Pattern viewer for forum threads

[rowett]

Is build 333 also mislabelled?

No, the version tag was incorrect. It is fixed.

[bubblegum]

Playing a LifeHistory pattern, drawing in a grey cell and resetting doesn't clear the added cell.

[rowett]

Playing a LifeHistory pattern, drawing in a grey cell and resetting doesn't clear the added cell.

It's also true of other [R]History states. It's on the backlog to be fixed. Thanks for reporting!

[wwei47]

It's also true of other [R]History states. It's on the backlog to be fixed. Thanks for reporting!

Wait, that wasn't an intended feature? It's convenient to be able to transfer my markings to the initial generation without having to draw them again.

[rowett]

Wait, that wasn't an intended feature? It's convenient to be able to transfer my markings to the initial generation without having to draw them again.

No, but I see why it may be useful. I'll consider copy/paste of just annotation states as a feature.

[bubblegum]

Here, after running a bit, using Backspace or Shift+Tab to step back causes dots to be taken out of the history states.

[rowett]

Here, after running a bit, using Backspace or Shift+Tab to step back causes dots to be taken out of the history states.

This will be fixed in the next release. Thanks for reporting!

[muzik]

Suggestion: some kind of functionality to view the neighbourhood of a single active cell, to make it easier to understand custom neighbourhoods.

[rowett]

Suggestion: some kind of functionality to view the neighbourhood of a single active cell, to make it easier to understand custom neighbourhoods.

The custom neighborhood is shown in Help->Info->Pattern.

[muzik]

Could a way to view "all cells which have this cell in their neighbourhood" be added as well? This will be distinct for non-isotropic neighbourhoods and is what the extendedlife/lifeultra families depend on.

[muzik]

It seems build 547 may also be subject to mislabelling.

[rowett]

It seems build 547 may also be subject to mislabelling.

Fixed, thanks.

[muzik]

A couple thoughts regarding buttons:
- For functions that have keyboard shortcuts, could said keyboard shortcuts be stated when the button in question is moused over? Having them available to read this way would be much more convenient than reading the keybind diagram, since trial and error is required in that case and it takes a lot more time.
- For greyed-out buttons, could an in-game explanation for why said button is inactive be provided (e.g. generation 0 of a non-reversible rule, hexagons being disabled for non-hexagonal patterns), either when moused over or clicked on?

[muzik]

Pretty minor, but identify categorises some patterns as FlipX when they could equivalently be considered FlipY.

Code: Select all

x = 8, y = 7, rule = R4,C0,S9,14,16-17,21,23-24,30-31,37-38,44-45,51-52,58-59,B3,10,17,21,24,31,38,45,52,59,NW100010001000000000000000000000777000100707001000777000000000000000000000100010001
3b2o$o2b2o4$3b2o2bo$3b2o!

Code: Select all

x = 7, y = 8, rule = R4,C0,S9,14,16-17,21,23-24,30-31,37-38,44-45,51-52,58-59,B3,10,17,21,24,31,38,45,52,59,NW100010001000000000000000000000777000100707001000777000000000000000000000100010001
5bo3$2o3b2o$2o3b2o3$bo!

Perhaps these could be classified as FlipX/Y (or something else as to prevent confusion with FlipXY)?

[rowett]

- For functions that have keyboard shortcuts, could said keyboard shortcuts be stated when the button in question is moused over? Having them available to read this way would be much more convenient than reading the keybind diagram, since trial and error is required in that case and it takes a lot more time.

Done, thanks. Please check I haven't missed anything.

- For greyed-out buttons, could an in-game explanation for why said button is inactive be provided (e.g. generation 0 of a non-reversible rule, hexagons being disabled for non-hexagonal patterns), either when moused over or clicked on?

No since a) it breaks the non-interactivity of greyed out items, which is counter-intuitive and b) it's normally obvious.

[muzik]

A quick not-entirely-conclusive check revealed a few options with no keybinds, which either are missing them from the tooltips or these functions don't have any assigned at all, which they maybe could have:
- toggle states display
- toggle pause playback while drawing
- AutoHide UI

[rowett]

A quick not-entirely-conclusive check revealed a few options with no keybinds, which either are missing them from the tooltips or these functions don't have any assigned at all, which they maybe could have:
- toggle states display
- toggle pause playback while drawing
- AutoHide UI

Added, thanks.

