Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

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dewiniaid
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Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by dewiniaid »

TL;DR: Map exchange strings should be automatically copied and pasted when the relevant functions are accessed.

99% of the time, if you are looking at the map exchange string for a map it is because you are going to copy it and paste it somewhere else. Currently (in 0.17), this requires two clicks (click "Copy", then click "Confirm"). Map exchange strings should be immediately copied when the window is opened, since that will almost always be the reason you are opening that window.

Likewise: If the clipboard contains a valid map exchange string, the text box that appears when clicking "Import map exchange string" should be pre-filled with the clipboard contents.

These are both tiny usability improvements (they save literally one click each on a function that is not a huge part of gameplay), but the changes still feel natural.


Alternatively or in addition to:

When viewing the map exchange string for a save, there should be a button that goes to the "New Game" screen with the map exchange string already imported. This would eliminate around 7 steps from the entire workflow above.

Qon
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Re: Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by Qon »

Sounds reasonable. But why show the map exchange string at all when there can be a "copy map exchange string" button instead of a "show MES" button. No one is going to write it down character by character manually anyways, seeing it is always followed by copying it. Showing it means I also have to close it down after copying it so just copying it when I open the dialogue is a half measure. And a "set map from clipboard MES" button instead of a button that opens a dialogue that lets you type in the string. Same for blueprint strings. Those are also only handled by the clipboard.

For MES, the button to start a new map from a save would be even shorter. But that 'removes' the functionality to save MES's in textfiles that you can send to your pals in a chat or something.

dewiniaid
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Re: Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by dewiniaid »

Qon wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 5:12 pm
Sounds reasonable. But why show the map exchange string at all when there can be a "copy map exchange string" button instead of a "show MES" button. No one is going to write it down character by character manually anyways, seeing it is always followed by copying it. Showing it means I also have to close it down after copying it so just copying it when I open the dialogue is a half measure. And a "set map from clipboard MES" button instead of a button that opens a dialogue that lets you type in the string. Same for blueprint strings. Those are also only handled by the clipboard.

For MES, the button to start a new map from a save would be even shorter. But that 'removes' the functionality to save MES's in textfiles that you can send to your pals in a chat or something.
Showing the map exchange string does have a nice feature of giving you visual feedback that the map exchange string was actually copied. It also allows you to visually check to see if two maps are using the same settings (just by matching up the first or last few characters of the string.)

Qon
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Re: Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by Qon »

dewiniaid wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 9:01 pm
Showing the map exchange string does have a nice feature of giving you visual feedback that the map exchange string was actually copied. It also allows you to visually check to see if two maps are using the same settings (just by matching up the first or last few characters of the string.)
Nope. When you see the string dialogue box and press the copy button there's no such confirmation conveyed by the string being visible. The copy MES button can give just as much confirmation without the string being shown.
And the beginning of the string is probably the same for most prints. And the last couple of digits are prone to be == in many cases since it's base64 encoding so it's not the most useful way to compare strings.

Edit: I think you might be right. I misunderstood what you wrote. The box should probably be self-closing/ show as flying text instead of being required to exit out of though.

dewiniaid
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Re: Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by dewiniaid »

I meant in sense of the proposed QOL improvement presumably showing it, not as it currently stands.

Qon
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Re: Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by Qon »

dewiniaid wrote:
Sat Apr 20, 2019 9:11 pm
I meant in sense of the proposed QOL improvement presumably showing it, not as it currently stands.
read my edit q:
You obviously read my post before I had time to edit it though so not your fault.

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mrudat
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Re: Tiny QOL Improvement to map exchange strings

Post by mrudat »

You could show a visual hash of the copied value, eg. ssh key fingerprints, or Identicon

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