Looking for a clean, current, tested version of Director 1.2

ignis075 · April 21, 2011, 3:40pm

(I duplicated this post from the Director sub-forum; I know I’m not supposed to, but Game Dev probably gets alot more traffic and the issue is holding up my game somewhat).

I’m currently in the (fairly complicated) stage of updating my old Director 1.1 to 1.2. It has been causing me hours of confusion. I see “patches” in the forums and long discussions about the recursive cleanGroups() function, including solutions by Job Beebe and Frank S. and others (some of which might now be null and void), etc.

So who has a really solid, tested, and clean version of Director 1.2 running in their apps? If so, are you willing to share it? I want to emphasize again tested… not just theoretical code or Simulator-functional code, but tested on actual devices: newer iOS devices, older iOS devices, Android, etc. etc.

I noticed a suggested patch for a more efficient “cleanGroups()” function, posted around late-March. Now it appears that this function might be unnecessary because the Corona “recursive group removal” bug was squashed in the latest official build. If this is true, how should I clean out my groups in Director 1.2, considering this core Corona fix? Reading through Tom’s (Ansca) reply to the thread, does Corona now handle this all internally? Would it now be as simple as calling group:removeSelf() on the current Director scene/group, and Corona clears everything recursively?

I’m sure Ricardo is implementing or planning to implement these key changes in Director 1.3 (and we all appreciate your efforts Ricardo!). I’m just trying to get a jumpstart on this sooner than later. If anybody can provide a truly solid and tested version of Director 1.2 (patched or modified or whatever), I’m sure several people here would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

Brent Sorrentino
Ignis Design LLC
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teex84 · April 22, 2011, 7:49pm

I’ve been using the version 1.2 modified by Jonathan Beebe and it has been working flawlessly. I’ve tested many many times in my game for memory leak and so far there’s none.

I add the cleanGroup() function anyways because I just wanted to make sure everything gets clean up.

[import]uid: 12455 topic_id: 9179 reply_id: 33661[/import]

ignis075 · April 22, 2011, 8:47pm

Thanks for the tip. Can you give me a link for this modified version by Jonathan? I tried to follow some links from his blog yesterday and they were all broken (might have been his server being down).

In any case, right now I’m trying to re-write a more simple/modified version of Director for my own uses. I absolutely need an “overlay” effect which the current version doesn’t allow, i.e. a pause screen or otherwise being loaded IN FRONT of the current scene without clearing the current scene behind it (and vice-versa: clearing just that overlay and returning to the current scene in action).

I’m also experimenting with cleaning groups with the new Corona "display.remove(object or group)" API instead of the looping function used in previous versions of Director (and in Jonathan’s most recent version, as far as I know… using “numChildren” and such). This new API seems to be extremely efficient, but it can’t just be dropped into Director because it removes the entire display group, not just the children… and this is proper behavior, but using it directly in Director causes problems because it deletes the groups “currView” and/or “nextView” and thus you can’t add anything to those groups later!

I’ll post an update on this forum if my progress leads anywhere.

Thanks!
[import]uid: 9747 topic_id: 9179 reply_id: 33671[/import]

teex84 · April 22, 2011, 9:15pm

here it is.

[lua]module(…, package.seeall)

–====================================================================–
– DIRECTOR CLASS
–====================================================================–

– Version: 1.2a (not an official Ricardo Rauber release, modified cleanGroups)
– Made by Ricardo Rauber Pereira @ 2010
– Blog: http://rauberlabs.blogspot.com/
– Mail: ricardorauber@gmail.com

– This class is free to use, feel free to change but please send new versions
– or new features like new effects to me and help us to make it better!

–====================================================================–
– CHANGES
–====================================================================–

– 06-OCT-2010 - Ricardo Rauber - Created
– 07-OCT-2010 - Ricardo Rauber - Functions loadScene and fxEnded were
– taken off from the changeScene function;
– Added function cleanGroups for best
– memory clean up;
– Added directorView and effectView groups
– for better and easier control;
– Please see INFORMATION to know how to use it
– 14-NOV-2010 - Ricardo Rauber - Bux fixes and new getScene function to get
– the name of the active scene (lua file)
– 14-FEB-2011 - Ricardo Rauber - General Bug Fixes

– 06-MAR-2011 - Jonathan Beebe - Modified the cleanGroups function to be
– more efficient and remove ALL corona display
– objects within a group, instead of just
– groups within a group. Old cleanGroups would
– leave objects behind at times.

–====================================================================–
– INFORMATION
–====================================================================–

– * For best practices, use fps=60, scale = “zoomStretch” on config.lua

– * In main.lua file, you have to import the class like this:

– director = require( “director” )
– local mainGroup = display.newGroup()
– mainGroup:insert( director.directorView )

– * To change scenes, use this command [use the effect of your choice]

– director:changeScene(“settings”,“moveFromLeft”)

– * Every scene is a lua module file and must have a new() function that
– must return a local display group, like this: [see template.lua]

– module(…, package.seeall)
– local localGroup = display.newGroup()
– function new()
– ------ Your code here ------
– return localGroup
– end

– * Every display object must be inserted on the local display group

– local background = display.newImage( “background.png” )
– localGroup:insert( background )

– * This class doesn’t clean timers! If you want to stop timers when
– change scenes, you’ll have to do it manually creating a clean() function.

