TiTaNiuM sAMuRai

It appears as though the GetPref(16) is returning the value as of application launch. If I don't switch backgrounds WHILE drawing, the PIO's are okay.

I've found that a low resolution such as 72 gives you jaggies on vector objects. 200-300 has worked well.

We currently have a terminal on the network, dedicated as the printer processor, with direct connection to the printers, including the 500PS. PeterT: do you know anything about behavior of MacPlot in a mixed-OS (X vs. 9) environment? P.S.VW9.x can be set up to open in Classic, also, which would allow an X client to plot to an OS9 machine with the plotter....

Matt: It was in 8.5.2 (under OS9) and in 9.5.1 (under OSX). Maybe it was just the type of file work I was doing, but I noticed far less crashing with 950b5 and b7.

On OS9.x, it's tough to tell if this happens because VW crashes for so many other reasons. We don't save on local machines; all our work is done over the network, saving to a file server. Let it be noted that in our case, I'm a OSX client saving to a OS9.1 machine (with OS9 AppleShare IP, therefore).

Yeah, but OSX doesn't work directly with the plotter.

Rarely can I purge or Revert to Saved without the program crashing. Was this irregular behavior in v8 not tracked down? Is it still on the list of unresolved issues? I don't know, you see, since no 'internal' bug dbase is published...

Actually, that had slipped my mind. The Line tool does the same thing. Maybe someone hardcoded arbitrary default values: mode 1 for some, mode 2 for others, etc. Hmm... betcha half of the devs start counting at 0 and the other half at 1. hehe

Done. This particular script illustrates 3 errors that still show up in [much cleaner] scripts that I have written from scratch in vw951:1) unconstrained lines during a script after first line is drawn2) inconsistent behaviour / inaccurate results from GetPref(16)3) the whole workspace turns white (black).

"Durring each launch of the program, the last used mode will be the default mode. Of course, each time you restart the program, it reverts to the first mode button and all tool preferences are thrown out the window." ...uh, you mean each launch of that tool, right? I know I can flip through the modes (I've assigned '1', '2', and '3') but I don't want to have to flip for EVERY first time I call certain tools.

In my workspace, one key brings up an UNconstrained line, which is mode 2 for the Line tool. Is there a way for other tools to bring up automatically mode 2 or 3 or whatever? e.g. Under the Fillet tool, I want to trim excess (mode 3).

As much as I hate VectorWorks (and AutoCAD, mind you) for the unreliability, you can't NNA. I believe that the resources they have for working on VW are already stretched quite thin. Consider how many more bugs VW would have if people were taken off of VW dev and put onto VS support. Additionally, any given script is an unknown, as opposed to VW, whose builds are in KNOWN states, with known characteristics that are the same from one machine to another. Everybody doing VS is making up his/her own code. How do you support that? As for VS per se, I think that, based on the code-like nature of VS, a user interested should already have an understanding of programming. Once you have acquired that from somewhere else (unfortunately), then -- YES -- examples are good ones, provided that they are well-commented. Many scripts available are messy and cryptic with no commenting. I emailed some of mine to the poster here; do they help? I have a MiniCAD book that is a compendium of all the VS functions. Is there a VW9 equivalent? I hate having to click on the button while editing a script, then select categories, just to find a function.

... silly question, but you've tried printing, manually changing the B&W setting first, not using the script at all, right? If so (or not), does temporarily abaondoning the script fix the problem? OH, one other thing to check. Are these objects printing with NO fill, or just with a fill that is the same colour as the background (check overlapping objects).

This is a frequent symptom of corruption, more in v8 than in v9. Copy and paste (layer by layer) into a fresh document. The contents are 98% likely to be clean, but the file itself is corrupt. Burn it when you've salvaged the contents.

Holding down Shift while drawing an unconstrained line (angular constraint toggle is Off) will constrain that line. All well and good. During execution of a script that draws a number of user-defined unconstrained lines, VW8 maintained functionality of the Shift constrain. During execution of that same script in VW9, holding down Shift will constrain only the first line. Wazzup?

The reason I'm offering is that I'm a C++ guy who hasn't touched Pascal in 15 years, so I have quite a bit of commenting in the code to guide the reader.

I have found that the plug-ins that come with VW are often quite old. Also, they are VERY poorly commented. I have a door script (which still isn't playing all that nicely with switches from black background to white) that allows user-defined door width, sidelites or no, user-defined sidelite width, etc. It's fairly complex for a newbie, but it's a good mid-ground. I also have a grid circle script that is very simple. (note: avoiding spam bots) If you send an Electronic MAIL to me at 'dclarke''@'and then'aciarchitecture'followed by '.com', I will reply with the .vso's (PIO script file) attached. BTW, there is little response in the VS forum compared to the General forum.

Are these plug-in objects? Is anyone using a black background? Is anyone using 'Black&White'?

RGyori is correct. The resource fork of the file (Mac files are actually duplex) holds the 'creator' application ID. MiniCAD, VW8, and VW9 have the same ID, so that is mapped to the latest install of the application. Most of the time. Uninstall: under OS9, also check the Extensions and Preferences folders in the System folder for application-related residue. Under OSX, you're SOL. Although using Terminal will allow you to access the innards of the system, Admin priveleges in Windows NT4/5 do the same, yet good luck finding what you're looking for in the Registry...

Or perhaps does GetPref(16) look to what the setting was, when I selected 'Create Plug-in'? Is the script run from scratch every time, or is a compiled version run?

From within a PIO script, I've decided manually to set the SetPref(16) to FALSE. Then another procedure draws the objects. Finally, the GetPref(16) is set to whatever it was before the forced setting to FALSE. Does VW take that setting into account when drawing, or does the setting not take effect until after the script has completed and control has passed out of the PIO?

Thx again.

True enough. Tx for the info.

Is there any difference in how VW hands off this export duty, between OS9 and OSX? I tried a 3000x2400 image from VW951 under X.1.4, with 512 of physical RAM, with the same results as under OS9. Do you know if Not-so-quicktime will continue to impose upon us these stupid limitations due to the code's inadequacies? Why do editor apps such as Photochop not have the same difficulty?

Nobody's answering my questions on the VS forum, so...My Vectorscript PIO doesn't keep the values I give it. After the first instantiation, the default values 1 and 2 for that PIO get reset to '0' for the first value, and whatever the first instance's value 2 is, for value 2. Resetting the preferences for that PIO don't stick. Also, I'm getting inconsistency with black background. Do I need to check whether or not the bg is black, to determine if my lines should be drawn white (or black, if the bg is white)? What is the difference between GetPref, GetPrefInt, GetPrefReal, and GetPrefLongInt? I need help. It appears as though the PIO's work just fine in a white background, and are still ok as long as I: a) do any work in 'Create Plug-in' in a WHITE background, and b) close and open VW in a WHITE background. What's the deal?