Time_Object Task, Frame, Time and File Handling

 

Most of the methods described in this section are used by the project Time-Object user-interface, they provide the basic task, frame, time and file handling.

        

CLASS * Time_Object

These method are used by the Time-Object project to create and maintain the user-interface.

"get-panel" returns the interface shown in figure 8.13, "update-panel" is called when the current object of the manager is changed to find a Time_Object for the interface.

"get-display-layer" returns a layer which allows to select different display methods for Time_Objects, see figure 8.15.

Both the user-interface and the display layer are automatically added to resp. removed from the manager when the project Time-Object or one of its subprojects is added resp. removed.

        

CLASS * Time_Object
TIME_OBJECT * timeobj
TASK_TYPE task

"set-task" sets the task for timeobj to task (of course this only makes sense for subclasses of Time_Object which allow more than one task). It then calls "update-task" which updates the task button which can be obtained by "get-task-button" (this method is for example used by "get-panel" to access the task button).

                 

CLASS * Time_Object
TIME_OBJECT * timeobj
INPUT * input
int frame

"set-frame" sets the frame number for timeobj to frame, then it calls "update-frame" to update the frame number on the input field in the group of frame buttons which can be obtained by "get-frame-buttons" (compare the task methods above).

The three methods "previous-frame", "change-frame" and "next-frame" are the default actions for the frame buttons, they allow to step through the frames or to select a specific frame by typing in its number.

              

CLASS * Time_Object
TIME_OBJECT * timeobj
double time

"set-time" sets the * timeobj-> time to time, then it calls "update-time" which updates the time ruler for Time_Objects and all time-dependent variables of the timeobj. The time ruler can be optained by "get-time-ruler", it is usually added to the option menu by the Time-Object project.

The method "get-time" is used to initialize the time instance variable of a Time_Object instance when it is created. It returns a pointer to the global Time_Object time variable (the one the ruler obtained by "get-time-ruler" is bound to). It is possible to change the time variable of a Time_Object instance -- this should be done before the description file is read --, in this case only the local (scene) time ruler in the manag menu can be used. This ruler is bound to the double variable returned by "get-time-var", for Time_Objects this method returns timeobj-> time.

           

CLASS * Time_Object
FILELIST * filelist
TIME_OBJECT * timeobj

"get-stdin" returns the pointer to the group containing the and buttons, it is used by "get-panel" to add these buttons to the Time-Object user-interface.

"read-in" and "write-in" are the default methods for the buttons. "read-in" pops up a file-requester which allows to select a description file for reading. The requester is filled by calling "create-read-in" which in turn calls "get-extension" to determine which files should be displayed (all *.to files for class Time_Object). "write-in" is still not implemented, pressing the button will print an error message.