Cutstuff – CutmanMike’s Stuff: DECORATE Assistant

DECORATE Assistant

DECORATE Assistant is a tool to help people write their own DECORATE actors for ZDoom/Skulltag. The application simply pastes code for action functions and actor flags with the parameters ready to be changed. All you have to do is right click the application in the system tray, select the function you wish to use, change the parameters (if there are any) and viola! No more wasting time searching through the ZDoom Wiki for quick reminders on what the actor functions are called and what their parameters are!

Usage

When you run DECORATE Assistant, an icon will appear on your system tray (usually at the bottom right of your screen). Right click this to access the main menu.

Action Functions – All the action functions from the ZDoom wiki are listed here. Clicking one attempts to paste the function, with all it’s parameters ready for editing, into your selected text editor. If clipboard mode is enabled it simply copies the information to the clipboard for you to manually paste.
Actor Flags – All the actor flags from the ZDoom wiki are listed here. Clicking one attempts to paste the flag into your selected text editor. If clipboard mode is enabled it simply copies the information to the clipboard for you to manually paste.
Actor Properties – All the actor properties from the ZDoom wiki are listed here. Clicking one attempts to paste the property into your selected text editor. If clipboard mode is enabled it simply copies the information to the clipboard for you to manually paste. Actor properties currently paste with the required and optional parameters to give you an idea of what data is required. For example value is a number and “class” is the name of an actor class as a string.
Action Specials – Most of the useful and commonly used Action Specials from the ZDoom wiki are listed here. Clicking one attempts to paste the property into your selected text editor. If clipboard mode is enabled it simply copies the information to the clipboard for you to manually paste. Action specials currently paste with the required and optional parameters to give you an idea of what data is required. For example value is a number and “class” is the name of an actor class as a string.
Templates – These are basic prefabs for DECORATE actors such as monsters for quick editing. Clicking one attempts to paste the template into your selected editor unless clipboard mode is enabled. The templates contain all the basic and necessary information for the actor to work.
Select Editor – Clicking this prompts you to press shift when you have your favourite editor’s window open. When you do this, the program takes the title of the selected app and uses that as a reference for where to paste the information. This will not always work depending on what application you are using, usually with programs that change window title (i.e Notepad, Notepad – untitled.txt) but it has been fully tested with and works fine in SLumpEd. Note that the menu is disabled while you are selecting an editor.
Clipboard Mode – Enabling clipboard mode uses an alternative method. Instead of trying to paste the information to your editor it simply copies it to the clipboard, meaning you can simply paste the data manually into your text editor.
Shift Menu* – Holding shift and clicking on a function/actor/template opens your default browser and links to the ZDoom wiki at the relevant page. This is a handy way to remind you what a function or flag actually does.