Adventure Game Studio

I'm trying to create a custom GUI that I could use instead of the normal display function inside AGS.
With the normal AGS code, a function reporting information to the player might look something like this:

int whiler = 0;

while (whiler <= 9) {
 Display("The whiler is now %d", whiler);
 whiler++;
}


What this does is DISPLAY the default text "The whiler is now" and the value of the variable, pausing the script execution until the player either presses a key or clicks the mouse to dismiss the displayed text.

What I want to be able to do is:


int whiler = 0;
int msg;

while (whiler <= 9) {
 msg = String.Format("Message content - Whiler is %d", whiler);
 Notify(currentgamespeed, "Header", "msg ", "Dismissal button text");
 whiler++;
}


My current Notify -function looks somewhat like this:


function Notify(int speedatpause, String Header, String Message, String BtnTxt) {
 PauseGame();
 Gspeedatpause = speedatpause;
 Time_Currentspeed = 0;
 GUI_Notificatio.Visible = true;
 label_NotHed.Text = Header;
 label_NotMsg.Text = Message;
 btn_NotConfirm.Text = BtnTxt;
}


It seems I was falsely under the impression that the mere act of adding the PauseGame(); to the start of the function and having the dismissal button give the UnPauseGame() -function would be enough, but it seems I was sorely mistaken.

Can anyone explain to me how the built-in Display(); -function pauses the running of a script and how I could replicate it in my custom function?

Edit: clarification: the manual clearly states that Display() is a blocking function. It is this blocking property that I seek to replicate in my function, with the clicking of the button inside the GUI acting as a trigger to undo the blocking, just like in the Display() -function.

I found this thread: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=45094.0

With this code:

Quote from: Khris on Fri 06/01/2012 06:05:53
Try this:

Code Select Expand

// top of GlobalScript.asc
void noloopcheck HaltGame(int k) {
  while (!IsKeyPressed(k)) {
    Wait(1);
  }
}

Then:

Code Select Expand

  gElevator.Visible = true;

  HaltGame(eKeySpace);
   
  Display("Should not see this until after space was pressed");

As I need to show multiple consecutive notifications using this script, I modified it as follows:

void noloopcheck HaltGame(int k) {
  while (!IsKeyPressed(k)) {
    Wait(1);
  }
  GUI_Notificatio.Visible = false;
  Wait(5);
}


Adding the extra wait command in the end stops the single press of the space bar from triggering all the notifications at once.

I think what would make more sense than adding an additional lag to your function would be to just change how often you're polling (checking) the keys:

import void HaltGame(int k, int delay=5);

void noloopcheck HaltGame(int k, int delay)
{
  while (!IsKeyPressed(k))
  {
    Wait(delay);
  }
}

It's up to you though, whatever works for your game! ;)