Home› AMX User Forum› AMX Design Tools

Managing resource manager in TPD 4

DarksideDarkside Posts: 345
in AMX Design Tools
I don't think there is an easy way to 'rationalise' the items in the resource manager, but happy to stand corrected.

I have some panel designs that have a bit of prune and graft (but no corruption) in them - import a lighting page from another file, for instance, and it brings in its own icons, channel nums etc. It is a very handy way to speed up channel allocation etc...

In this case, it is very likely that the icons are already in the resource manager, but it replicates them, of course.

I understand why this replication occurs, but if they end up in there and then are not used (which can easily happen), it would be very cool to be able to 'rationalise' the entries in the resource manager and remove unused icons etc instead of tying up memory

Perhaps TPD could have a button to go look for instances of an icon etc in the file and ask the user if they want the unused ones purged.

Comments

  • Joe HebertJoe Hebert Posts: 2,159
    F9
    Stephen Bolton wrote:
    In this case, it is very likely that the icons are already in the resource manager, but it replicates them, of course.
    Have you tried the paste controls? [F9] There is a checkbox to overwrite utilized image names.
  • DarksideDarkside Posts: 345
    Joe Hebert wrote:
    Have you tried the paste controls? [F9] There is a checkbox to overwrite utilized image names.
    Mmmm, no, but now some of these files are legacy and the replications exist already...

    :-)
  • DHawthorneDHawthorne Posts: 4,584
    The problem is icon slots. If you convert everything to bitmap slots, an import won't create copies, and all will be well. If it is in an icon slot though, it will copy the image even if it's already there, and assign it to that icon slot. If the icon slot already had an image assigned to it, it will just use that image, while you scratch your head wondering why a past resulted in a different image. I have had cut-and-paste operations create up to a dozen copies of an image because of this.

    The solution, annoying as it is, is remove every image assignment from the icon slot and put it in bitmap instead. This, of course, is not possible if you are using both ... which is not uncommon if you have a custom bitmap for the button itself, and the icon is being used for the image on the button.

    You can delete the copies in the resource manager, but then you have to carefully go through every page and pop-up in the panel and re-assign the images that then turn up missing ... also a very annoying process. Best to do a search-and-replace (I think that works for images; I haven't tried it) first, then delete the copies.
  • CT-DallasCT-Dallas Posts: 157
    Stephen,
    I too have expressed a desire to see this feature. As you know, some projects take on a life of their own, and by the time you actually install the panel design there is a great deal of unused images. Unfortunately, the process would have to involve someone physically clicking keep or delete per image, but that would not be that bad. For the vast majority of files, TPD4 should be able to compare against the buttons in the TP Design, as well as the multiple button state images contained in the design to generate the list of seemingly unused buttons. Code driven images would force the manual KEEP or DELETE interaction to ensure that all of needed ones remain. I know that we are doing that with our weather module - 3 different sizes of forecasting icons - but that is really it as far as code driven graphics.

    I ran into a serious need for this feature about a year ago when we ran up against the max page limits - 500 pop-ups and 500 standard pages... We expressed it to engineering at that time and it hasn't gone anywhere. Yes... I know you are thinking it... we did go dynamic and eliminated a great number of those pages but it was quite painful going backwards.
  • jason_the_adamsjason_the_adams Posts: 108
    I do concur with this issue. It could also be avoided if TPD4 allowed for more than one page at a time to be copied; this would allow for the program to take a collective list of the graphics being copied, remove the redundant files, and copy the pages. It seems as though avoiding the issue would be simpler to design than creating a fix-it feature -- not to mention, it just makes more sense.
  • GSLogicGSLogic Posts: 562
    I'd like to be able to copy the folders which contain the popups.
  • jjamesjjames Posts: 2,908
    I've always wondered why they couldn't have the resource manager folder based. Let's face it, some panels are crazy and have a ton of graphics. Unless you prefix all of you images with certain strings (i.e. "xm_" or "sirius_" or "mc_" or "btn_") they're not going to be grouped together, and sometimes it's just downright annoying having to search through them to find the one you want. This also makes it aggravating when you import new graphics that don't conform to any type of naming system you have.

    If they were to just make groups or folders in the resource manager, it would be much, much easier to manage your graphics. Imagine having all of your XM logos, buttons, Music Choice logos, backgrounds, etc. all in separate folders. I shot this "idea" into tech support, but haven't heard anything back. This folder setup could also be extended to the icons portion as well, so when you import a bunch of buttons that have icons, you could either be prompted which folder you want to put the icon in, or you can just not put it in a folder. I dunno . . . just an idea.

    I also second Gary's motion for a pop-up folder copier. :D
Sign In or Register to comment.