How to Use Message Popup Rule

This document describes how to configure the Message Popup Rule. For examples of how to use this rule in TANE Sessions see the Trainz Wiki Page Message Popup Rule (Applications)

The Message Popup Rule is a T:ANE Session Rule that creates onscreen messages for users in Driver Mode.

The Message Popup Rule is added to a Session and configured using the Session Editor in Surveyor. The rule will open a browser window on the screen in Driver Mode that will remain on the screen until it is closed by the user or by another rule. There are three ways the message window can be created, by:

• using a HTML Page
• creating a Custom Message
• using a String Table Message

Using a HTML Page

The settings shown in this example will direct TANE to load the message from a HTML file in a HTML asset.

See the Trainz Wiki Page How to Create a HTML Asset for more information.

Settings: A pre-defined HTML page (advanced) In This Example: Pause game while message is displayed - this will halt the game play until the window is closed. This may be needed if you have a long introductory HTML information page, otherwise leave unchecked Close previous message popup windows - this is usually a good idea unless you want multiple message windows open. Message location: Top left of the screen has been chosen as the location for the message window. Other positions are Top right, Bottom left and Bottom right HTML Asset: General Purpose Session HTML one of the HTML assets installed with TANE HTML Page: right_away.html which is a HTML file inside the General Purpose Session HTML asset HTML Wave: General Purpose Session HTML HTML asset contains the optional sound file to be played Wav Name: all-aboard.wav is the optional sound file to be played Autoplay Wav - the sound will be played when the page is displayed Notes: Knowledge of HTML, as used by TANE, will probably be required for this option. The HTML page (with filename extension ".html") must be in a Trainz asset of type HTML. Graphics and a limited set of HTML effects are possible. The sound file settings HTML Wave and Wave Name are optional. If a sound file is to be played when the message is displayed then it must be of type WAV (with filename extension ".wav") and must be in a Trainz asset of type HTML. It does not have to be in the same HTML asset as the HTML page.

Using a Custom Message

The settings shown in this example will direct TANE to load the message from text entered in the Custom Message box.

Settings: Custom text In This Example: Pause game while message is displayed - game play will not be paused Close previous message popup windows - this is usually a good idea unless you want multiple message windows open Message location: Top left of the screen has been chosen as the location for the message window. Other positions are Top right, Bottom left and Bottom right Custom Message - the message entered into the text box will be displayed Icon - the selected icon will be displayed No optional sound has been added. Notes: No knowledge of HTML is required for this option. You are limited to about 6 lines of text. Text only can be entered (there must be text added - it cannot be left blank). You can select and display an optional icon with the message. See the Trainz Wiki Page How to Create a HTML Asset for more information.

The custom message popup created by the example shown above

Using a String-Table Message

The settings shown in this example will direct TANE to load the message from text stored in the config.txt string table of a specified HTML asset.

Settings: A pre-defined string-table entry from a HTML asset (advanced) In This Example: Pause game while message is displayed - game play will not be paused Close previous message popup windows - this is usually a good idea unless you want multiple message windows open Message location: Top left of the screen has been chosen as the location for the message window. Other positions are Top right, Bottom left and Bottom right HTML Asset: General Purpose Session HTML one of the HTML assets installed with TANE String Table Token: html_warning_late the string table token in the config.txt file of the General Purpose Session HTML asset contains the message to be displayed HTML Wave: General Purpose Session HTML HTML asset contains the optional sound file to be played Wav Name: all-aboard.wav is the optional sound file to be played Autoplay Wav - the sound will be played when the page is displayed Notes: The config.txt file of the HTML asset must have a string-table container which holds all the text messages to be displayed. The string-table token is the "tag" which identifies the message text in the config.txt file. See the Trainz Wiki Page How to Create a HTML Asset for more information.

For example, the config.txt file of the asset General Purpose Session HTML contains the following:-

string-table
    {
        html_warning_late       "You are running late!"
    }

...which will produce the message "You are running late!" from the Message Popup Rule settings shown above.

Alternatives to the Message Popup Rule

There are other HTML message window rules that are alternatives to the Message Popup rule. A few possibilities are:-

• Display HTML Pages Rule
• Timed Limited Display HTML Rule (SP2 and later)

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