Pattern viewer for forum threads

[Ian07]

On the wiki, LifeViewer still displays the wrong generation number for "Life ended at generation N" when increasing the step size. See for example the Die hard article. For smaller step sizes the number displayed is the smallest multiple which is greater than the pattern's actual lifespan, although this seems to break down for larger step sizes (the exact threshold depends on both the browser and the pattern). In contrast, on the forums the correct number is displayed no matter what.

[rowett]

I forget -- is there a (good) reason for having conwaylife.com/ref point to its own version of LV, rather than the version used by LifeWiki (at https://conwaylife.com/js/lv-plugin.js)?

I can't imagine why it would need it's own version.

[rowett]

On the wiki, LifeViewer still displays the wrong generation number for "Life ended at generation N" when increasing the step size. See for example the Die hard article. For smaller step sizes the number displayed is the smallest multiple which is greater than the pattern's actual lifespan, although this seems to break down for larger step sizes (the exact threshold depends on both the browser and the pattern). In contrast, on the forums the correct number is displayed no matter what.

Fixed, thanks!

[muzik]

Currently, setting GRIDMAJOR to 0 will disable major grid lines, but also makes it so that turning them on in the menu will change nothing other than the button:

Code: Select all

x = 7, y = 3, rule = B3/S23
bo3bo$2obob2o$bo3bo!
[[ COLOR GRID 128 128 128 COLOR GRIDMAJOR 224 224 224 GRID ]]

Code: Select all

x = 7, y = 3, rule = B3/S23
bo3bo$2obob2o$bo3bo!
[[ COLOR GRID 128 128 128 COLOR GRIDMAJOR 224 224 224 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 ]]

I'm not sure if the button should be disabled with this setting.

Personally I'd prefer it if setting gridmajor to 0 would simply have gridmajor be effectively infinite (or rather, unable to repeat): there would be an x-axis major gridline at 0 and a y-axis major gridline at 0, and none elsewhere. (Disabling gridmajor would instead be done with "GRIDMAJOR OFF" or something else more explicit.) Perhaps that's just me though.

[muzik]

Is there any reason why Go To Gen is forbidden for the none rule even when normal playback is permitted?

Code: Select all

x = 20, y = 20, rule = none
b2obo2bo2b2obobobo$bob3obo2bo3b2ob3o$2obo2bobo2bo4bobo$2bob3ob2ob5ob2o
$5obobo2b2ob4o$o2bob3o2b4o$o3bo2bo2b5obo$3bob4o4bob4o$bo2bo3b2o2b3obob
2o$3b2ob2o4bo3bobo$2o2bob2obo2b2o5bo$4b3o3bob8o$2b5o2b3o4bobo$o2b3o2bo
bo2b2obob2o$b3o5b5ob2o2bo$2b2o2bo2b5ob5o$2o3b2o4bob3obo$3b3o3b5o2bobo$
bobo2b3o2b2o2b4o$4b2o2b2obob7o!

The script command for it works fine:

Code: Select all

x = 20, y = 20, rule = none
b2obo2bo2b2obobobo$bob3obo2bo3b2ob3o$2obo2bobo2bo4bobo$2bob3ob2ob5ob2o
$5obobo2b2ob4o$o2bob3o2b4o$o3bo2bo2b5obo$3bob4o4bob4o$bo2bo3b2o2b3obob
2o$3b2ob2o4bo3bobo$2o2bob2obo2b2o5bo$4b3o3bob8o$2b5o2b3o4bobo$o2b3o2bo
bo2b2obob2o$b3o5b5ob2o2bo$2b2o2bo2b5ob5o$2o3b2o4bob3obo$3b3o3b5o2bobo$
bobo2b3o2b2o2b4o$4b2o2b2obob7o!
[[ STARTFROM 150 ]]

[dani]

Is there any way to stop LifeViewer from losing focus if I so much as move my mouse outside of it? It causes me to almost always have to re-copy patterns that I missed because my Ctrl-C activated on the main page instead of in LifeViewer. Having it lose focus on a click outside the viewer would be much more preferrable. If it's a browser policy thing then I understand.

[hotdogPi]

Is there any way to stop LifeViewer from losing focus if I so much as move my mouse outside of it? It causes me to almost always have to re-copy patterns that I missed because my Ctrl-C activated on the main page instead of in LifeViewer. Having it lose focus on a click outside the viewer would be much more preferrable. If it's a browser policy thing then I understand.

I rely on easily being able to make it go out of focus because it's about 40% slower when in focus, while it's the speed it claims to be when out of focus.

[erictom333]

Idea: B0 rules should have an option to strobe. This should also enable simulation of B0 Generations rules. (Obviously there should be a seizure warning.)