–====================================================================–

directorView = display.newGroup()
currView = display.newGroup()
nextView = display.newGroup()
effectView = display.newGroup()

local currScreen, nextScreen
local currScene, nextScene = “main”, “main”
local newScene
local fxTime = 200
local safeDelay = 50
local isChangingScene = false

directorView:insert(currView)
directorView:insert(nextView)
directorView:insert(effectView)

currView.x = 0
currView.y = 0
nextView.x = display.contentWidth
nextView.y = 0

– GET COLOR

local function getColor ( arg1, arg2, arg3 )

local r, g, b

if type(arg1) == “nil” then
arg1 = “black”
end

if string.lower(arg1) == “red” then
r=255
g=0
b=0
elseif string.lower(arg1) == “green” then
r=0
g=255
b=0
elseif string.lower(arg1) == “blue” then
r=0
g=0
b=255
elseif string.lower(arg1) == “yellow” then
r=255
g=255
b=0
elseif string.lower(arg1) == “pink” then
r=255
g=0
b=255
elseif string.lower(arg1) == “white” then
r=255
g=255
b=255
elseif type (arg1) == “number”
and type (arg2) == “number”
and type (arg3) == “number” then
r=arg1
g=arg2
b=arg3
else
r=0
g=0
b=0
end

return r, g, b

end

– CHANGE CONTROLS

– fxTime
function director:changeFxTime ( newFxTime )
if type(newFxTime) == “number” then
fxTime = newFxTime
end
end

– safeDelay
function director:changeSafeDelay ( newSafeDelay )
if type(newSafeDelay) == “number” then
safeDelay = newSafeDelay
end
end

– GET SCENES

function director:getCurrScene ()
return currScene
end

function director:getNextScene ()
return nextScene
end

– CLEAN GROUP

–[[ BELOW IS THE OLD CLEANGROUPS:
local function cleanGroups ( curGroup, level )
if curGroup.numChildren then
while curGroup.numChildren > 0 do
cleanGroups ( curGroup[curGroup.numChildren], level+1 )
end
if level > 0 then
curGroup:removeSelf()
end
else
curGroup:removeSelf()
curGroup = nil
return true
end
end
]]–

local coronaMetaTable = getmetatable(display.getCurrentStage())

– Returns whether aDisplayObject is a Corona display object.
local isDisplayObject = function(aDisplayObject)
return (type(aDisplayObject) == “table” and getmetatable(aDisplayObject) == coronaMetaTable)
end

local function cleanGroups ( objectOrGroup )
if(not isDisplayObject(objectOrGroup)) then return end
if objectOrGroup.numChildren then
– we have a group, so first clean that out
while objectOrGroup.numChildren > 0 do
– clean out the last member of the group (work from the top down!)
cleanGroups ( objectOrGroup[objectOrGroup.numChildren])
end
end

– we have either an empty group or a normal display object - remove it
objectOrGroup:removeSelf()

return
end

– CALL CLEAN FUNCTION

local function callClean ( moduleName )
if type(package.loaded[moduleName]) == “table” then
if string.lower(moduleName) ~= “main” then
for k,v in pairs(package.loaded[moduleName]) do
if k == “clean” and type(v) == “function” then
package.loaded[moduleName].clean()
end
end
end
end
end

– UNLOAD SCENE

local function unloadScene ( moduleName )
if moduleName ~= “main” and type(package.loaded[moduleName]) == “table” then
package.loaded[moduleName] = nil
local function garbage ( event )
collectgarbage(“collect”)
end
garbage()
timer.performWithDelay(fxTime,garbage)
end
end

– LOAD SCENE

local function loadScene ( moduleName, target )

– Test parameters
if type(moduleName) == “nil” then
return true
end
if type(target) == “nil” then
target = “next”
end

– Load choosed scene

– Prev
if string.lower(target) == “curr” then

callClean ( moduleName )

cleanGroups(currView,0)
currView = display.newGroup()

if nextScene == moduleName then
cleanGroups(nextView,0)
nextView = display.newGroup()
end

unloadScene( moduleName )

currScreen = require(moduleName).new()
currView:insert(currScreen)
currScene = moduleName

– Next
else

callClean ( moduleName )

cleanGroups(nextView,0)
nextView = display.newGroup()

if currScene == moduleName then
cleanGroups(currView,0)
currView = display.newGroup()
end

unloadScene( moduleName )

nextScreen = require(moduleName).new()
nextView:insert(nextScreen)
nextScene = moduleName

end

– Load curr screen
function director:loadCurrScene ( moduleName )
loadScene ( moduleName, “curr” )
end

– Load next screen
function director:loadNextScene ( moduleName )
loadScene ( moduleName, “next” )
end

– EFFECT ENDED

local function fxEnded ( event )

currView.x = 0
currView.y = 0
currView.xScale = 1
currView.yScale = 1

callClean ( currScene )
cleanGroups( currView ,0)
currView = display.newGroup()
unloadScene( currScene )

currScreen = nextScreen
currScene = newScene
currView:insert(currScreen)

nextView.x = display.contentWidth
nextView.y = 0
nextView.xScale = 1
nextView.yScale = 1

isChangingScene = false

end

– CHANGE SCENE

function director:changeScene(nextLoadScene,
effect,
arg1,
arg2,
arg3)

– If is changing scene, return without do anything

if isChangingScene then
return true
else
isChangingScene = true
end

– If is the same, don’t change

if currScene then
if string.lower(currScene) == string.lower(nextLoadScene) then
return true
end
end

newScene = nextLoadScene
local showFx

– EFFECT: Move From Right

if effect == “moveFromRight” then