In-Game Manual

No worries. It was my fault I didn't take more time reading your instructions. I was juggling it, and two other new plugins, as well as prepping lunch. So my impatience a (and subsequent stupidity) was a total waste of my time and yours. :D I'll do my best not to repeat it.

By the way. I love this plugin. It will make my overly complex mechanics a little easier for new players to grasp; having an in game reference.

I was thinking about it, and while I have no intention of making a way to duplicate the manual, I've thought of a clunky way to get around it.
First, you create your manual with only two main entries (one called Manual, and the other Diary). Also, name your manual to something like Game Info.


This way, when a player need to access any of those, they'd go do Game Info and you'd have both there.


Make your Game Manual entries subentries to the Manual entry, and likewise, subentries to the Diary entry.


When I release the next version, you'll be able to add or remove your Diary and Manual entries during gameplay.


It's not the best of answers, but I hope it helps.

Nice! I'm looking forward to seeing your game! (I'm a sucker for overly complex games XD)

Hey JohnnyR! Thanks for asking!

You just have to type the name of the subentries (they should be exactly as they are declared in their respective entry).

If you're getting a "cannot read property 'icon' of null", press F8 before you close your game to open the console. If there's a line stating 'Error trying to read current entries. Manual entry not found: ', then it's probably because you've typed a subentry name that does not exist, or forgot to separate them with a semicolon ( ; ), or didn't use capital letters accordingly, or forgot to place a tag for <icon> even if you're not using one in your subentry.

That last case will be solved in the next version, btw.

Try checking that out and please let me know what happens.

PS.: I remember thinking about it while I was implementing the code, but can you also try to remove the last semicolon in the subentries? And, for this version, do not indent or use blank spaces before each tag.

Edit: I forgot to answer you question:

Imagine you have an entry in your manual called Characters. When you have it selected, it will show a brief of the main characters of your game.

Now, let's say this entry has as subentries an entry for each of your main characters and antagonists.

So, basically, when you press the confirm button on 'Characters' it'll clean your entry list window and then show you an entry list with your main characters and antagonists (that is, 'Characters' subentries), also, your Navigation window will be shown like this: Game Manual > Characters

It seems confusing, but I promise it's not XD - I'll make sure to make it clear on the tutorial.

Nice!

*hugs*

EDIT:

so far, I managed to show this

But when I choose "This", it throw me an error about "Manual entry not found: Foo"

Then I try

It suddenly throw me an error about "Manual entry not found: This"

I'm a bit confused about subentry and how I should wrap my text with <end entry>. From my point of view, I should consider subentries as a child from main entries, hence I should wrap every single of them with <end entry> but seems that it doesn't work that way.

Suggestion:

1. Include an example, or

2. Change it to JSON syntax, which I believe many user will get familiar with, even beginner one.

That was my intention from the beginning, to make a diary. I'll help you with this once atreyoray make this dynamic  :guffaw:  

@Helyx & @atreyoray

Oh God, just wait until Shaz or other moderator warn you about double posting  :guffaw:

@Heartbreak61: Your manual text file should look like this:

<main entries> This<name> This<icon> 84<title> Just This<picture><subentries> Foo<text>A single line text<end entry><name> Foo<icon> 85<title> Just Foo<picture><subentries><text>Another text<end entry>Entries are supposed to be separated from each other. Thanks for showing that. ;)   I'll include it in the tutorial.
I've tried making it JSON at first, but then it forces the user to write the text in a single line, which I don't really want here >.<
 

{"Foo":

{"name": "Just Foo",

"text": ["First line",

Second line"]

}

}

Maybe it could be done exactly by reversing how you do line split.

Foo.text.join('\n');

BD

Yea... but then I'd have to include information on how to write JSON files, which is ok for most of us, but not for the people who don't know how to program.

I mean, it looks complicated the way I made with tags, but that's because I haven't included an example or tutorial. I wanted to see people's first impressions and common mistakes before writing one.

I promise I'll make it real simple ;)

Suuuuure.... :D

Anyway, Heartbreak61 accidentally answered my question. lol

What I wanted to know was how to make the subentries, but seeing what he did made me think on how stupid the mistake was.. lol (I mean, I could have tried to add a new entry and just call it as a sub entry. Duh, obviously. :p )

Also, I did what you asked. In fact, I was doing it already, like, I totally forgot to use the semicolon at the end of the subentries, and no problems appeared. Oh, and I AM using a blank space before each tag and no problems either. Lucky me, I guess. 

Btw, I totally forgot to say, but awesome script! Keep up the good work! :)

Thank you for reporting on this! I guess this is because of how regular expresions work. I'm using them to read the tags. I'll never master regex... really ;_;

So... I guess I'm not double posting (since 72hrs have already passed? Haven't they? O_O)

Updated to version 1.10!

New Features:
- You don't need to write down tags you'll not use in an entry.
- You can now indent comments (#) in your manual data file.
- You can now create multiple manuals.
- You can now hide and show entries using Plugin Commands. (Now you'd better make those dynamic manuals or I'll have your heads on a stick! D:< Just kidding. They'll be served on a plate :p )
- A detailed illustrated tutorial now comes with the plugin. Get it here.

For those updating from the previous version:
- Removed 'Manual Name' parameter.
- Added 'Manual Names' parameter.
- Changed how 'Show in Menu' parameter works.

So make sure you reconfigure those parameters!

I told myself for weeks that I will write my own scripts for my game. But you know what...screw that! This is at least three times as awesome as the in-game journal I was halfway through writing.

Nice work, I will definitely be using this!

Thank you, Chrispy. But let me propose you a better idea. Instead of letting my plugin (or any other) hinder the creation of your own plugins, let it serve you as a motivation to make your own. And then, when you feel confident enough, maybe you could share some of them here in the Maker Community.

I mean, the greatest thing about RPG Maker is its sharing capacity. You don't need to make complex things, and I'm sure people will love it. BD :rock-right:

Yay!!! Thank you!!

EDIT: Urgh... I wish I could get this to work... I've been lookingthrought the manual copying code, trying, trying again and I still cant get it working...  :(  

Also I got an error but it may just be my own stupidity... 

I wish I can scroll the window on the right, because there no option to scroll

I try to change some parameters, but it seem it not used. I keep get the default ones.

It seems like it's trying to read an undeclared entry.

Could I take a look at your manual.txt? (If so, please send it on a personal message)

I'm sorry about it, but unless there's another person writing a code for scrollable windows, I don't plan to use it here.

For now, if the contents details are larger then the size of your window, split them across two or more entries. Just make sure you name them differently.

Could you please give more details, like which parameters are you trying to change, and to which values?

I sorta deleted it and tried again and got it to work without errors, but thanks for... um... being happy to help? I guess! Just thank you for this awesome plugin?!  BD

This is so handy.

I'm always glad to help people willing to use any of my plugins :D

Good to know you got it fixed up.