[Ian07]

The "Life ended at generation N" message seems to have broken again, this time on the forums. Regardless of the pattern and the step size used, it seems to display the message exactly 61 generations later than it should.

Actual lifespan = 1398, displayed lifespan = 1459:

Code: Select all

x = 16, y = 16, rule = B3/S23
2ob3ob3ob3o$o2bo3b4obobo$obob3ob2o2bo$2obo2bob3ob3o$b5obob4ob2o$o2bo7b
2obo$ob3o3b4o$b3ob2ob3o2bo$5obo3bob2obo$4ob2ob2o2bo$4b2o2bob2ob3o$6o6b
3o$o3bo2bo2b5o$obob4obo4bo$o2bo2bo2bo2b3o$2obobobobobo3bo!

Actual lifespan = 2474, displayed lifespan = 2535:

Code: Select all

x = 32, y = 32, rule = B3/S23
7b2o2b3o4b2obobo3b2o$b2o3bob2obo2bobobob2o2b3ob3o$b4ob3obo2bo2b2o2b3o
bob2ob2o$2obo2b2o3b2ob2ob3obobo4b2o$obo3bob5o2bobob2obo2b2o2bo$b2ob5o
3bo2bob2o2bobo2bo$bo2bo2bo6bo3b4ob2ob5o$b2o3bobob5obob6ob2ob2obo$o2bo
b3obo3b2obo3bobobob2ob3o$2bobo2b2o8b2obo2bo3bo2bo$4ob3o2b2obo2bobob2o
2bo2bobo$b2obob5o3bob3o2bo2bo2b2ob2o$o2b2ob2o5bo2bo7bob3o2bo$2obob3ob
3ob3o2b2obob2o4bobo$2b4o3bobo2bob3obo2b3o2bobo$b2o4b2ob3ob3obo7b3o$3b
3o7bob3ob3ob2o4b2o$bobo2b3o2bob3obo2bobo3b4o$obo4b2obob2o2b3ob3ob3obo
b2o$o2b3obo7bo2bo5b2ob2o2bo$2ob2o2bo2bo2b3obo3b5obob2o$2bobo2bo2b2obo
bo2bob2o2b3ob4o$bo2bo3bo2bob2o8b2o2bobo$3ob2obobobo3bob2o3bob3obo2bo$
ob2ob2ob6obob5obobo3b2o$b5ob2ob4o3bo6bo2bo2bo$5bo2bobo2b2obo2bo3b5ob2o
$2bo2b2o2bob2obobo2b5obo3bobo$2b2o4bobob3ob2ob2o3b2o2bob2o$b2ob2obob3o
2b2o2bo2bob3ob4o$b3ob3o2b2obobobo2bob2obo3b2o$3b2o3bobob2o4b3o2b2o!

Actual lifespan = 9044, displayed lifespan = 9105:

Code: Select all

x = 32, y = 32, rule = B3/S23
18b2o$14b2obo2bob2ob2o$14bob2o2b2obob2o2$6b2o$obobo2bo$bo13bo$bob2obo
7bobo10b3o$2ob3o8bobo10bo$o3bo11bo11bo$2o5bo$2o4b2o8b2o$3bo10bobo$3bo
11bobo$5bo3b2o4b3o$9bo$3bo7bo2bobo$3b2o5b2o3b2o$15bo9bo$13bobo6b5o$13b
obo5bo4b2o$14bo6bo4bo$24b2o$2b2o4b2o15bo$2bobo2bobo2b2o13b3o$4bo2bo4bo
5b2o5b2obob2o$4b2ob2o5bobo2bo5b2o3b2o$7bo2bo2b2ob2o8bobob2o$7bob2o14b
2ob2o$3b2ob2obo15b3o$3b2obo2bo5b2o$7b2o6b2o!

Actual lifespan = 50716, displayed lifespan = 50777:

