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Sort vehicles in Depot

Started by Calamarain, August 29, 2009, 07:40:26 PM

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Calamarain

I have searched through the forum for this subject, and didn't find anything.  If it has been suggested before, I apologise  ;D

In the vehicle depots It would be helpful (to me at least), to be able to sort the vehicles by their capacity, power, maximum speed, running cost, and power/running cost.  It would be easier to select the right vehicles for a given convoy, and help increase the profit gained from it.

Is this feasable?

Thanks-in-advance...

Toilet Maker

If you mean that you have little buttons at the top where you can sort by ascending/descending that would be pretty awesome.
eg. How you can sort your folders (Windows not sure about other OS) and files:

Notice how at the top there are "Name", "Artist", "Album" etc. For those who don't know you can click them to sort them. Would be great addition to Simutrans.

Also maybe take it one step further and update the filter. At the moment you can only filter "Show All" "Show Obsolete". Maybe you can put a button that brings up a filter that has options like:
"Show Only:
-Piece Goods
-Engines
-Trailers
-Woods
etc"
And you could select what ever you need eg. Engines and Woods thereby showing only engines and carriages that carry woods.

Hope at least the original idea is implemented!

whoami

Prissi stated that he won't implement a feature that doesn't benefit all pak-sets (pak128 has many vehicles, others much less).
If someone else would implement sorting/filtering without causing any problems (bugs, difficult GUI etc.), it might be included, I guess.

Toilet Maker

#3
:( Oh well... Guess I might have to learn some programming! lol. Well we'll wait and see what happens. Shame this won't be added, it would be such a useful feature to Pak128 and Pak64.

EDIT:

Well I was playing and came across this!

I understand it would be a hassle to code a totally new system but there already is this exact same system in the Vehicle Lists!!! Now all we need is someone who has a bit of knowledge in programming to shift it over to the vehicle depot. As you can see it has the function to sort on the vehicle list and a button that brings up a new box for the filter. In the filter we only really need the right side though.

Maragil

Some of the code would need to be changed, however I think this is a nice idea. I find it very hard with all my addons to find that 1 vehicle sometimes..

H./

skreyola

Maybe it's just because I play with add-ons, but I also have trouble finding that one vehicle, and I'd like to see this feature. If nothing else, it would be great to be able to filter by fuel type ("I'm not interested in using a Steam loco on this route")
--Skreyola
You can also help translate for your language with SimuTranslator.

HyperSim

I'm going to implement this feature.
Before start programming, I want to discuss you about what this feature would be.

Here's my questions.

  • What UI should be better for this feature?
  • What elements should be used to sort by? (I want "max speed" and "Capacity", but other elements("cost", "power" ...etc.) are not needed.)

I have two ideas about UI for this feature.
The first idea is setting a button for switch "sort by".
(like the button in depot window "Append"->"Put in Front"->"Sell"->"Append"...)
The second idea is using drop-down list that is used for filtering goods in depot window now.

I like the former idea but if you choose this idea, too many elements for sort is not convenient.
So the latter would be better?

I want to hear your opinions.

THLeaderH

I prefer to use the switching button for the reason of uniformity. And the sort option should be max speed, capacity, cost, and power, at least.
Is there space to place this button in the depot window?

Leartin

I think the best button would be the same kind used to switch between lines and convois in the depot - with the two arrows to the side and a dropdown-list when clicked on. For uniformity, the "append" button could be changed to follow suit. I'd assume if the value sorted by is identical, the previous sorting method would still be in effect for those elements (that's what happens with many sorting methods anyway), so you should be able to switch from each method to each other method. (I know it would not last when a new vehicle is introduced, but at least the moment you apply it, you have a multi-variable sort)

As for options, I'd think the translated name and introduction date would be nice to have, perhaps also by artist.
If power, I'd quite like if that other value that affects it (was it translation?) was taken in consideration for the sort, since power alone could be quite useless.
Aren't idle costs a thing now, too? Sorting for running cost and idle cost is probably not what most players would do to pick a vehicle, but the ability to sort for cost, running cost and idle cost could give a nice overview to the fact that they are not neccesarily linked, a key revelation in understanding this part of the game mechanics. Loading time would be in the same category of "Players don't really need to sort for it, but being able to raises awareness such a thing exists" - or doesn't exist, if it's not used by the pakset.

