[✓]{SUG][ED] Show Enhanced Piece Data in Piece Browser

[GigaLem]

Seggestion 1
I noticed the set all skills to zero button and thought wouldn't make more sense to say "Clear All Skills"? but also thought of a button that said "Set all skills to desired number" like the random skill set only you pick the number all skills will have.

Suggestion 2
Show dimensions, if piece is steel, if piece is resizable/nine-sliced, in the piece selection.

like if you're trying to measure pieces, or if a piece that doesn't look like steel is steel.

For the resize part, Something like a arrows pointing left and right for horizontal, arrows point up and down for vertical, arrows pointing all four ways if resize is on both. For the nine slice, if there is a "9S" in the piece window, that piece is nine sliced.

now for my last suggestion
Invert text if background is bright, or the piece is big enough that the text goes over it and the piece is also rather bright. More so a visibility thing.

[WillLem]

I noticed the set all skills to zero button and thought wouldn't make more sense to say "Clear All Skills"?

It originally did say "Clear All Skills", but I thought that "Set All Skills To Zero" was... well, clearer!

Would anyone else prefer "Clear All Skills?"

but also thought of a button that said "Set all skills to desired number" like the random skill set only you pick the number all skills will have.

Replied to this here.

Show dimensions, if piece is steel, if piece is resizable/nine-sliced, in the piece selection.

When selecting a piece already in the level arranger view, its metadata is now shown in the pieces tab:



Piece dimensions can perhaps be added to this; I can certainly look at adding this in the next update.

However, I'm guessing that you mean that you'd like to show the suggested information in the piece browser itself? i.e. this bit:



If so, size and type info can be accessed via tooltips by hovering the cursor over the piece:

     
Note that the cursor isn't visible in these screenshots, but the tooltip appears to the right of the cursor.

This was most likely implemented because adding this data to an already fairly small part of the UI would make it look somewhat cluttered.

A more elegant solution might be to introduce another tab for steel (so: Objects, Terrain, Steel, Backgrounds, Sketches). Then, keep the tooltips for sizing info, and add "sizable vertically / sizable horizontally / sizable both / 9S (for nine-sliced)" to the tooltip.

Would that suffice?

For the resize part, Something like a arrows pointing left and right for horizontal, arrows point up and down for vertical, arrows pointing all four ways if resize is on both. For the nine slice, if there is a "9S" in the piece window, that piece is nine sliced.

OK, I've made a mockup with these suggestions:



It doesn't look too bad for just the one piece, but if all pieces had this additional info it could look a bit cluttered.

Thoughts on this?

Also, GigaLem, what's the reason for wanting to know if a piece is 9-sliced? How is this different from knowing that the piece is resizable at all?

Invert text if background is bright, or the piece is big enough that the text goes over it and the piece is also rather bright. More so a visibility thing.

Yes, for previewing purposes it's more important to be able to read the description.

This would be most easily solved by either adding a background or an outline glow/shadow to the text itself which is always the same colour regardless of style/theme. If that's doable, I'll implement it in the next update and we can see if we like it.

[GigaLem]

However, I'm guessing that you mean that you'd like to show the suggested information in the piece browser itself?

That, without needing to hover and wait for the info to appear

OK, I've made a mockup with these suggestions:

Pretty much this, what I was imagining, something that's visible to tell you that you can use this as steel or use this and resize it.

[WillLem]

Pretty much this, what I was imagining, something that's visible to tell you that you can use this as steel or use this and resize it.

OK, I'll have a go at adding this as suggested and probably make an option for it for those who find it a bit too cluttered-looking and who don't feel the need to see the info up front. Meanwhile, rather than attempt to display both the piece name and the piece type, let's opt for the piece type in this mode. So, to be clear, the option would be a ternary "Show Piece Names OR Show Piece Data (Type, Size, Resize Info, 9S Info) OR Show Nothing".

I'll also expand the tooltips to include resize info and the piece metadata (in the Pieces tab) to include the size.

I'll see about adding a "Steel" tab as well and separate out Steel pieces from regular terrain - this is something I've always thought would be a good idea, surprised it hasn't occurred to me to add it yet.

[WillLem]

Made some progress with this today.

The piece name labels now have a filled background (in the Piece Browser) to ensure readability regardless of style/theme background colour:



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Added a dedicated Piece Browser tab for Steel pieces:



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Added Resize and Nine-Slice info to the Piece Browser tooltip:



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Added Size info to the Piece Data panel (in the "Pieces" tab):

[WillLem]

Resize/9S info for Terrain has now also been added; and, I now know that Terrain can be resized!

[WillLem]

Implemented piece data labels in the Piece Browser:


Resize both ways (and nine-sliced), with size and type info


Resize each individual way (and nine-sliced), with size and type info


Resize both ways (but not nine-sliced), with size and type info

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This will be 3-way optional:

Data | Names | Pieces Only

For "Data", the Names will be shown when in the "Terrain" or "Steel" tabs, because all pieces in those tabs are of the same Type (i.e. Terrain or Steel), but in the "Objects" tab the Type will be shown instead of the Name.

For "Names", Names will always be shown, with no additional data. It's debateable whether or not the "Objects" tab should also show the Type (rather than the Name) in this case, because this is generally more useful information; let's see what people think after the next version (2.8.7) has been released.

For "Pieces Only", only the piece preview will be shown, with no text.