Code: Select all

x = 90, y = 86, rule = B3/S23
65bo9b2o$64bobo7bobo$45b2o18b2o7bo$45b2o26b2o2$54bo25b2o$52b3o24bo2bo$
51bo28bobo$43b2o6b2o28bo2b3o$43bobo38bo$44bo40bo2$49b2o$49b2o5b2o$56b
2o$52bo$51bobo$39b2o11bo$39b2o8bo10bo$48bobo8bobo$49bo4b2o3bobo$46bo7b
obo3bo$45bobo8bo$46bo9b2o$43bo$35b2o5bobo$35b2o6bo7b2o$40bo10b2o$39bob
o13bo30b2o$40bo13bobo29b2o$37bo17bo$36bobo11bo7bo$26b2o9bo11bobo5bobo$
26b2o6bo14bo2bo5bo7b2o14b2o$17b2o14bobo14b2o9bo3bo2bo13b2o$16bo2bo14bo
19b2o4bobo3b2o$17b2o12bo22bo6bo$30bobo19bobo18b2o$11b2o8bo9bo20b2o10b
2o7b2o$11b2o6b3o6bo6bo28bobo$18bo8bobo4bo30b2o$3b2o13b2o8bo5b3o3bo41b
2o$4bo9bo9b2o13bobo27bo11bobo$4bobo6bobo8b2o14bo14b2o5b2o4bobo11bo5b2o
$5b2o7bo40b2o5b2o5bo18b2o$10b2o5bo25b2o6b2o$10b2o4bobo23bobo6b2o5b2o
12bo$17bo21b2o2bo14b2o11bobo4b2o$20bo17b2o32bo5b2o$2o17bobo18bo23b2o9b
o7b2o$2o5bo12bo34b2o7b2o8bobo6bobo$6bobo14bo11b2o18b2o18bo9bo$6b2o14bo
bo10b2o25bo7b2o13b2o$23bo37bobo7bo$31b2o5b2o11b2o9bo5b3o6b2o$15b2o9bo
4b2o5b2o11b2o6bo8bo8b2o$15b2o8bobo30bobo$26bo32bo11b2o$20b2o24b2o8bo
13bo2bo$20b2o7b2o15b2o7bobo13b2o$29bobo24bo5b2o$30b2o9b2o10bo8b2o14bo$
40bobo5b2o2bobo23b3o$40b2o6b2o3bo27bo$26b2o9bo42b2o$27bo8bobo$23bo3bob
o7bo16b2o$22bobo3b2o4bo19b2o19bo$22bobo8bobo38bobo$23bo10bo8b2o5bo22bo
2bo$31bo11b2o4bobo22b2o$30bobo16bo2bo$31bo18b2o20b2o$26b2o43bobo$26b2o
5b2o38bo$33b2o$50b2o$39bo9bo2bo$38bobo9bobo$31b2o6b2o10bo$32bo$29b3o
13bo$29bo14bobo$44b2o$37b2o$37b2o!

[rowett]

The "Life ended at generation N" message seems to have broken again, this time on the forums.

It's fixed again. Thanks for reporting!

[GUYTU6J]

A new post in this thread for two months:
Start from a plain Life pattern and hit Alt+G twice. On first hit it is changed to LifeSuper, and on second hit it says "Rule is already [R]Super". Okay.

Start from a plain Life pattern and hit Alt+H twice. On first hit it is changed to LifeHistory, but on second hit it gives an error saying "Illegal character in survival specification". Not good! This is discovered on LifeWiki, where converting a pattern from Life to LifeHistory makes no change in appearance due to the colors specified by theme.

Also, in a freshly launched LifeViewer window, hitting Alt+H has a chance to change the playback speed from 1x to 60/s.

---

By the way, the LifeWiki article has been split per suggestions by muzik/AwesoMan3000. Is this acceptable?

[Book]

By the way, the LifeWiki article has been split per suggestions by muzik/AwesoMan3000. Is this acceptable?

Nice...but it was the LifeViewer article, right?

[rowett]

Start from a plain Life pattern and hit Alt+H twice. On first hit it is changed to LifeHistory, but on second hit it gives an error saying "Illegal character in survival specification".

Fixed, thanks for reporting!

[muzik]

Would it be possible to have UI element color values (defaults as well as command definitions) be displayed within Help > Info > Theme?

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 17, rule = B36-in7e/S23
4bo$4bo$4bo2$3o3b3o2$4bo$4bo$4bo2$3b3o2$bo5bo$bo5bo$bo5bo2$3b3o!
[[ ZOOM 8 TRACK 0 -7/34 ]]

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 17, rule = B36-in7e/S23
4bo$4bo$4bo2$3o3b3o2$4bo$4bo$4bo2$3b3o2$bo5bo$bo5bo$bo5bo2$3b3o!
[[ ZOOM 8 TRACK 0 -7/34
COLOR UIFOREGROUND 255 255 192
COLOR UIBACKGROUND 16 16 0
COLOR UILOCKED 112 112 0
COLOR UISELECT 128 128 0
COLOR UIHIGHLIGHT 192 192 0
COLOR UIBORDER 255 255 224
]]

The "1x" that the 1x button sets the speed to appears to differ slightly from the value the slider is initially set at. I'm not sure if the 1x button shoukd just be disabled when the slider is at such a speed...

[rowett]

Would it be possible to have UI element color values (defaults as well as command definitions) be displayed within Help > Info > Theme?

