Scratch

Thanks for all your answers! Very welcoming. :-)

MMSequeira wrote:

custom blocks are not localizable.

Is there a Google translate API that could be used?

1) What's the cloud thing meant to do? It doesn't work at the moment.
2) How come the http block only works in the snap.berkley.edu domain?

Last edited by joefarebrother (2012-11-15 15:16:58)

joefarebrother wrote:

2) How come the http block only works in the snap.berkley.edu domain?

It's an XMLHttpRequest thing.

alloplastic wrote:

Dreammod & nXIII,

Any progress on a BYOB to Snap! converter?  I should have some cycles this weekend to start getting involved with this effort.  Is one of you (nXIII?) on the verge of having a complete implementation?  Or does it make sense for both efforts to move forward in parallel?

In case either of you wants that complex test case I mentioned, here's the library: http://www.newlifeinteractive.com/technologies/gameblocks/GameBlocks_v0.2.1.zip.

I have some video tutorials on YouTube I can share if you want to see how the blocks actually work, but none of this is public yet.  I think there are performance issues that should be addressed before this library would be doing anyone any favors.  :-)

Thanks,

You can try out the converter here. The "download" checkbox is a convenience for Chrome users which will save the .xml file automatically. (The other stuff is for debugging  )

Last edited by nXIII (2012-11-15 22:00:12)

So, here's my question on Snap!

A key feature of BYOB for my game blocks library is the ability to run code on a sprite other than the one in which the script appears.  This allows for an NPC conversation or cut-scene to be coded in the flow of a single script.  It also allows for blocks like "launch on sprites" that create basic particle effects or convenience blocks like "hide sprites" for changing game levels.

My question is how might this be accomplished in Snap?  I see an input slot for an "Object," and the slot looks a lot like the default sprite, but I don't see how to fill that slot with a reference to a sprite.  Does it only accept code objects?  I see that I can put a "ringed" item in there like a code block.

One trick my BYOB library uses is iterating through a list of sprite objects by name.  The code is something like "Run [The Script] of [object <sprite name>]," as pictured here:

http://www.newlifeinteractive.com/technologies/gameblocks/img/Hide_Sprites_Block.png

Is there any way to accomplish the same sort of remote-control of multiple sprites in Snap?

bharvey wrote:

alloplastic wrote:

deprecated blocks like "object" and "the script."

The OOP features that were added in BYOB 3.1 aren't in Snap! yet and probably won't be until 4.1, so hold off on converting OOP projects.

But THE SCRIPT should (@nXIII) be converted to a ring in Snap!.

It is converted to a ring…

The most frequent "obsolete" block is (attribute) OF (object), which usually has a script inside of it.

Last edited by nXIII (2012-11-17 11:02:28)

joefarebrother wrote:

nXIII wrote:

joefarebrother wrote:

2) How come the http block only works in the snap.berkley.edu domain?

It's an XMLHttpRequest thing.

Is it possible to use some other object than XMLHttpRequest since you only need to read  the files contents not execute any scripts on the page?

That's not the reason it's blocked, but the only real alternative to a direct XMLHttpRequest is an one to a server on the same domain which would just echo the contents of the URL (or CORS, but only if the specific server allows it).

Last edited by nXIII (2012-11-17 11:59:39)

joefarebrother wrote:

nXIII wrote:

joefarebrother wrote:

Is it possible to use some other object than XMLHttpRequest since you only need to read  the files contents not execute any scripts on the page?

That's not the reason it's blocked, but the only real alternative to a direct XMLHttpRequest is an one to a server on the same domain which would just echo the contents of the URL (or CORS, but only if the specific server allows it).

hmm. I wonder if it would be that much strain on the servers. It is, after all, literally one line of PHP required:

Code:

<?php echo file_get_contents('http://www.' . $_GET['url']); ?>

But how expensive is file_get_contents() and how many would use block at once?

Wouldn't this then basically turn the server into a proxy? 

It would probably be worth at least adding mime-type checks to ensure you're not returning a binary image or something that Snap! won't like...

bharvey wrote:

@jfb, blob: Jens says we'll use CORS to solve the HTTP: block problem.

To Jens, then: if I understand it correctly, doesn't CORS have to be enabled on any servers you want to make requests to?

nXIII wrote:

blob8108 wrote:

bharvey wrote:

@jfb, blob: Jens says we'll use CORS to solve the HTTP: block problem.

To Jens, then: if I understand it correctly, doesn't CORS have to be enabled on any servers you want to make requests to?

Yeah, the server at the request URI has to send the Access-Control-Allow-Origin header.

Awww, that's what I thought. There's no way of doing it from one domain to any domain, then.

Hardmath123 wrote:

P.S. Can we please stop adding exclamation points to Snap!?!

I tried that one already. Apparently the exclamation mark is part of Snap!'s name. 

Hardmath123 wrote:

I'm gonna start calling it Snap*CLICK* if this keeps up. 

I believe the correct pronunciation would be "Snap-bang" if you're not happy with the intended staccato "Snap." 

Okay, look, Jens doesn't like it either (although he did at the beginning), but the point is that there are about a zillion things called "snap," including half a zillion computer-related things, and the exclamation point is supposed to make this one stand out from the crowd.  And it's also supposed to be onomotopoetic, because of the sound the blocks make as they snap together.     Aren't those things worth the occasional awkwardness of a sentence that ends with "Snap!"?