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The excel sheet that Bob and Krista used for layouts is the new bar that we should strive for when planning event layouts. I can go on about all the benefits of having a clear plan, but I’ll hold that as self-evident, for now.
Here’s my attempt at making this functionality easier. https://steelcitylug.com/layout.php
You Don’t have to use it, especially if you are already good with the google sheet.
Future development will include:
- drag area functionality
- Importing LUG inventory to a drop down box for each cell (and managing that we have enough automatically)
- integration with wordpress, to sync user names and editors
- integration with a new event mgmt module, to track displayers
- column and row indicators (a, b, c, 1, 2, 3, etc)
- undo functionality
- any other requests listed in this thread
Since it’s an HTML table, you can still copy and paste it into excel/googlesheets too.
Play around, let me know if you have any questions. There’s likely a few bugs or tweaks to made.
It’s pretty cool, def a good starting point!
Notes:
1. How hard would an “undo” button be?2. Possible to select multiple cells by clicking and dragging across, or some other means besides clicking every one individually? Takes a while to click a bunch…
3. If you select cells that aren’t fully connected, then merge, they disappear. I clicked around a perimeter 2 deep, like how you might have a train looping around a section, and the cells… are gone. This is my reason for thinking UNDO could be super nice.
4. Actually, any non-rectangular group of cells gets weird. Cuz now I just tried an L-shape (3 cells on each side, or 5 total) and it got wonky.
5. The legend currently shows merged cells as (1) cell. It’d be helpful to have this represent the total number of core cell sizes* within that merged area… like, if I merge a 7×7 grid into one territory, I know it’s now one… but it’s harder to see that it’s 49 total cells, depending on what other cells (merged or unmerged) are next to it.
*6a. It’d also be helpful to have a label stating “each unmerged cell is equivalent to a 16×16 (or 32×32, or 48×48) stud baseplate” so it’s clear. “Banana for scale”, if you will.
6b. While creating a new one, it states “You can think of each cell being 16 x 16 studs, or maybe even think of the base unit being a 1 ft x 1 ft area on a catering table. You’ll be able to merge cells later.”… but a 1×1′ area is slightly larger than a 32×32 stud baseplate, not a 16×16.
I like the flexibility of using the more granular (smaller) baseplate as the cell size, as it also would allow for using non-square baseplates (16×32, you’d just merge 2 cells together.)
But if possible, it might be cool to have one of the inputs drive auto-merging (i.e. the layout is still defined with total number of 16×16 cells, but if the user selects 32×32, it automatically merges 2×2 groups of cells, or if they select 48×48, it auto-merges 3×3 groups.) Not sure how hard that would be to program. But most of our displays are largely built on 32×32 plates, so having to work from a 16×16 grid but manually translate into 32×32 cell blocks might get tedious for larger displays…
7. Selecting several adjacent cells, then de-selecting them, results in them losing their borders.
Also – is the google sheet linked somewhere on the site?
OK, I think this is it for now.
Maybe the answer is “just don’t do that” (i.e. keep all merged areas rectangular, don’t leave any unselected cells within them) rather than “program it to not get weird”.
But an undo feature would still be nice, because it’d be easy to click merge with one or more cells you meant to select not actually being selected, and inadvertently break it.
A few thoughts/findings:
* The cell unit should correspond to a baseplate.
* If I select an already assigned cell I can overwrite the original color. I don’t see a way to view all groups to which a cell is assigned.
* There does not seem to be a way to edit an existing cell group.
* There does not appear to be a way to create a border outlining table edges, space for staffers, etc.clarification, the cell UNIT, is WHATEVERTHECRAPYOUWANT. You can clarify in the description. IT might be appropriate for it to tables, 32x32baseplates, 1×1 feet, 1×1 cm, whatever you want.
there’s some refreshing that needs work for the table and legend view. The idea is that the legend refreshes automatically, but it may not sometimes, and you’ll need to refresh the page.
Definitely a situation of “don’t do that” in terms of merging cells that are not adjacent or in a rectagular area. I cannot sustain preventing user error.
I have the drag functionality working in a test version, but I wasn’t ready to turn it over yet.
I want the ability to select multiple cells that are not adjacent to update colors and descriptions.
Definitely a lot of javascript to work through, and ANYONE willing to take on working through the kinks in the code, PLEASE, let me know.
Undo has been thought about…it’d be a lot to track. not something I’m going to prioritize, but we can add it to the list.
Also – is the google sheet linked somewhere on the site?
krista for int’l lego day – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Cfq7atwk9Rf9Hq7Y4cXMJCnhftfX1tT6DpferuabBZI/edit#gid=0
bob for locomotion – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vWmKpb3CU2WryFoCcPzS8nyaYhNHf9k6OCCM2OvZGLQ/edit#gid=0
Thx for the links. Been ahtta tahn n’at, less up on the forums than usual.
You can clarify in the description. IT might be appropriate for it to tables, 32x32baseplates, 1×1 feet, 1×1 cm, whatever you want.
Fair. Possible to make it a field when creating a new layout, as a reminder? Or to simply rephrase the language on that screen to make it more clear that each layout’s cells should be defined? Something like “It’s usually helpful to indicate in your description what size your cells represent. For some layouts, each cell could be a baseplate size (16×16, 32×32, 48×48); for other layouts, each cell could equate to one table (of any size), or to a square foot / meter / etc.”
Definitely a situation of “don’t do that” in terms of merging cells that are not adjacent or in a rectagular area. I cannot sustain preventing user error.
Fair. I was playing around and trying to break it, that’s what beta testers do, don’chaknow? But IRL, should be easy enough to avoid.
I have the drag functionality working in a test version, but I wasn’t ready to turn it over yet.
Veruca Salt says “I want it nowwwww!”
Undo has been thought about…it’d be a lot to track. not something I’m going to prioritize, but we can add it to the list.
Fair. Alternative, possibly simpler “solution” – can progress be saved at various points, then returned to / branched off from? Like a “save as” feature, basically. That way, one could save at good points, before doing something that might get wonky, and be able to return to the last good point.
New thoughts:
Can you make it so once cells are merged, they retain their original size? It seems like sometimes they do, but once I start merging multiple sections (I’ve been doing sections with 2 cells wide, then sections with 2 cells high), they seem to lose either width, height, or both.
Possible to make a default to retain cell color? I just turned a merged cell green, then typed something into it and clicked “update” again, without realizing it had the cell color reset to black… not a huge deal but could be a timesaver.
What about a “deselect all” button? Although it seems that refreshing the page can accomplish that…?
this tool from Sariel is a lot like what I wanted to achieve. feel free to use it until I pick up the torch on the layout designer.
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