Elenit
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Posted - 2007.02.19 11:25:00 -
[1]
Each version keeps getting better!
Keep up the good work Salvis.
Are you planning on publishing the interface to allow other people to develop plugins? How is information transferred between plugins? Can plugin A modify the right click menu of Plugin B - for instance - A plugin might provide some functionality to do with blueprints and would want information about the currently selected blueprint to work.
A search function that worked with reprocessing that would find items with compression over a certain amount & mineral x over a certain amount that took into account settings from the reprocessing plugin (station facilities, skills, volume, quanity, etc).
An handy extension would also be recursive construction to help manage construction of ships and items.
So for instance - when building the Chimera Cap ship you also need to buy or build the Cap Ship Components. The cap ship components, if built, require a certain number of minerals & BPs. It'd be handy to select the Chimera from the list in Blueprint or the MultiComponent plugin - add the parts to a stock control function (this maybe the bill function you are implementing) - and then from the stock control - right click and either add the item to a purchase schedule or add the BP to the BP list. At which point you can specify if it's a BPO or BPC, the cost, etc). You could modify the stock control to list what parts you have - it would then indicate what you need. Right clicking could bring up an option to add the items to the production scheduler
The current billing goes someway to providing this - but you can't add items to the bill easily.
*edit* I managed to find out how it works. You have create an items inventory with a volume of minerals/items in - select the correct inventory file from add to bill and then the minerals are deducted. Alas it doesn't add the manufactured item to the inventory. It also doesn't save the, now changed, inventory levels on closing. I'm trying now with the scheduler to see what happens - but I suspect it doesn't remove the minerals used from the inventory or add the produced items there either.
It'd be good if you let people have negative minerals and components in the inventory - they can then see where they are. I imagine the flow of work to be:
1) Select something to be manufactured
2) Add the item to the Bill (or stock system). This adds the BP and items needed to the stock system (we are after all manufacturing).
2.1) If the BP is currently in the list of BP's owned - then the appropriate information is listed (cost, ME, PE, etc). Here you'd have the ability to click on the BP and to add the missing materials to the inventory. The display would show an indicator next to the BP if the materials needed for production are in the inventory at the right levels. Any of the items listed as materials - you could click on and modify the stock levels - either by entering an absolute value or a delta value. You would be able to add the BP to production queue and the materials needed would be taken from the inventory and the product and quantity added to the inventory.
2.2) If the BP listed isn't owned - then you'd be able to add it to the BP database as a BPO or BPC.
If the inventory is negative or the item doesn't exist in the inventory (either mineral, material or BP) then it'd be handy to export the information for shopping or posting.
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