Hi all ...

Happy New Year!

I'm sure this has been discussed before but I can't find the proper links.

I want to learn simple script writing ... I know nothing about how to do that, though I did do some small program writing back in the 80's I have lost the connecting links in my brain and have to relearn the basics.

Is there a source tutorial or a book available that would help me learn to write simple MoI scripts or to understand the ones that already exist?

MoI is great to use without scripts but it would be nice to be able to add a few things that would be small architecture specific.

cheers,
eric

H eric, there's not currently any book or even any real documentation that specifically targets MoI scripting.

So it is still rather early in the game so to speak to try to jump into this area without some more background in scripting already.

So I guess a first step would be to learn and practice just the script language itself some to become familiar with it.

The script language MoI uses is called JavaScript, and it is also the main script language that is used on the web to add script logic to web pages. Because of that there are quite a few tutorials out there on it.

One of the main books about the JavaScript programming language is the Rhino book (no relation to Rhino3D!):
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flanagan/dp/0596101996


What kind of stuff would you like to accomplish with scripting? Maybe if you could give me some examples of what you would like to do I could make some better suggestions or give some more focused tips.

- Michael

<What kind of stuff would you like to accomplish with scripting? Maybe if you could give me some examples of what you would like to do I could make some better suggestions or give some more focused tips.>

I'm not at all sure. Over the last year I have seen a number of discussions on this forum about using scripts to set up commands in hot keys and other scripts for tweaking MoI behaviour. I have not really understood most of those discussions or even how to use the ones posted here and there. But, partly because of my ignorance and the ease of using MoI I have not felt any lack. I just got the notion that maybe some time spent with learning basic script might be a good idea.

thanks,
eric

Hi eric, well it's a bit hard to give you very specific advice if you don't really have a particular target in mind.

If you just want to make sense of how scripting languages work in general, probably some JavaScript tutorials would be the way to get started on that.

But it's a pretty involved area to jump into.

- Michael

Thanks Michael ...

I think you are probably right ... there are likely better things to spend my upgrading time on ... like generally improving my modeling and rendering skills.

cheers,
eric

Hi eric,

I too am interested in scripting for MoI, but more for repetitive feature tasks, sort of writing macros to do a series commands in one go, for instance to make a hole now, we make a cylinder to the desired diameter and depth and then do a Boolean difference, where if I could write a script to bring up a command option that you fill in with the depth, diameter, flat bottom or drill point, hit the spot and your done.

I started looking into like yourself and like you, did some programming in the '80's then took the engineering path and got disconnected from it. I have this page bookmarked http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/tutorials/javascript/introduction but didn't get past the first few pages as having a family and a full time job it's a bit of a juggle and at this age any free time I get I just want to relax and enjoy, at the moment I'm not in the mood for studying, maybe I'll get into one of these days.

Cheers

Hi Danny

Thanks for the Javascript reference. Like you, I read a little bit of it and now think I'll probably only go so far as learning how to use a script someone else has written for MoI and how to create a button or keyboard shortcut.

Staying reasonably upgraded in the architectural field is probably all the serious study I really can find time for and still have a life.

cheers and wishes for a great 2010.

eric