Added current values to Help->Info->UI

The "1x" that the 1x button sets the speed to appears to differ slightly from the value the slider is initially set at. I'm not sure if the 1x button shoukd just be disabled when the slider is at such a speed...

That's because there is a small "dead zone" in the speed slider to allow easier selection of 1x from that control. The actual position doesn't make a difference: if it says "1x" then that is the speed.

[muzik]

Congratulations on reaching build 3^6 !

----

I've decided to attempt to scout out all of the remaining LifeViewer elements with hardcoded colors. Using the following horrifying theme, my results are as follows:

Code: Select all

x = 7, y = 3, rule = B3/S23History
o3b3o$3o2bo$bo!
[[
COLOR BACKGROUND Purple
COLOR DEAD Purple
COLOR DEADRAMP Purple
COLOR ALIVE Pink
COLOR ALIVERAMP Pink
COLOR MARK1 Pink
COLOR MARK2 Pink
COLOR MARKOFF Purple
COLOR KILL Purple
COLOR GRID Pink
COLOR GRIDMAJOR Pink
COLOR BOUNDARY Pink
COLOR BOUNDED Pink
COLOR SELECT Pink
COLOR PASTE Pink
COLOR ADVANCE Pink
COLOR GRAPHBG Pink
COLOR GRAPHAXIS Pink
COLOR GRAPHALIVE Pink
COLOR GRAPHBIRTH Pink
COLOR GRAPHDEATH Pink
COLOR UIFOREGROUND Pink
COLOR UIBACKGROUND Pink
COLOR UIHIGHLIGHT Pink
COLOR UISELECT Pink
COLOR UILOCKED Pink
COLOR UIBORDER Pink
COLOR TEXT Pink
COLOR ERROR Pink
COLOR STARS Pink
MAXGRIDSIZE 9 ]]

- Gray text in error messages
- Background of the grid button
- Background of the Settings --> Close button on popup viewers
- Red flashing of the generation counter when throttled
- Cyan text in help menus
- Cyan text for hotkeys
- VIEWONLY text (although it's probably be better to replace this with grayed out buttons as per viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1622&p=140165#p140165)
- Dark background when a menu is open
- Snow
- Cells in pasted/advanced selections, which appear yellow for some reason
- "Click to control" text
- Several other viewer texts: Life ended at from playback, Fit Pattern, Center Pattern, Reset, Play, Pause, Rotation does not fit, Now click to paste
- Frame Times/Timing Details text
- Frame Times/Timing Details background

I can understand some of these not being customizable, but others are just weird. Can the ability to change at least some of these via viewer scripting be allowed?

Researching this also appears to have highlighted some inconsistencies with certain large viewer texts. The aforementioned examples (Life ended at and so on) are non-customizable, however some other texts do change, such as Identifying..., Empty Pattern and Disable Sync. Shouldn't all such "white texts" be using one single color rather than some being handled as "text color" and others not?

[muzik]

I've probably posted about this before, but the inconsistency in what is displayed for Multi in Help > Themes needs to be fixed, since it provides completely different info depending on the currently used rulespace and I don't know if either is actually correct.

Code: Select all

x = 2, y = 4, rule = B2/S
bo$o$o$bo!

Code: Select all

x = 2, y = 2, rule = /2/3
AB$AB!

Code: Select all

x = 2, y = 2, rule = /2/128
AB$AB!

[rowett]

I've probably posted about this before, but the inconsistency in what is displayed for Multi in Help > Themes needs to be fixed, since it provides completely different info depending on the currently used rulespace and I don't know if either is actually correct.

It looks correct. The Multi-state Themes depend on the number of states in the pattern (for the DYING and DYINGRAMP colours).

[muzik]

I've probably posted about this before, but the inconsistency in what is displayed for Multi in Help > Themes needs to be fixed, since it provides completely different info depending on the currently used rulespace and I don't know if either is actually correct.

It looks correct. The Multi-state Themes depend on the number of states in the pattern (for the DYING and DYINGRAMP colours).

But shouldn't the colors defined for themes remain constant, with the end results of how those themes are applied to each state appearing in Help > Info > Theme instead?

[muzik]

Since the Help > Themes section lists the default values for 2-State and Multi rulespaces, could a section for PCA also be added as to allow for easy viewing of the PCA colors each theme defines?

Also, this is probably a known issue, but for non-bounded grids an incorrect value is always shown for the color of "Bounded" in Help > Info > Theme. Can this be corrected as to show the default color value that bounded uses in the events where is it not set to a custom value and not overridden due to too many cell states?

