Tool Box Compilation Controller II

CONFIGURATIONS

Configuration Editor

Information on Configurations

NOTE: While the Config Editor works as advertised, in TBCC SE, the .config selected in the Navigator overrides any loaded here. If you load a configuration, it will "last" while this instance of the TBCC runs. The next time you launch TBCC SE, it will use the .config selected in the Navigator.

The Configuration Editor lets you create, edit, and manage Game Tool configurations. Each configuration has a list of tools, and each tool has a list of parameters. See the Introduction for information on the parameter types.

THE CONFIGURATION EDITOR

CONFIGURATION NAME

Edit the name of the current config.

NEW, LOAD, and SAVE CONFIG

NEW CONFIG - Click the NEW button to create a new configuration. A dialog will open to allow you to enter a name for the new configuration. YOUR CURRENT CONFIGURATION WILL BE CLEARED, and you will have a "clean" configuration to work with.

LOAD CONFIG - Click the LOAD button to open a standard Windows file dialog and select a .config file. YOUR CURRENT CONFIGURATION WILL BE CLEARED and replaced with the selected one.

SAVE CONFIG - Click the SAVE button to open a standard Windows file dialog and save the current configuration.

TOOL NAME LIST

Use the Tool Name list to select the tool program you want to edit. The tool's parameters will appear in the Parameter Name list below. To the right of the Tool Name list are four buttons:

ADD TOOL - First you enter a name, then use a file dialog to select the executable. TBCC only stores the file name, not the path. It uses the path you set in Preferences for TOOL DIRECTORY.

MOVE NAME UP - moves the selected Tool Name up one position in the list. The order of the names in the list determines the order the programs will be used in the batch file.

MOVE NAME DOWN - moves the selected Tool Name down one position in the list.

REMOVE TOOL - removes the selected Tool Name from the list. The original executable file is of course unaffected.

PARAMETER NAME LIST

Click the list to select a Parameter. The Parameter Editor displays the Parameter's properties.

PARAMETER PROPERTIES

TYPE - Use the TYPE drop-down list to select the Parameter type. See the Introduction for information on the four types.

COMMAND LINE TEXT - Enter the actual command as it appears on the command line. Examples would be "-fast", "-extra", or "-ambient".

DEFAULT VALUE - Enter a default value for the parameter. For switch types this should either be "ON" or "OFF" (OFF switches do not appear in the command line). Leave it blank for no default (the command will not appear in the command line).

DESCRIPTION - Enter descriptive text for the parameter, like the range of values it can have, or a little about what it does. MAKE SURE IT ALL FITS IN THE ALLOWED SPACE ON THE MAIN SCREEN! This text DOES NOT scroll. You're usually safe it you keep it to less than ten lines.

APPLY CHANGES - You MUST click this button for changes you make to the Parameter Properties to take effect. The APPLY CHANGES button applies changes to the currently loaded configuration. SAVE CONFIG permanently saves the changes to the .config file!

TIP: If you get "garbage" in the Parameter Grid after you edit a configuration, just go into the Configuration Editor and reload the .config file (you did save it, right?). Since the TBCC loads default values from a .config, this is a good technique to quickly "reset" your parameters.

INFORMATION ON CONFIGURATIONS

A configuration is nothing more than a text file in Windows Initialization File format (.ini, although TBCC uses the .config extension). The advantage of editable configurations is obvious: the User can always keep the software up-to-date and in sync with the compiler tools. It makes my life easier because I don't have to release new versions to keep up. It's all good.

But there are some problems, like how to implement saved settings. Since the user can now toss-in or chuck command line parameters at will, there seems to be no way to keep the .config and the .settings files in sync when the .config changes, without resorting to complicated scan-and-compare routines that would be fragile at best. My solution for TBCC was to implement just such a fragile scheme. SO - remember that saved settings from one config will almost certainly not work if loaded into another config!

WARNING When you edit a configuration in the Configuration Editor, you are editing the currently loaded configuration live! If you close the Editor, you will see your changes on the Main Screen right away! However, unless you use the SAVE CONFIG button in the Configuration Editor to save your changes to the .config file, they only last until you close TBCC! SO REMEMBER! The APPLY CHANGES button applies changes to the currently loaded configuration. SAVE CONFIG permanently saves the changes to the .config file!