Hi Dave,
I enjoyed your walkthrough
It's probably worth me spending a couple of minutes describing the intention behind the current UI. There was (some) method in my madness.
In the Editor you can modify the world by selecting one of four drawing modes and then drawing on the grid.
- Draw - sets cells
- Erase - clears cells
- Invert - inverts cells
- Pattern - draws the named pattern in the centre of the grid
If you click again on a drawing mode that is already selected it will do the following:
- Draw - set all cells in the grid
- Erase - clear all cells in the grid
- Invert - invert all cells in the grid
- Pattern - clears the whole world and puts the named pattern in the centre of the grid
The "Library" button next to the pattern name in Editor mode, and the "Editor" button next to the pattern name in Library mode are just shortcuts. They are entirely equivalent to clicking "Editor" or "Library" in the bottom tab. They are just there for convenience. If they are confusing I can remove them.
Changing the pattern with the "-" or "+" buttons changes it on both the Editor and Library screens (they are synchronised), but note (as you discovered), nothing will change in the editor until you ask the editor to draw the pattern on the grid. The quickest way to do this in the editor is simply to click twice on the "Pattern" button (hacker logo).
The top "View" button in Library mode is going to change in the next build. Currently it just replaces the current world with the pattern and jumps into View mode. That's destructive and kills any current world you are working on. What it will do instead is jump into View mode but with the pattern Carousel starting on the current pattern.
The Carousel saves the current world before it starts (and restores it when you end Carousel mode) so it preserves your world.
So your walkthrough should be:
A) You want to edit a library pattern:
1. You're in the Library, looking at 10cellinfinitegrowth.
2. You click on the "+" sign to get to the next item in the library, 10enginecordership.
3. You click on either "Editor" button to go to the Editor
4. You either:
a) click on the "Pattern" button (hacker logo) and then click in the grid to place the pattern at the centre of the grid
or
b) click on the "Pattern" button twice to clear the grid and place the pattern at the centre.
B) You want to view a library pattern live:
1. You're in the Library, looking at 10cellinfinitegrowth.
2. You click on the "+" sign to get to the next item in the library, 10enginecordership.
3) You either:
a) Click the top "View" button to see the pattern live in View mode
or
b) wait for the next build and click on the top "View" button (which probably needs renaming to "Carousel") to go into View mode with the Carousel starting at the current pattern.
Happy days.
Regarding the Library pattern info pane you're absolutely right. It's very basic at the moment. I wrote all of the UI from scratch and that's one control that hasn't had much attention. It's on a fairly long list of things to improve...
Hope that helps and thanks again for the feedback.
Best regards,
Chris