also considering some rendering functions for menu ("GUI") actions - rendering a message box, for example, over the previously rendered screen.

Understand: While the "Actions" are executing from a menu selection, everything is suspended. I have to create a routine to handle looking at the input and one to render some simple elements like message boxes and such.

It will be very simple - think along the complexity of a DOS batch file... for now. The BASIC actions will be far more complicated, though. In that case, I plan on spawning the BASIC Actions as their own "process", suspending normal input until they finish (but allowing the skin videos and such to continue executing) - they will be able to bring up dialogs and perform other goodies.

So in the end, there will be two ways to "program" your own menu items: <Action> scripting and <Basic> processes. Basic will be far more powerful... and you'll be able to call "Action" commands from within Basic programs.

[BenJeremy]

OK, Action Scripts now have the power of gamepad input (that support will grow, but for testing and evaluation purposes, just gamepad right now)

"WIP" beta testers will be able to play with this a bit. More rendering options will also be introduced, so even more powerful scripts will be available.

I'll probably also add the ability to launch action scripts from files (ala BATCH files).

To do: The ability to change configuration, menu items, and read/write files using Action Scripting.

[koldfuzion]

QUOTE (BenJeremy @ Sep 18 2003, 04:32 AM)

I'll probably also add the ability to launch action scripts from files (ala BATCH files). .

the single most important thing you are doing with the kfa action scripting.  damnit BJ.. u R da freakin man!   Imagine a MXM world of script saving to xbox to perform tasks, maybe not on a daily basis.. but to accomplish specific tasks that would normally be a little difficult for the normal user. A simple import.. a complex dash built on simplicity.

[sprkthead2]

QUOTE (Phantasm @ Sep 9 2003, 12:37 PM)

Hey BJ, Just a quick question for you...In the next release, Will there be a way for me to back up a game in the DVD tray to the HD right in the UI?  Right now I am using BoXPlorer to back up my games, but it would be eaiser if it was an option in the dash itself.  I'd also like the ability to name the directory myself if that would be a possibility. Great work as always!

I use dvd2xbox it does this already, it automatically does a media check, creates the folder with the name of the game.  You can specify were to save it by modifying the xml file.
example:
- <main>
 <dumpdir1>f:games/comics_movies</dumpdir1>
 <dumpdir2>f:games/fighting</dumpdir2>
 <dumpdir3>f:games/misc</dumpdir3>
 <dumpdir4>f:games/racing</dumpdir4>
 <dumpdir5>f:games/shooting</dumpdir5>
 <dumpdir6>f:games/sports</dumpdir6>
 <dumpdir7>g:games</dumpdir7>
 <dumpdir8>e:games</dumpdir8>
 <dumpdir9>f:videos</dumpdir9>

I categorized my games, this way I can tell dvd2xbox which categorie to copy the games to.  

[BenJeremy]

Adding media patching shouldn't be a problem... though it's not in there yet. As ActionScripts are interactive, and include the ability to manipulate environment variables, you should be able to use it to create fairly complex operations, including selecting a "genre" to dump your DVD to.

[DBZRacer]

Hey BJ, is there a check command you can implement to see if there is a valid DVD Game or Movie disk in the drive? Here is a what I have come up with so far in regards to launching DVDs from my XBOX DVD Game list:

CODE

BeginDraw UseCurrent MessageBox "Press A to Launch DVD Game Title or B to Cancel" EndDraw Input If %_GP_A% == "1" GOTO APRESSED If %_GP_B% == "1" GOTO BPRESSED QUIT :APRESSED If DVDCheckHere == "1" GOTO LaunchOK If DVDCheckHere == "0" GOTO InsertDisk QUIT :BPRESSED MessageBox "Disk Launch Cancelled" QUIT :LaunchOK LaunchDVD QUIT :InsertDisk TrayOpen MessageBox "Please Insert Disk"

My goal is to create a list of all my XBOX titles on DVD so I can easily see them with previews on my xbox hd as well as maybe my DVD Movie collection in the future.

[BenJeremy]

Yes.  



I'm adding more... and keep in mind, all of the text strings available to skinners is available to ActionScripters - for example, using $traystate$ returns the TrayState string, and $dvdtype$ will return what's loaded in the drive. The "Gadget Strings" are pretty powerful, and I can always add more to them as well. Look over the list in the skinners guide and see what you think of that.  

I'm expecting you guys to push the envolope and show me some ways you can use what's there, as well as letting me know what enhancements (not vastly huge changes, just small ones) that can be added to support more complex interactions.

I'll be adding box, line, triangle drawing routines, image drawing, and placeable, attributable text to the BeginDraw/EndDraw functionality as well. It will be simple.... but scripters should be able to get a lot of mileage out of it.

[flattspott]

Awesome info BenJeremy.

Any chance we'll be seeing this today?

[BenJeremy]

QUOTE (flattspott @ Sep 18 2003, 03:10 PM)

Awesome info BenJeremy. Any chance we'll be seeing this today?

Well, I will be updating the "WIP" tonight with a few more goodies... I just added "CALLFILE <File> <args... >"  which should (untested, as I am at work) allow you to run ActionScripts within ActionScripts - it restores the local environment on return, and passes arguments as well.

The drawing stuff should be there as well.

I'd like to add the AutoExec one ("WIP" testers will see a popup when they run MXM, unless they define an AutoExec)

The more I look at it, ActionScript and BASIC will replace some of the internal things I'm doing right now.