[muzik]

Could button descriptions also be shown on mobile (possibly when held down for a second or so) to make their functions clearer there?

----

On the topic of mobile I've done some further testing to see where some classic bugs can be reproduced.

Quickly tapping on the zoom bar making the region around the slider transparent: can reproduce on both iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy A20e, but not on desktop


Triangular select showing a rhombus grid pattern: appears to be iPad Air 2-exclusive


----

Finally, a list of builds that seem to be missing from the historical versions directory, mainly for personal reference although if there is a way to get these (perhaps through the wayback machine, or by contacting old users who might still have the a particularly old js in their cache?) I would be interested:

Code: Select all

Missing page builds:
100 - 114

Missing plugin builds:
116 - 122
124 - 140
142 - 146
148 - 150
152 - 153
155 - 157
159
161 - 162
164 - 170
172 - 173
175 - 181
183 - 186
189 - 205
207 - 213
215 - 221
223 - 225
227 - 232
234 - 237
240 - 258
260 - 263
265 - 275
277 - 300
303 - 304
306
308 - 310
314
317 - 319
323 - 325
327 - 328
330 - 332
337
341 - 342
345
363
371
400
518
553

The wayback machine appears to have 150 unique backups of the js file (out of over 100,000 unique archived versions since late 2017), but I'm not sure how I would go about downloading each of these unique backups.

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://ww ... -plugin.js

[rowett]

(mobile questions)

Since I don't have an iPad it's almost impossible to debug so it's unlikely these will be answered.

Finally, a list of builds that seem to be missing from the historical versions directory, mainly for personal reference although if there is a way to get these (perhaps through the wayback machine, or by contacting old users who might still have the a particularly old js in their cache?) I would be interested.

Most (possibly all) of these builds were never released and so won't be online.

[rowett]

Quickly tapping on the zoom bar making the region around the slider transparent: can reproduce on both iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy A20e, but not on desktop

... having said that I've attempted to fix this issue. Please let me know if it works for you!

[muzik]

Quickly tapping on the zoom bar making the region around the slider transparent: can reproduce on both iPad Air 2 and Samsung Galaxy A20e, but not on desktop

... having said that I've attempted to fix this issue. Please let me know if it works for you!

Does seem fixed now on the former platform.

[muzik]

There are a couple of other buttons and sliders that appear to have no associated keybinds. I'm not sure if all of these should get them though, so these are your decision. There are still some buttons yet to be tested.

- Random fill densitry
- Clipboard library
- Clipboard library buttons
- Settings buttons
- Help sections
- Themes
- Back/close buttons e.g. for settings

There also seems to be no way to shrink the viewer in this post back to its initial inactive state with in-game buttons alone due to a lack of a settings menu.

I also can't seem to find an in-viewer button to advance the contents of a selection.

[muzik]

A couple of random thoughts:

- Currently, the top left button in Display changes name depending on the rule loaded.

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B1/SH
o!

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = B1/SL
o!

It also displays "Hexagons" on rules that have nothing to do with hexagons:

Code: Select all

x = 1, y = 1, rule = R3,C0,S1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,25,27,B1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21,23,25,27,N2
o!

This name-changing button behaviour doesn't seem the greatest to me, so could this button be changed to something along the lines of "Force Rectangles" instead (being off by default for rules it applies to rather than on)?

- On the topic of rectangles, would it be possible to squish the squares used for hexagonal rules downwards slightly as to be just barely wider than they are tall? This way, hexagons could be made just a bit more regular than they are currently.

- Could the graph be made to stop counting once all cells in a pattern die?

