» VL: Tooltips
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VL: Tooltips

Here we go!

As mentioned previously, an update to how tooltips look and work, was one of the two main things missing before we call vvvv gamma a 1.0 release. And they have just landed in the preview, horray!

Previously tooltips where text-only, rendered all in one style and often contained rather cryptic information. Now we have structured information that is nicely presented and we also tried to replace weird messages with human readable text where possible.

Nodes

Tooltips on nodes foremost show the nodes full name and category plus its "Summary" and "Remarks" help information in two separate paragraphs. Additionally, if available you'll see timing information, ie the amout of time the node needs to execute. Operation nodes can also show you the name of the operation they are currently executed on.

A process node with summary, remarks and timings
Operation nodes can also show the operation they are called on

In case a node has an error or warning, we try to help you understand what's going on by answering the following three questions:

  • What is the problem we see?
  • Why is this a problem?
  • How can you deal with it?
  • In case of warnings: When can this warning be ignored?

Also, while a warning/error tooltip is visible, pressing CTRL+C copies the message for convenient pasting, eg. in the forums.

Toggle warning/error info by pressing SPACE

Pins

Tooltips on pins foremost show the pins name and datatype. For for primitive types (like numbers, strings, colors,...) that can easily be displayed, we also show the current value.

Pin tooltips showing name, type and value

In cases of collections (like spread), we also show the current count and again, if the datatype is displayable, we now show up to three slices, as compared to the previously only one.

Collections show up to three slices

Oh, and the obvious:

You're vlcome

Links

Tooltips on links are by default only visible, if the link has an error or warning. To get a tooltip showing on normal links, to see their datatype, press CTRL while hovering it.

Links can show values too

Scaling

Zooming patches is nice, but we figured independent of that, we also want to be able to define the size of a tooltip. so zooming tooltips it is:

Press CTRL while scrolling to zoom a tooltip

Explorer

Also the patch explorer got a bit more informative using the new tooltips.

Tooltips on the patch explorer

Nodebrowser

Same goes for the nodebrowser, which should make it easier to find the right node as the summary and remarks are now much more pleasant to read.

Tooltips in the nodebrowser

Settings

And finally, there are a now a couple of more settings to tweak for tooltips:

  • Classic: enable to go back to the old style tooltip
  • Scaling: default value for the tooltips size
  • ShowAdvancedTimings: make process nodes show timings for individual operations
  • ShowObjects: show innards of patched objects
  • ShowLocalID: mostly for our internal debugging use
  • ShowMoreInfo: default state of errors/warnings with more info
  • ShowOperation: which operation the node/pin/link is on
  • ShowSymbolSource: which document the node is coming from
  • ShowTimings: show or hide timings alltogether
  • StdDelayInMilliSeconds:

A few tweaks here and there and more viewers to come for more special datatypes over time...but the biggest part is hereby done. To test, download the latest preview and then please let us know what you think in the comments.

joreg, Thursday, Aug 1st 2019 Digg | Tweet | Delicious 4 comments  
sebescudie 01/08/2019 - 08:51

that looks neat! cool to see some clear and useful debug info in there, thanks for this update!

ludnny 01/08/2019 - 13:44

It looks very very good!
Debugging was my major concern when I started working with VL...
Now (with IOBoxes and tooltips), I'm excited to patch again :)
Still waiting for the export feature to dive again into Gamma!(especially DLL export to interact with Unity)

microdee 02/08/2019 - 22:47

nice tooltips! especially the one which also says the execution time (the one with the `update`)

CeeYaa 05/08/2019 - 11:06

GREAT - I had the first GAMMA intuitive patching experience. I was only using HelpPatches and Tooltips to build up what I wanted - HURRAY

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Shoutbox

~4d ago

~7d ago

joreg: The Winter Season of vvvv workshops is now over but all recordings are still available for purchase: https://thenodeinstitute.org/ws23-vvvv-intermediates/

~14d ago

schlonzo: Love the new drag and drop functionality for links in latest previews!

~22d ago

joreg: Workshop on 29 02: Create Sequencers and Precise Clock Based Tools. Signup here: https://thenodeinstitute.org/courses/ws23-vvvv-08-create-sequencers-and-precise-clock-based-tools-in-vvvv-gamma/

~29d ago

joreg: Workshop on 22 02: Unlocking Shader Artistry: A Journey through ‘The Book of Shaders’ with FUSE. Signup here: https://thenodeinstitute.org/courses/ws23-vvvv-12-book-of-shaders/

~1mth ago

joreg: Talk and Workshop on February 15 & 16 in Frankfurt: https://visualprogramming.net/blog/vvvv-at-node-code-frankfurt/

~1mth ago

woei: @Joanie_AntiVJ: think so, looks doable

~1mth ago

xd_nitro: Anyone remember who increased projector brightness by removing some components that product the color?

~1mth ago

Joanie_AntiVJ: This looks super interesting (vectors over network) would anyone here know how to implement this in beta? https://github.com/madmappersoftware/Ponk