Relative Strengths and Weaknesses of the New Custom UI version the "Classic" UI

[urenoiro]

Reading the new API documents (kudos by the way, very nice), I came across a statement that the New Custom UI and the older Classic UI both have their strengths and weaknesses. That statement got me wondering... has a "compare and contrast" been done someplace between the two UIs?

[Tragic]

Reading the new API documents (kudos by the way, very nice), I came across a statement that the New Custom UI and the older Classic UI both have their strengths and weaknesses. That statement got me wondering... has a "compare and contrast" been done someplace between the two UIs?

Strength for Old Method: I know how to use it
Weakness of New Method: I have to bother learning a new way to do it.

[MrStump]

The "classic" system is easy to pick up and use without any knowledge outside of Lua, but is limited in the scope of what it can do and the visual styling available.

The Custom UI XML system requires more learning and "programming" for each element, but allows for significantly more functions and styling.

So if you're looking to make a couple of buttons on an object, the older UI system is faster and easier. If you're looking to build a character sheet or a whole layout of inputs and displays, then the Custom UI system will make that easier to do.

[Tragic]

So do you just need to use XML like as in webpages? Like if you lookedup a website like this..
[url]https://www.w3schools.com/xml/[/url]

Dose that tell you how it works?

Also .. what about "visual xml editors"... should you be using them?

[Nedok1]

If you want to have it portable then go with the old way. Assets isn't moved with the object it is attached to.
ATM the new way seems buggy, at least for me.

[urenoiro]

One thing I have noticed -- if the XML is in Global the UI renders "in your face" as if glued to your monitor, while an XML UI attached to an object (which is the more portable solution) is rendered with respect to the object it is attached to -- so it is not by default "in your face". What is the algorithm to rotate the rendered UI to be perpendicular to your field of view as if it were rendered from Global?

[Knil]

One thing I have noticed -- if the XML is in Global the UI renders "in your face" as if glued to your monitor, while an XML UI attached to an object (which is the more portable solution) is rendered with respect to the object it is attached to -- so it is not by default "in your face". What is the algorithm to rotate the rendered UI to be perpendicular to your field of view as if it were rendered from Global?

You can dynamically spawn things to the Global UI doing stuff with this [url]https://api.tabletopsimulator.com/ui/#setxmltable[/url].

[urenoiro]

So if one uses the setXmlTable() to dynamically spawn a Global UI from an object with, lets say GUID="aaa111" and that UI code now running in the Global space needs to call back into the script attached to the object from which setXmlTable() was called, then we would have to use this form a trigger in the XML:

<Button onClick="aaa111/uiClickFunc">Click Me</Button>

Correct??

If I am correct in this, then I wonder if this "aaa111/uiClickFunc" would be automatically updated by TTS if the object is copy/pasted and spawned as a new object lets say now with a GUID of 78fb09?

Such that now the reference in the new object is:

<Button onClick="78fb09/uiClickFunc">Click Me</Button>

I have not tried this, yet myself, but I definitely will.

Thanks.