HyperSim

mmm...sounds like I should implement all values available for sort.
(Name (translated name), Cost, Running Cost, Capacity, Power, Weight, Max. speed, Intro. date, Retire Date and artist name)

Quote from: THLeaderH on October 10, 2017, 12:47:52 AM
Is there space to place this button in the depot window?
I think I should readjust Depot Window.
Filter dropdown-list, Search textbox and Sort dropdown-list will be placed at right space.
I attach an image, so check it.

TurfIt

The vehicles name was intended to have an entire row for itself to accommodate those languages that use a lot of letters to say little.  The unlabelled mystery box that's shown up and appears to work as a search filter is already inappropriately placed encroaching on this space. Vertical window height is also already at max for those running lower resolution displays. i.e. This dialog be full!

If there's many values available for sorting criteria, the button approach cycling through them as used in other Simutrans dialogs would be painful.
A dropdown list doesn't seem right for this use either. Any precedent in any other programs for such a UI element?

Perhaps the category names shouldn't be hidden when not mouseover a vehicle, then clicking on them would select them for sorting? Somewhat like clicking on a column header in a list as used in many programs to select sorting. Precedent also for ctrl-clicking them for sub sort selection.

prissi

Also there is already more than one criteria, in case of identical stuff.

Furthermore, if you filter only for cetain goods then there are usually five or less vehicles less. The only exception are passengers, where the order is by speed first.

Ters

Quote from: prissi on October 11, 2017, 03:16:34 AM
Furthermore, if you filter only for cetain goods then there are usually five or less vehicles less. The only exception are passengers, where the order is by speed first.

What about locomotives?

Leartin

Quote from: TurfIt on October 11, 2017, 02:25:15 AM
The vehicles name was intended to have an entire row for itself to accommodate those languages that use a lot of letters to say little.  The unlabelled mystery box that's shown up and appears to work as a search filter is already inappropriately placed encroaching on this space. Vertical window height is also already at max for those running lower resolution displays. i.e. This dialog be full!
The height of the depot window is dependent on pak size, since there are always three lines of vehicles listed, plus the convoi on top. If you had that vehicle information at the bottom twice in a pak64 dialog, it would have about the length of a pak128 dialog. If you change the visual design to one with larger buttons, the depot dialog also becomes higher - well, not quite, but you have to pull it larger to get the full information.
Space is limited, but claiming a maximum size is reached for a dialog that can drastically vary in size seems odd to me.

We could also clean up a bit: Currently, there are 10 strings of information in the depot:
  • Name
  • Cost + Running cost
  • Capacity + Type of load
  • Power
  • Weight
  • Max Speed
  • Introduction Date
  • Retire date
  • Gear
  • Artist
    I assume idle cost would appear next to running cost. Is convoy loading time even listed? Axle load is already partly in the code (though not functional), was a spot reserved for that?

    What if it was like this:
  • Name
  • Cost + Running cost + Idle cost
  • Capacity + Type of load + loading time
  • Power + Gear + Max Speed
  • Weight + Axle Load
  • Introduction Date + Retirement date
  • Artist

    Most of those lines do not need a description, because they have a unit. Only the artist requires the additional "painted by". Eg. for Cost it's just "X¢ (Y¢/km, Z¢/month)" weight is "Xt (Yt/Axle)" date is "June 1930 - December 1960". Power would be "XkW (Y:1), max. Zkm/h" - On first glance, that might be a bit weird to pair power and speed, but it makes sense since the power is what decides the speed of a vehicle, and the max speed is merely a limit to that 'calculated' speed. Furthermore, you would no longer have an (actually two) empty line for vehicles without power. - Translation length shouldn't really be a problem, since there are less words that require translation in the first place.

    Since it's only 7 information points instead of 10, you'd only need 4 lines instead of 6. The Additional two lines can be used for both sorting and searching.

HyperSim

I implemented this topic and want to discuss more. Please see here.
http://forum.simutrans.com/index.php?topic=17470