- There's a pretty serious lag that can be experienced when switching from one LifeViewer window to another on LTL rules. Open the first viewer code box, press play, wait for about 80 generations and then click Show in Viewer on the second: (not sure if this lag is device specific)

Fastest ship for R<=50, at 200c/4:

Code: Select all

x = 101, y = 89, rule = R50,C0,M0,S50..90,B51..51,NM
3o$3b2o$5b2o$7b2o$9b2o$11b2o$13b2o$15b2o$17b2o$19b2o$21b2o$23b2o$25b2o
$27b2o$29b2o$31b2o$33b36o$69b16o$85b14o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$
50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$
50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$
101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$101o$
101o$101o$101o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo
48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo
48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$50bo48b2o$85b14o$69b16o$33b36o$31b
2o$29b2o$27b2o$25b2o$23b2o$21b2o$19b2o$17b2o$15b2o$13b2o$11b2o$9b2o$7b
2o$5b2o$3b2o$3o!

1000c/20 based on that:

Code: Select all

x = 186, y = 287, rule = R50,C0,M0,S50..90,B51..51,NM
35bo67bo$35bo83bo$35bo97bo2$137bo$139bo$141bo$143bo$145bo$147bo$149bo$
151bo$153bo$155bo$157bo$159bo$161bo$163bo$165bo$167bo2$bo32$185bo$185b
o$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$
185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185b
o$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$
185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185bo$185b
o$185bo$185bo$185bo30$181bo3$180bo3$179bo3$178bo3$177bo3$176bo3$175bo
3$174bo$174bo2$9bo2$o175bo6$182bo18$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184b
o$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$
184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184b
o$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$
184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo$184bo32$o
2$166bo$164bo$162bo$160bo$158bo$156bo$154bo$152bo$150bo$148bo$146bo$
144bo$142bo$140bo$138bo$136bo2$34bo97bo$34bo83bo$34bo67bo!

It takes about three seconds for the old window to close and the new one to show up on my end.

In addition, the reset button especially on the bottom viewer takes longer than expected to rewind the pattern to generation 0.

Closing one of these viewer windows and then clicking Show in Viewer yet again causes the viewer to take longer than it should to show up.

[yujh]

Just thinking, is it too slow for the last two patterns to show up? It took me about 2 sec. (iPad)

[muzik]

[in reference to Identify]

It'd be pretty awesome if this new feature could go full-on Oscillizer, spitting out all the values that oscillizer can for patterns, and for any rule as well. Of course, that's a pretty ginormous ask, and I doubt it's something we'll be seeing soon. (Would be super useful for filling in the wiki, though!)

Reiterating this, as it seems that the online version of Oscillizer is no longer functional and as such generating some of the values in question is no longer possible with it. This would require adding minrule/maxrule calculation as well as strict volatility to it (apgcode generation, possibly with a Catagolue link built in, would also be a nice addition - here's a golly script that can be used to generate it).

I'm not sure if the cell period display breakdown would be feasible to implement, however here's the color scheme if so:


And the example pattern if needed:

Code: Select all

x = 87, y = 85, rule = B3/S23
8$58bo3bo$57bobobobo$58b2ob2o$56b3o3b3o$55b2o7b2o$54b3obo3bob3o$53b2o
3b2ob2o3b2o$11b2o15b2o23b3o2b2ob2o2b3o$11b2o15b2o24b2o9b2o$49b2o4b4o3b
4o$49bo2bo4bo5bo$57bo5bo$73bo$49bob2o20bo$14bo29b2o2bobo22bo$13bobo28b
o4bo23b2o$13bobo32bo27bo$14bo30bo2bo23bo4bo$18bo58bo$17bobob2o50b3o$
16bo6bo17b2o$17bo6bo16b2obobo2b2o$18b2obobo21bo3b2o$22bo26b2o$26bo22bo
22b2o$25bobo20bobo21b2obo$25bobo21bobob3o20bo$26bo23bob4o17bo$51bo22bo
b2o$76b2o2$69b2o$68bo2bo$11b2o15b2o37bobobo$11b2o15b2o18b2o12b2o2b3obo
$49bo12bo3b3o$49bobo8bobo$50b2o8b2o2$53b6o2$50b2o8b2o$49bobo8bobo$38bo
10bo12bo$38b3o7b2o12b2o$41bo6bo14bo$40bo5bobo14bobo$40bo2bo2b2o16b2o$
43bo26bo$41bo2bo24b2o$43bo26bo$39bo$38bob2o3b2o$38bo6bo$37b2o7b3o$48bo
18bo$67b2o$67bo$72b2o$72bobo$74bo$74b2o!