The first part of the big changes I mentioned in the previous post are here.
When I first made StreamControl, all I was after was an easy way to get an XML file into flash files in XSplit. To that end the interface was extremely basic and was only the was it was because it was functional enough and did what it needed to do. I put in enough fields that I thought I would need for a Fighting Game event and that was basically the end of it.
As time goes on however I’m finding that shoehorning what are essentially random fields into use in my flash files is starting to get really annoying. Not to mention confusing to anyone who isn’t me who happens to be running a stream with my overlays.
In addition, the old layout limits it’s use outside of what amounts to my narrow scope of streaming events. Different people stream in different ways and display different information on their stream. Not to mention the old layout is woefully unsuited to streaming the myriad of non-fighting games.
To that end I’ve taken that factor out of the equation by making layouts dynamically loaded from an XML file. You’re now able to use any number of fields for any purpose in your flash files. I’ve also introduced tabs to the layout to allow you to better organise your fields.
The new default layout is a streamlined version of the old layout to serve as a relatively sane default and not break compatibility with my old overlays. I’ve also included the XML files for both the new layout and the old layout so you can have a reference for making new ones.
This is just the first step for what I have planned. It just eliminates what I feel was one of the biggest limitations with StreamControl as it was before.
A word of warning. There is no error checking in this version. It’s entirely possible a malformed layout file will cause crashes and other weirdness. This is something I intend to add but for now it should work fine for the most part.