Guide Pages

2021-08-12T20:24:41+00:00

Guide Pages

This page is a WIP. There is likely to be incomplete and or missing information while the page is being built.

Summary

Guide Pages are intended as a powerful and dynamic means of providing users with instructions on how to use a portion of the User Interface (UI), more specifically a Pane (Tab), directly from within DAZ Studio.

Our desire to make the process as painless as possible for potential developers, while allowing ultimate flexibility, has prompted us to create templates comprised of several scripts and QtDesigner .ui files as examples of how to construct them.

A Guide Page is displayed by a DzGuidePage widget, which is typically a child or grand-child of a DzPane subclass. The Panes within the UI that have the ability to display a such a page are:

Cameras (WIP)
- className: DzCamerasPane
Draw Settings
- className: DzDrawSettingsPane
Environment (WIP)
- className: DzEnvironmentPane
Face Transfer (WIP)
- className: DzFaceTransferPane
Install
- className: DzInstallPane
Lights (WIP)
- className: DzLightsPane
Parameters (WIP)
- className: DzParametersPane
Posing (WIP)
- className: DzPosingPane
PowerPose (WIP)
- className: DzPowerPosePane
~~Render Settings~~
- className: DzRenderSettingsPane
Shaping (WIP)
- className: DzShapingPane
simulation_settings
- className: DzSimulationSettingsPane
Smart Content
- className: DzSmartContentPane
Surfaces (WIP)
- className: DzSurfacesPane
Shaping (WIP)
- className: DzShapingPane

Terms

Pane: Used to refer to a DzPane subclass.
Page: Used to refer to a widget associated with a tab of a tabbed widget that is the immediate child of a Pane.
Guide Content: A collection of files delivered to a user as a guide to a particular Pane in the UI.

Folders & Files

Below are descriptions of the various folders and files that [together] implement the Guide Page concept. The naming conventions, along with the folder/file structure, exist in effort to simplify the creation of Guide Content through the use of visual tools like QtDesigner.

Folders

Pane Folder: This folder is named according to the className of the Pane that the Guide Page will be displayed on, and is case-sensitive. It contains all of the Page Folders and Page Builder Scripts for the Pane.

Page Folder: The files for each Page is contained within its own folder. This folder is named according to the label for the Page of the Pane that the Guide Page will be displayed on, and resides within the Pane Folder.

Scripts

Page Builder Script: This script is responsible for validating the existence of the corresponding Page Folder and Guide Page Script. It subsequently causes the Guide Page Script to be executed.

The <install_path>/resources/guide pages/Common/PanePage.dsa script distributed with the application is included by this script and does the majority of the work.

Guide Page Script: Each Page Folder contains one of these scripts. This script is executed by the Page Builder Script. It is responsible for validating the existence of the Guide Page UI Definition file, and subsequently causing it to be loaded into the DzGuidePage widget.

The <install_path>/resources/guide pages/Common/GuidePage.dsa script distributed with the application is included by this script and does the majority of the work.

UI Files

Guide Page UI Definition: Each Page Folder contains one of these QtDesigner .ui files. This file determines the layout and widgets that will be presented in the DzGuidePage widget. The Guide Page Script will use the statusTip of any button in this file to create a DzCallBack that will open the specified path in the system default application for that path, triggered by clicking and releasing the button.

Documentation Center public:software:dazstudio:4:referenceguide:scripting:api_reference:samples:education:guide_pages

Guide Pages

Guide Pages

Summary

Terms

Folders & Files

Folders

Scripts

UI Files