[rowett]

But shouldn't the colors defined for themes remain constant, with the end results of how those themes are applied to each state appearing in Help > Info > Theme instead?

The purpose here is to see what colours you would get for the current pattern across all of the Themes. Help->Info->Theme only shows the detail for the current Theme.

[rowett]

Since the Help > Themes section lists the default values for 2-State and Multi rulespaces, could a section for PCA also be added as to allow for easy viewing of the PCA colors each theme defines?

No since the Themes for PCA just ramp from the DEAD to ALIVE colours already displayed in the Theme section.

Also, this is probably a known issue, but for non-bounded grids an incorrect value is always shown for the color of "Bounded" in Help > Info > Theme. Can this be corrected as to show the default color value that bounded uses in the events where is it not set to a custom value and not overridden due to too many cell states?

Actually I'm just going to remove the Bounded entry for non-bounded grids.

[muzik]

Theme suggestion: a "Night" theme which uses a color palette comprised of reds and yellows for an overall warmer color temperature

2-state colors:

Code: Select all

x = 3, y = 4, rule = B3aijr4ciq7c/S2-i3-a4i5q
o$2o$b2o$2o!
[[
COLOR BACKGROUND 0 0 0
COLOR ALIVE 255 128 128
COLOR ALIVERAMP 255 192 192
COLOR DEAD 128 0 0
COLOR DEADRAMP 48 0 0
COLOR GRID 96 96 32
COLOR GRIDMAJOR 128 128 64
COLOR UIFOREGROUND 255 192 192
COLOR UIBACKGROUND 16 0 0
COLOR UILOCKED 112 0 0
COLOR UISELECT 128 0 0
COLOR UIHIGHLIGHT 192 0 0
COLOR UIBORDER 255 224 224
ZOOM 4
]]

Multistate colors:

Code: Select all

x = 12, y = 20, rule = 345/3/8
5.2A$4.C2AC$3.BA2DAB$3.G4AG$2.FA4.AF$2.E2A2.2AE$4.4A$.E.BA2FAB.E$FEDC
E2FECDEF$FGF2.2F2.FGF$.2G6A2G$.FE2A2.2AEF$2.D6AD$3.CB2.BC2$G2.G4.G2.G
$.2EDE2AED2E$2D2FA2BA2F2D$.EDEA2BAEDE$2.D.4A.D!
[[
COLOR BACKGROUND 0 0 0
COLOR ALIVE 255 128 128
COLOR DYING 192 64 64
COLOR DYINGRAMP 192 0 0
COLOR DEAD 96 0 0
COLOR DEADRAMP 48 0 0
COLOR GRID 96 96 32
COLOR GRIDMAJOR 128 128 64
COLOR UIFOREGROUND 255 192 192
COLOR UIBACKGROUND 16 0 0
COLOR UILOCKED 112 0 0
COLOR UISELECT 128 0 0
COLOR UIHIGHLIGHT 192 0 0
COLOR UIBORDER 255 224 224
AUTOFIT
]]

PCA colors may also be added, but I'm yet to create color sets for PCA for other themes and would prefer to do this first.

The UI color specifications shown here would preferably also be part of the theme to fit in better with the cells and such.

----

Could the zoom bar be made to display another digit after the decimal point instead of just one? It's possible to set the zoom to a value which is displayed as "4.0", but disallows things like the grid, cell borders, non-rectangular cell shapes and others from rendering due to being slightly further out, so this would probably solve that alongside showing the current zoom level slightly more precisely.

[muzik]

Turning Rainbow on causes history states outside of the bounding box of living cells to render incorrectly:

Code: Select all

x = 21, y = 4, rule = B3/S23
bo$o15bo3bo$o3bo11b5o$4o12bo3bo!
[[ STARTFROM 144 ZOOM 4 ]]

Also, selections behave incorrectly when CXRLE defines a new pattern center, disallowing many selections inside of normal bounds while allowing them outside of the boundary:

Code: Select all

#CXRLE Pos=192,192
x = 5, y = 4, rule = B3/S23
24o!
[[ MAXGRIDSIZE 9 ZOOM 4 X 200 Y 200 ]]

This can be combined with bounded grids to create a situation where the only possible selection is a 32x32 square out of the bounds of the bounded grid:

Code: Select all

#CXRLE Pos=192,192
x = 5, y = 4, rule = B3/S23:T192,192
24o!
[[ MAXGRIDSIZE 9 ZOOM 4 X 200 Y 200 ]]

[rowett]

Turning Rainbow on causes history states outside of the bounding box of living cells to render incorrectly

Fixed, thanks.

selections behave incorrectly when CXRLE defines a new pattern center

Fixed, thanks.