MiceOnABeam Release v1.0.3

I'm proud to have (finally!) released version 1.0.3 of the MiceOnABeam Visual Scripting Tool, for the Second Life® World!. All users should download this latest release. It's chock-full of improvements including some new features that I'm sure you'll love.

An overview of what's new is provided below. For full details please see the Release Notes and the Product Documentation.

If you're an existing user you can just download the new release and run the installer over the existing installation. For those of you who have purchased the Professional version (thanks!), your existing license file will continue to work with the new release.

(NOTE: For those of you who participated in the beta of v1.0.3, you must first manually uninstall the beta release via Add/Remove programs or equivalent, before running the installer for v1.0.3)

New Error List Window for Code Generation Errors
A new error reporting system has been put in place that makes it easier to find and correct LSL syntax and variable/function declaration errors directly from within MiceOnABeam and before exporting the generated code to your virtual world.

While LSL errors continue to be flagged inline whenever a Properties Editor is saved, the entire model is now re-checked upon generating the LSL code and a summary of outstanding LSL errors are listed in a new Code Generation Errors window.

From here you can select an error and go to the modeling component of interest. As well you can open up the corresponding Properties Editor which will display the error message right at the point in the LSL code where the error was found. You can then fix the error and quickly regenerate the code by selecting the Refresh button on the Code Generation Errors window to update the error list.

Undeclared LSL Variables & Functions are now flagged
References to undeclared LSL variables and functions are now detected and flagged as errors both when the Properties Editor is saved and again upon generation of the LSL code for the model (in conjunction with the new Code Generation Errors window as shown above).

Local variables that are multiply declared within the same local scope of an LSL code segment will also be flagged as errors.

Multi-Segment Straight or Curved Transitions with Auto-Align
You are now able to create multiple straight or curved segments for a transition! In previous releases there was only a single Selection Handle for a transition which you could then click and drag to create a curved bend in the transition.

To create an additional Selection Handle press and hold the Control key and click on the desired location on a selected transition. Then click and drag the new Selection Handle to create the new bend. To delete a Selection Handle, just Control-click it.

In addition if you would prefer straight line segments instead of curves for a particular transition, de-select Smooth Transition from it's context menu.

To align a particular line or curved segment of a transition to either a horizontal or vertical position, just hold down the Shift key when clicking and dragging a Selection Handle to the nearest horizontal or vertical plane. Note that alignment is always done one segment at a time, from the selected Selection Handle to the adjacent handle (towards the starting point of the transition).

Finally you can move the display of the transition's label to another Selection Handle by holding down both the Control & Shift keys and then clicking on the desired Selection Handle.

Those graphic designers among you can now really let your artistic side flourish! Me- not so much :-(

New State Explorer
In a more complex model consisting of several Composite States, it can be tedious to traverse the nested state hierarchy to get to the particular state of interest.

The new State Explorer feature addresses this by providing a tree-like view of the model's state hierarchy so that you can easily zero-in on the exact part of your model that you wish to examine.

Aside from just viewing the state hierarchy, you can also open up a State, Properties, Comment or State Variable/Functions editor from the context menu for a selected state in the State Explorer.




New Junction Point Modeling Component
A new toolbar component called a Junction Point is now available to help build your script models.

Similarly to an Entry/Exit Point the Junction Point can be used to merge several input transitions into a single output transition.  However a Junction Point is not limited to a state's border and can be created anywhere within a State Editor. It can really help de-clutter model diagrams by reducing the extent of transition lines.

And More...
Release v1.0.3 has lots more, including:

• New Icon Displayed for State with State Variables or State Functions
• State Variables & Functions Can Now be Moved or Copied Between States
• Direct Access to Event Arguments Now Provided in Choice Point Outgoing Transitions
• Wildcard characters Now Accepted Within Search Strings
• Larger Area Now Provided for State Variables in editor
• UI enhancements.

Upcoming
Next up I'll be focusing on enhancing the built-in library of LSL Actions and re-usable MiceOnABeam model components to help people get started. I'll also be developing a training class for new users and additional How-To videos to illustrate the use of specific features.

As a reminder of support options, for starters there's the MiceOnABeam group in Second Life. I encourage you all to use it for Q&A with other group members as well as myself. For more detailed Q&A you can always post in the forums on the MiceOnABeam website or contact MiceOnABeam Support. To report a product-related problem, please send an email to support@miceonabeam.com, or click Send Problem Report for a convenient form.

Merry Xmas!

Antonius