Coming Soon: Interacting with CodeBlocks in Desktop Editor

[MisterOsiris]

How to Interact with CodeBlocks in Desktop Editor

We hear your enthusiasm for accessible scripting and we are looking into ways to interact with CodeBlocks directly from the Desktop Editor. For now, we have a read-only version of the VR CodeBlocks viewer coming soon:

 

 

Let us know what you would like to see in terms of CodeBlocks features for the Desktop Editor, to help drive our feature prioritization.

[jmavra]

Hello! 

I am an engineer working on this and have a question for you all.

I am reading that you are having problems with CodeBlocks and FBS. We really hope to convert more worlds to FBS in the future as it unlocks a lot more possibilities with what we can do. Can you please list issues or bugs you are facing with FBS so we can make it easier for you to convert your worlds?

Thank you

[LadyMo218]

Please no FBS.... my experience is it has been extremely unstable. Code blocks would "undo" themselves.  I am sure others will chime in here with their grievances regarding FBS.

[proto_xr]

The largest issue and concern is around the way FBS behaves between worlds when saved as a legacy asset. If we save a FBS as a legacy asset and use it elsewhere, any modification impacts all worlds using that asset. This would be expected for a template asset. Additionally, once we pull out a pre-FBS asset it automatically updates not only the script in the world, but also the asset in our folders.

As an example: Let's say I made a game of traditional Yahtzee with five 6-sided die. Then I want to make a new similar game with 12 sided die instead. Since most of the hard work has already been done we would want to take our previous work and modify from there, so we bring that scripted asset from our library as a starting point. Problem is once I modify that script it also breaks every other world with that Yahtzee game. 

With FBS that script gizmo turns into a viewport into the actual script as I understand it. When we attempt to save or load this FBS gizmo as a legacy asset, could this instead be an alias to save or load a copy of the FBS rather than a link to the original?

[Exo_Guid]

Great news!

A powerful new feature would be to allow more experienced coders in the community to create/share custom codeblocks allowing the community itself to expand the existing library.

[HomeMed]

One of the biggest issue is that people do not fully understand that making a copy of a code block doesn't mean that it is a copy but just a view port, which makes modifying scripts an issue which in turn makes sharing of scripts and assets an issue.

[emorgul]

Plus one to what Proto said. I almost never reuse the same scripts between worlds. I will start with a script Ive used before and modify it. This works perfectly without FBS - i just copy the script box and use it. With FBS, it's really easy to misclick and literally destroy other worlds without even realizing it. At least with cross world variables, you get a warning when changing/deleting something that affect other worlds.

I do reuse the same script WITHIN a world, of course, like for multiple versions of a sword. So I can see how FBS is useful for that, but the current non-FBS system allows for that as well. I can even spawn in different versions of that sword without their script boxes, and they attach to the one already in the world. This works great, and is easy to track. So I don't really see the point of FBS for what I'm building. 

Also, codeblocks+FBS simply do not work. It takes too long to check with/update the server so entire lines of code disappear and reappear. Codeblocks delete themselves while held. It's just a painful process. 

Ultimately, I used to see FBS as a landmine. It's just quietly sitting there waiting for you to click it. Once you do you 1) risk ruining other worlds by changing their scripts and 2) ruin codeblock editing. Now that it's the default - and I don't think can be turned off, can it? - I expect to clone existing worlds rather than starting news one. Maybe after I get good at typescript in a few years, I will reconsider.

[Evairre]

Also since there is a typescript AI generator, an codeblocks AI generator would be a game changer for beginner scriptors and those who arent so savvy at scripting. The biggest setback alot of creators have is the difficulty of coding.