First attempt at skinning

[niklas88]

Hi
I have been modifying skins every year but never anything major.
Now I had a lot of spare time so I decided to try and learn how to do more.

I have a couple of questions which maybe someone can answer.

1. Is there a discord channel or something similar for skinning questions, tips and general talk?
    
2. Is there a list somewhere with descriptions of what the different parts of the code do?
   I understand the basic stuff but not all the attributes and stuff and how they should be used
    
3. I am kinda comfortable making easy changes to certain existing things but other things are a bit of a headache.
   Just to give an exampe, from the sidebar menu table.xml:

   <!--club table-->
               <container id="CLUB">
                   <layout class="arrange_vertical_attachment" alignment="bottom,extend" gap="0" offset="0"/>
                   <layout class="stick_to_sides_attachment" alignment="horizontal" inset="0" apply_to_children="true" />

                   <widget class="table" id="club" mode="select_rows,fill_rows,hide_headings,dont_allow_click_unselect_single,drag_rows,drop_on_rows,insert_on_drop,highlight_on_scroll,dont_allow_clear_selection" auto_size_rows="true" fixed_size_rows="false" navigation_focus_target="true">
                       <list id="column_table_properties">
                           <record width="-1" minimum_width="20" column_heading="Icon">
                               <record id="column_widget_properties"/>
                           </record>
                           <record width="-3" minimum_width="100" column_heading="Name">
                               <record id="column_widget_properties" alignment="left,centre_y" colour="white"  size="normal">
                                   <record id="secondary_text_properties" alignment="left,top"  size="normal"/>
                               </record>
                           </record>
                       </list>
                   </widget>

                   <widget class="table" id="cluF" mode="select_rows,fill_rows,hide_headings,dont_allow_click_unselect_single" auto_size_rows="true" fixed_size_rows="false" auto_size="vertical" highlighted_appearance="tables/custom/sidebar/over/row">
                       <list id="column_table_properties">
                           <record width="-1" column_heading="Icon">
                               <record id="column_widget_properties"/>
                           </record>
                           <record width="-3" minimum_width="100" column_heading="Name">
                               <record id="column_widget_properties" alignment="left,centre_y" colour="faded white" font="title" size="small" gap="0" >
                                   <record id="secondary_text_properties" alignment="left,top" size="normal" colour="white"/>
                               </record>
                           </record>
                       </list>
                   </widget>

               </container>

   Marked in red:
   What does the id's do?
   What does "CLUB", "club" and "cluF" mean, more than the name itself, like where do i need to look to find more info on this particular table?
   Where in this case does the actual icon and name get pulled from?
    
4. In this case what is the CLUB table?
   It doesnt show up and when making changes there nothing happens, so how do I know what it is and when it appears?
   Same thing in the "club" table with:
    <record id="secondary_text_properties" alignment="left,top"  size="normal"/>
   Removing or changing this part does nothing.
    
5. Let's says for example i want to remove that table and insert a "generic" table with two columns that show player name  and nationality, how would you do that in the simplest way?

 

 

Hope that wasn't too many questions in one thread.

regards Niklas

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by niklas88
Wording

[TCSSkin]

Hello

Quote

1, Is there a discord channel or something similar for skinning questions, tips and general talk?

It's something we've discussed but we don't really see the point, it'd just undercut the forum 

Quote

2. Is there a list somewhere with descriptions of what the different parts of the code do?
I understand the basic stuff but not all the attributes and stuff and how they should be used

Unfortunately not. There's a real lack of documentation with skinning, and all of us work full time jobs so it's not been possible to get onto properly.

Quote

3. I am kinda comfortable making easy changes to certain existing things but other things are a bit of a headache.

What does the id's do?

The IDs tell the game what to load, most of the time they're entirely customisable and can be whatever you please. Certain things are hardcoded, and overtime you'll just figure out what's likely hardcoded.

Quote

In this case what is the CLUB table?
It doesnt show up and when making changes there nothing happens, so how do I know what it is and when it appears?
Same thing in the "club" table with:
 <record id="secondary_text_properties" alignment="left,top"  size="normal"/>
Removing or changing this part does nothing.

CLUB is the overall ID. I can't remember whether its hardcoded, but if it is, it'll tell the game to look at whatever it has defined in code under CLUB. It's similar to variables in python and such