Re: CF: gcfclient UI

[David Sundqvist <David_Sundqvist@vd.volvo.se>]

On Fri, 22 Jan 1999, Scott Wedel wrote:
> I started a new player from gcfclient and now am wondering if CF's
> handling of creating a new player is an attempt at being on the ten
> worst User Interfaces?  Could a gtk UI be any worse?  I am not joking.

Yes. I know. It sucks. There's a reason.

The gtk client does not use any extensions to the protocol at all, and the
dialogs are generated entirely by guessing what the server is currently
querying about (based on what the last server output was in human-readable
form (*sigh* the dreaded buffer overflow in 0.95.1)). Run the xlib and gtk
client at the same time and generate a character and you'll see a
startling resemblance in the sequence...

The client doesnt know it's a new character and there's no way to tell.
C/S protocol change needed to fix that. There's no way to go back, because
the protocol doesnt make provisions for that. Drag and drop between
attributes may be possible to implement. Layout can be fixed. Cant fix the
choose character; protocol change would be needed again. 

Well, saying that it cant be done in the client isnt entirely true. It is
possible, but it would require a lot of easily breakable scripting of what
was originally not intended as an automated process. For example, the
client would have to know which character classes were available (or
first cycle through the list once by itself to figure it out) (and this
may change between versions (or even servers), forcing updates of the
client list), and then send commands to cycle through the list by itself
until the desired one is reached, and so on. I dont think that's the
correct way to go about it.

Of course, if you would be willing to update the protocol to make
allowances for a good character generation dialog, I'd be more than happy
:). I'd also love to see a way to retrieve or get sent the spell list and
several other things if you want to work on that :).

Best regards,
DAvid

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