Spawning actor with different attribute each time

Jfg619

Hi, I need to create a menu with the amount of buttons equaling the number of rows in a table. So I created an attribute called ButtonCount and a rule that says:
If ButtonCount is < TableRowCount
Then change ButtonCount attribute to ButtonCount +1 and spawn a button actor underneath it.

So lets say if the table has 5 rows, there are now 5 buttons on the screen. But what I haven't been able to achieve is this: I need each button that's spawned to display the value of each row. So far I have only been able to make ALL 5 buttons display the SAME row value, I need each value to be different.

So for example: My table rows are Cat, Dog, Fish, Bird, Cow and I need each button to display each row value. My table is eventually gonna have around 100 rows so that's why I need to do it this way.

Hope my explanation wasn't confusing, I'd really appreciate any help

tatiang

My drop-down menu demo might be helpful: https://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/comment/461526/#Comment_461526.

Jfg619

Thank you but I wasn't able to open it.. Is it for PC? I have a mac...

tatiang

It's for Mac but as I noted in that post, you'll need the Nightly Build to open it.

http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/66768/forum-faq#variousbuilds

Jfg619

Thanks, I was able to open it. So from what I understood, I would need to create an instance actor for each menu item and change its self.MenuNumber manually? My table has more than 100 rows, so I was looking for a way for GameSalad to do it for me automatically...

tatiang

Another way to do it is to calculate the menu item's location by it's x/y position. As an example, if each item is 30 pixels high starting at y=500 and going down the scene, you would do:

Change Attribute self.myRow to ceil((500-self.Position.Y)/30).

stueynet

I talk about this exact issue in a tutorial. Basically what you can do is on each table iteration, change a global / game attribute to something. Then within the spawned actor's prototype, set a self attribute to be whatever that is.

So in your iteration loop start with a change attribute to change the game attribute to cat, dog etc...

Then in your prototype, the first thing in its rules should be a change attribute to the game attribute above.

Its part of this larger video but its at around 14 or 15 minutes where I talk about the individual actor's level which is analogous to what you're doing I believe.

Jfg619

@stueynet I was following your tutorial but couldn't find the "loop over table" behavior, why doesn't my gamesalad have that or the loop behavior? I just downloaded the latest version and I can't find those behaviors anywhere...

stueynet

@Jfg619 said:
stueynet I was following your tutorial but couldn't find the "loop over table" behavior, why doesn't my gamesalad have that or the loop behavior? I just downloaded the latest version and I can't find those behaviors anywhere...

They are definitely there. Look harder

Jfg619

They're supposed to be above the Move behavior but they're not there... maybe they're exclusive to the pro version? it looks like you have it..

stueynet

@Jfg619 said:
They're supposed to be above the Move behavior but they're not there... maybe they're exclusive to the pro version? it looks like you have it..

Ah perhaps that's it. Maybe @tatiang‌ can she's some light.

tatiang

@stueynet @Jfg619‌ You'll need a nightly build or the release candidate to use the Loop over Table behavior. See http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/66768/forum-faq#variousbuilds. They are not Pro behaviors.

stueynet

@tatiang said:
stueynet Jfg619‌ You'll need a nightly build or the release candidate to use the Loop over Table behavior. See http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/66768/forum-faq#variousbuilds. They are not Pro behaviors.

Ah there ya go. Yeah in the tutorial I mention it's with an RC. it's a great feature.