what's the button group DAT?

[dani]

No doc on it.

Basically I’ve got buttons inside different containers that I would like to behave as if they belong to the same group. Does the button group DAT allow me to do that?
If not, how can I do that? I remember I submitted that as an RFE (i.e. have hierarchical groups, ie. …/myspanninggroup)

tx
d

[Achim]

does this help?

radio buttons located in different components - The new Button Group DAT parameter in Button components allows a group of radio buttons to have its member buttons located anywhere in TouchDesigner - the buttons no longer have to be in the same component. The radio group is in the form of a DAT table parameter in the Button page of a Button component that points to a one-column table. This table should list all buttons in the group. The paths are relative to the DAT and can contain patterns and wildcards. When a button is activated, it modifies the radio panel values of the DAT’s parent, not its own parent, since buttons can now be scattered in different components.

[dani]

very helpful - thanks - but only until the last paragraph.

I don’t quite understand

When a button is activated, it modifies the radio panel values of the DAT’s parent, not its own parent, since buttons can now be scattered in different components.

radio panel values of the DAT’s parent? I thought the DAT was just a list (sitting anywhere) of buttons (all specifying the DAT as a group DAT) and that once you click on one of those buttons, its radio values would be modified and the ones of the rest of the group as well. What does the DAT parent have to do with anything?

tx
d

[rob]

@dani

very helpful - thanks - but only until the last paragraph.

I don’t quite understand

When a button is activated, it modifies the radio panel values of the DAT’s parent, not its own parent, since buttons can now be scattered in different components.

radio panel values of the DAT’s parent? I thought the DAT was just a list (sitting anywhere) of buttons (all specifying the DAT as a group DAT) and that once you click on one of those buttons, its radio values would be modified and the ones of the rest of the group as well. What does the DAT parent have to do with anything?

tx
d

Its a compromise for simplicity.
Instead of modifying radio parameters everywhere to the same matching redundant values, the radio parameters of the DAT’s component are changed instead.

You can always use a select DAT on your original list if that helps organize.

Rob

[dani]

I still don’t get it, I’m sorry. do you have a simple example I can look at?

it would be very helpful.

tx
d

[rob]

@dani

I still don’t get it, I’m sorry. do you have a simple example I can look at?

it would be very helpful.

tx
d

Sorry,
I dont have a simple example handy but, heres some more info:

Make a new container component called comp1

In it, include a table DAT called dat1 with 3 rows
The rows should be:
button1
button2
button3

Next create a series of buttons in comp1 (named button1 button2 button3)
Set their Button Type to ‘Radio Down’.
Set their Button Group Dat to ‘dat1’

Open comp1 as a control panel.

Press the different buttons.
You’ll notice the panel values of comp1 change.
Namely ‘radio’ will contain the index of the button you pushed, and ‘radioname’ will contain the name of the button component.

Thats it in a nutshell.
Furthermore, you could have the buttons nested deep within sub-components of comp1.
Just make sure to update the DAT pointing to them.

Previously you could only include radio buttons as direct children of comp1, now with the DAT you can nest them in arbitrary
locations.

Let me know if thats not clear.

Rob.

PS. The lradio and lradioname panel values are activated by the left mouse button, (l=left, m=middle, r=right) etc.
Use the values named ‘radio’ and ‘radioname’ if the mouse button used is not important.

[dani]

thanks.

how do I look at “radioname” which as you says contains the name of the radio button? I can only see radioname as a channel in the panel chop and it’s 0.

Is there another way I should be looking at it?

tx
d

[rob]

@dani

thanks.

how do I look at “radioname” which as you says contains the name of the radio button? I can only see radioname as a channel in the panel chop and it’s 0.

Is there another way I should be looking at it?

tx
d

Hi Dani.
The first way to examine all the panel values is to see them in the tile popup menu.

Second way is you can access any of them using the panel() and panelstr() expressions.
Example: panelstr(“/container1”, “radioname”) (returns a string)
panel(“/container1”, “state”) (returns a float)

Third way is triggering a text DAT to execute on a panel value change

Fourth way is the panel CHOP (though this only returns numeric values as you noticed).

Cheers
Rob.

[deadsound]

Saw this thread it helped me sort it out, I saved my test as an example to share
radioButtonDat.tox (1.82 KB)

[dani]

pfew it’s an old thread! Got a notification and for a moment I thought I had asked this question recently, instead of almost 7 years ago!

[Cosmatik]

Thanks @deadsound This saved me a lot of searching! <3