Show the selected cvar name while navigating the menus

[Matt]

Sometimes I want to set a value, or at least see if I can set a value, for a cvar that is somewhere between the notches of the slider, or it's a value that's buried under a number of submenus that I want to change on the fly several times in one sitting and would like to use the console instead. Other times I just want to know what that cvar is called.

Would be great if the name of the cvar could be made to pop up in the corner or something.

EDIT: or something like

Ideally, perhaps this could be made an option to show anytime a CVar changes without the console being open.

though I don't know how that would interact with things like toggling cl_run in that way that prevents that message from appearing

[Trusty McLegit]

Seconded!

[Caligari87]

Sort of like how "cl_run" pops up as a message when toggling run. Ideally, perhaps this could be made an option to show anytime a CVar changes without the console being open.

[Enjay]

I agree that it could be useful. I also agree that it should be optional.

Even the cl_run thing looks ugly to me and I never really understood why it is one of the very few things that kind of message is displayed about and, even more, why it is such a "techy" message rather than something done in a more presentable "human English" way. e.g "Autorun Enabled/Disabled."

[wildweasel]

I agree that it could be useful. I also agree that it should be optional.

Even the cl_run thing looks ugly to me and I never really understood why it is one of the very few things that kind of message is displayed about and, even more, why it is such a "techy" message rather than something done in a more presentable "human English" way. e.g "Autorun Enabled/Disabled."

To be fair, it's the result of the "autorun" key being nothing more than toggle cl_run - where it could really be any other boolean at all, so it's a generic message.

[Enjay]

True, but press F8, for example, and you get "messages off/messages on" (in red) rather than ""show_messages" is "true/false"" (in white).

[_mental_]

I propose a little bit different solution.

By pressing F1 in any options menu user can toggle display of console variables/commands and submenu names.

menu_controls.jpg

menu_hud.jpg

If you want to give it try, here is the pull request.

[Enjay]

I'm looking at this on my phone, so I can't check it properly, but that seems like a great idea. I don't see anything in the commit that tells the user about this function. I think it would be important to "advertise" it somewhere on screen so that people know it exists and, perhaps more importantly, if they hit F1 by accident, they know what they did and how to undo it.

[Player701]

If this is added, please include an option to disable this feature for custom menus via ZScript. RRWM already implements something similar (but with extensive full-text descriptions instead of just CVAR names), and I'd really like it if I don't have to resort to hacks to turn off the built-in functionality.

[Rachael]

I'm not sure if this should be added as-is anyway. There are some things that just don't make sense to be exported like this - particularly the preset resolution selector in the resolution menu. Those CCMDs are built exclusively for menu access and should not be run from the console.

Other than that though, I really do like _mental_'s solution.

[_mental_]

I don't see anything in the commit that tells the user about this function. I think it would be important to "advertise" it somewhere on screen so that people know it exists and, perhaps more importantly, if they hit F1 by accident, they know what they did and how to undo it.

I have no idea how this needs to be advertised. Apparently, this is the feature for advanced users.
If someone presses F1 in options menu by occasion, well, don't do it than.
The only thing I can do in this case is to change hotkey to toggle displaying of commands.

If this is added, please include an option to disable this feature for custom menus via ZScript. RRWM already implements something similar (but with extensive full-text descriptions instead of just CVAR names), and I'd really like it if I don't have to resort to hacks to turn off the built-in functionality.

Did you try this change with your mod? I think you don't, because help screens continue to function as advertised.
You can always override existing methods and do whatever you want to do there.

I'm not sure if this should be added as-is anyway. There are some things that just don't make sense to be exported like this - particularly the preset resolution selector in the resolution menu. Those CCMDs are built exclusively for menu access and should not be run from the console.

With very little code I implemented a rather useful option to debug options menus.
If some of the items are not suitable for direct usage via openmenu, there is no point to disable it for all submenus or console commands.

To summarize, if you know exactly how to make it better, please tell me. Some subjective concerns aren't really helpful.

[Player701]

Did you try this change with your mod? I think you don't, because help screens continue to function as advertised.
You can always override existing methods and do whatever you want to do there.

The problem is that currently it's possible to switch the option display mode in another menu, and if the mod menu is entered afterwards, the mode can't be switched back from there unless a non-option menu item is selected (and there is currently only one such item in there). Changing the toggle trigger from F1 to some other key would also solve this issue, but it'd be best if there were a flag (in the menu descriptor or somewhere else) that prevents labels from being replaced by CVAR names altogether.

[Enjay]

I have no idea how this needs to be advertised. Apparently, this is the feature for advanced users.
If someone presses F1 in options menu by occasion, well, don't do it than.
The only thing I can do in this case is to change hotkey to toggle displaying of commands.

All I meant was, perhaps, something like "Press F1 to toggle cvar names" being in the menu somewhere.

Or, perhaps, when you press F1, a little message pops up (like the ones we have been discussing) to say "menu cvar names are on/off".

It's very easy to accidentally press an unintended button on a keyboard, not realise which button you have hit and therefore not be sure what to do to return the setting to normal. I can easily imagine people hitting F1 by accident (it's beside Esc, near the numbers and near the console button on a UK keyboard - though I'm not sure that I've ever done it) and then someone posts a "GZDoom messed up my menus" report.

[Graf Zahl]

That's why the feature won't be implemented like that.

[Rachael]

With very little code I implemented a rather useful option to debug options menus.
If some of the items are not suitable for direct usage via openmenu, there is no point to disable it for all submenus or console commands.

To summarize, if you know exactly how to make it better, please tell me. Some subjective concerns aren't really helpful.

If this feature is exclusively for debugging, then I think it should be a more complex key combination to activate it. It's pretty easy to tap F1 without realizing it, especially if you're on a macro keyboard without drivers (i.e. Logitech G105 where the macro row becomes function keys). For instance - CTRL+F1 would work for that.

Outside of debugging, though, a person may just want to find out what CVAR or CCMD is for what. In "CustomResolutionMenu" there are a bunch of entries that run the console commands "menu_resolution_set_custom <x> <y>" - these will do nearly nothing when used from the console and therefore are not useful. Instead, at least for these specific cases, I would check for the "fullscreen" variable, and if it's true show "vid_setscale" for these options - otherwise "vid_setsize".

I don't know - maybe there are other instances too? Needless to say - the command "menu_resolution_set_custom" is not useful to the end user at all.

The use that I have for this feature is learning which CVAR is for what in the menu. If I am debugging I am just going to look at the menudef directly.

If this is a flaw in how I implemented that menu, I am open to suggestions to make it better. But it's the best that I could think of, considering that some people were quite upset in its absence, and it pretty much fills the niche of doing what it does.