Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: RickInVA

This may sound like a small thing, but it has been causing me a lot of frustration. What is it? It is the use of the term Form. I have no idea where that comes from, but I have found it very confusing. To me a Form is something that I fill out, that is it requires input from me. It appears that in the manuals, and game, a Form is what I would call a Window or a Pop-Up or a Box, or just about anything but a Form. Where on earth does that term come from?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

quote:

ORIGINAL: RickInVA

This may sound like a small thing, but it has been causing me a lot of frustration. What is it? It is the use of the term Form. I have no idea where that comes from, but I have found it very confusing. To me a Form is something that I fill out, that is it requires input from me. It appears that in the manuals, and game, a Form is what I would call a Window or a Pop-Up or a Box, or just about anything but a Form. Where on earth does that term come from?

Form is a concept from the programming world. So is Windows. So is Pop-up and Box for that matter.

As referred to in MWIF, a Form is a self contained rectangular section of the screen within which a player sees information and interacts with the program. The simple OK message form is used all over the place in MWIF. There are other simple forms for Yes/No and Yes/No/Cancel decisions.

I don't know of another term that can be used in the place of Form. Windows is a fairly well defined concept popularized by Microsoft and much of the associated elements of that definition don't really apply to a Form.

I apologize if I naively thrust this concept front and center in the documentation, but I don't have anything to replace it with. Its definition can be acquired through use, with some forms being purely informational, and others being used to make decisions.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dabrion

"Form", in the sense use in the manuals, is not even standard in programming terms. It depends what SDK you use, there are other terms like "widget", "dialog" , "window" or "wizard" or even "panel" and probably some more. I would second "screen" or "summary panel" as a more intelligible word for the informational forms, and "wizard" for the modal forms that process single game steps.

So in board game terms a MWiF "form" refers to two different things at once.
Firstly there are the informational/administrational boards like production spiral, pilot/oil tracks, DOD political map, etc. These fall in the screen/summary panel category. In MWiF you can open them ad libitum as you could look up the respective information in the board game at any time.
Secondly there are modal (interrupting the program flow until finished) forms that have no physical representation in the board game. They represent the procedural player interaction during game steps in the board game. Like when you settle down with your opponent to have an air combat, you would take the counter off the map and arrange them in columns for fighters and bombers etc. The whole process in also referred to as a "form", although strictly speaking the form/wizard is a vehicle to conduct the game step.

Hope my interpretation helps.