Changes in OS 3.2
In its TI-Nspire OS 3.2, TI updated the Lua scripting API.
Here are the changes made.
- platform.apiLevel is now '2.0'. You can manually set it to '1.0' again in order to have some retro-compatibility.
- platform.gc has been deleted.
- on.construction replaces on.create
- D2Editor improved.
- Physics Engine
(todo)
Compatibility mode
Let me first begin with the compatibility mode. TI has 2 "apiLevel's" in 3.2. apiLevel 1.0 provides backwards compatibility for <3.2 OS's by keeping the old API structure.
All documents created for 3.1 and previous will run in that apiLevel by default. This is because some changes in the XML structure of the document. So most programs and games should run fine by default.
Then there is apiLevel 2.0. This apiLevel has some big changes to the API structure, so you will have to update some of your code in order to have some of they new 3.2 stuff. However, it is currently not possible to create apiLevel 2.0 documents with Luna due to changes in the XML structure. I have given the details of the changes to ExtendeD so he will probably update Luna soon.
For the best support and guarantee that you are using the correct apiLevel, you should add the following to the top of new Lua documents you create:
- platform.apiLevel = '1.0'
or :
- platform.apiLevel = '2.0'
Please note that using apiLevel 2.0 with the current Luna will result in an error.
on.create
on.create is removed in apiLevel 2.0 and replaced with on.construction.
This event handler is guaranteed to run before all others.
Graphical
operations * Most graphical operations are now anti-aliased. This makes that applications look more pretty
* gc:setColorRGB now supports one number as input (as well as the old style). For example, you can do gc:setColorRGB(0xFF00CC) or gc:setColorRGB(0)
* You can not use coordinates for drawing to the screen above/under (-) 32 000. Normally this shouldn't affect anyone, but because of this Cubefield refuses to run.
* In apiLevel 2.0 platform.gc() is removed and replaced with platform.withGC(). An example of it:
function getStringWidth(gc, str)
 return gc:getStringWidth(str)
end
function on.construction()
 local strw = platform.withGC(getStringWidth, "The game")
end
So what it does it call the function you give as first argument and pass a dummy GC to it.
D2Editor D2Editor is greatly improved, and it finally useful
require There are three modules that you can 'require': physics, color, and strict.
The physics module is the chipmunk physics engine.
color is just a table containing colors. color.red (or color["red"]) will return the color code for red.
I have no idea what strict is or does Tongue
Usage: require 'modulename'
Physics Maybe the best part of it of. OS 3.2 now includes the Open Source Chipmunk physics engine, and you can use it right from Lua!
This will allow some great games and applications
However it's is far to complex to detail in this post, so I will probably write a tutorial about it soon
Image Normally 3.2 would have many updates to the image, but sadly enough they did not make 3.2 and are pushed for the next OS.
However, there is one function that made it, and that is image.rotate. This allows you to rotate images in anyway.
But beware, it is not the fastest function out there.
Math math.eval has got some friends: math.evalStr, math.getEvalSettings and math.setEvalSettings.
Platform I already mentioned platform.withGC, but there are still two other newcomers:
* platform.registerErrorHandler, this allows you to take actions when an error occurs in your document. Pretty nice
* platform.window:setFocus, regain focus in your script.
Variable * var.recallAt, fetch data from a certain spot in a list or matrix
* var.makeNumericList, create a list in the symbol table. The create list will work much more efficient with other var functions.
Well, that's about it. I'm sure there are some stuff I forgot, but you can find them all in the API documentation here -- Link to doc --.
Good luck and may the coding force be with you!
