JSON and proper way to load resources

[jaredready]

So, I'm not sure how best to add resources into the grapics.json file. And then once they're there, what's the best to load said resources? I see there's TextureManager and ResourceManager classes, are we supposed to use those? Is using direct SFML to load resources not the right way?

This is in reference to #65

[Thumperrr]

I'll write up a tutorial in the next few hours that everyone can use for future reference.

-Stephen Hall

On Dec 23, 2013, at 10:25 PM, "Jared Ready" notifications@github.com wrote:

So, I'm not sure how best to add resources into the grapics.json file. And then once they're there, what's the best to load said resources? I see there's TextureManager and ResourceManager classes, are we supposed to use those? Is using direct SFML to load resources not the right way?

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[Thumperrr]

See this:
https://gist.github.com/Thumperrr/bd3b872038e2eb05796d#file-chesspp_graphics-md

It might be worth putting that into the repo somewhere. I'm out of time for now, though.

[LB--]

We have a wiki for a reason:
https://github.com/cpluspluscom/ChessPlusPlus/wiki/Graphics-and-You
Also, you put cpp and not C++ after the triple ticks for C++ syntax highlighting ;)

EDIT: Oh, and JSON supports spaces! Away with your ugly underscores :)

[Thumperrr]

Ah, thanks LB.
And yeah, my GitHub flavored markdown is rusty.
I'll leave this issue open for ResidentBiscuit to close, in the event that questions are still unanswered.

[jaredready]

Alright so here's what I have, it's not working though. Images are not getting loaded, Just getting the 'missing' image instead.

graphics.json

{
    "chesspp":
    {
        "logo":    "res/img/logo.png",
        "menu":
        {
            "background":   "res/img/main_menu_background.png"
        },
...

StartMenuState

StartMenuState::StartMenuState(Application &app, sf::RenderWindow &display) : AppState(display), app(app)
    {
        // Load and initialize resources
        menuBackgroundTexture = TextureManager::instance().load(gfx_config.spritePath("chesspp", "menu", "background"));
        menuBackground.setTexture(menuBackgroundTexture);

        logoTexture = TextureManager::instance().load(gfx_config.spritePath("chesspp", "logo"));
        logo.setTexture(logoTexture, true);
...

Any idea what I'm doing wrong here?

[Thumperrr]

• Are the images in the location you say they are?
• Is the program running at all? I.e., are you seeing white blocks instead of the images?
• Are your textures references to an sf::Texture?
• Check the log, in it contains information about what textures are loaded successfully and what ones aren't. Might shed light on why.

you can also check src/gfx/graphics.cpp to see how that deals with images.

[jaredready]

It's just displaying the 'missing' X instead of my images.

My sf::Textures are not references. Didn't see they were supposed to.

On Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 9:58 AM, Thumperrr notifications@github.com wrote:

• Are the images in the location you say they are?
• Is the program running at all? I.e., are you seeing white blocks
  instead of the images?
• Are your textures references to an sf::Texture?
• Check the log, in it contains information about what textures are
  loaded successfully and what ones aren't. Might shed light on why.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/66#issuecomment-31176132
.

[LB--]

You can't copy textures, you need to take the return of .load() by reference.

[jaredready]

Got this working. Made a note on the wiki. The spritePath() method already
appends a "chesspp" to the beginning of the path, so if you pass that in
also you get an invalid path.

On Tue, Dec 24, 2013 at 10:27 AM, LB-- notifications@github.com wrote:

You can't copy textures, you need to take the return of .load() by
reference.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/66#issuecomment-31177096
.

[Thumperrr]

I think having spritePath() append "chesspp" to the beginning is counterintuitive and introduces hidden behavior that can be confusing. I'll open an issue for this.

[LB--]

@Thumperrr it's in the chesspp namespace, if it were in the global namespace it would be counter-intuitive. But we can discuss in the issue.

[Thumperrr]

Even so we should specify it in a call to spritePath. see #67

[Thumperrr]

As far as I'm aware, this issue has been resolved, so i'll go ahead and close it.