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Topic: consumption chart

borim

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Posted at: 2011-10-06, 15:02

hello, with the current information from the charts it is difficult for me to distinguish, if i produce enough of the different wares. Mostly i recognise that something is missing when a production branch lay down. But this is a little bit late... I miss something like consumption charts. Or something like that, where i can see how much wares are used up.

currently i am unsure, what is the better way to display the consumption information. you can include them in the wares chart, but this maybe overload the chart too much. another option is to create a separate chart and add it to the statistic menu. But I am also unhappy with this solution... you have to memorize, how much wares are produced to compare them with the consumption chart.

writing this post a third possibility jumped into my mind. how about a chart, which display the difference between production and consumption? this way you can easily see if you produce enogh wares or live from the stock in the warehouses. what do you think of this suggestion?


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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-10-06, 16:57

Hi Borim,
... there have been plans to add a "tendency marker" (probably just up arrow, "=" or down arrow)
to the stock display. This would have shown you, whether a ware has been rising , was steady, or has been falling on average within the last 10 min or so.
Can look for the thread, now. I guess that is nearly the same like you want.
Although nobody opposed to that, it never happened.


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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borim

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Posted at: 2011-10-07, 17:23

hey Astuur, a tendency marker is a good way to catch the current situation with one view. And if I have a wish free, I like to have the marker and the chart, as with the chart you can take a deeper look at the development of you economy. The effort to program both should about the same, as implementing only one solution. Both the marker and the chart needs the same data. For the chart the information only need to be stored longer. Also should it be possible to reuse the code from the existing charts. At least I hope that there are no "hidden tasks".


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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-10-11, 22:08

You're right ... both things would be desirable...
I personally would welcome such a graph, although it will only show the effect and quality of the "on demand" production for many wares. (unless you edit out this feature in the conf files, or let your production run demand-independently by choosing high values for default_target_quantity.)

I think, a chart showing the difference between production (plus) and consumption (minus) as one tab of the wares statistic, seems best.
It should show a central "0-Line" and values above that line would mean "surplus is created" while values below would mean "living on savings".
One issue with your "Surplus Chart" (just coined that term) is to convey its meaning to the average user.
A good UI may help in this respect. Here's a first draft

Suggestion (so far quick and dirty)

This may need some refinement, but the general idea seems okay.
It would be even nicer to color the area underneath (-> 0 line, for positive values) in green,
and above (->0 line, for negativ values) in red,

Like this:

but we should reserve this decision for the programmer's skills and preferences, if ever one gets interested in this.

Edited: 2011-10-12, 07:47

Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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borim

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Posted at: 2011-10-22, 22:12

I am quite eager to give it a try to implement the consumption chart. Currently I read some source code and try to get behind the whole statistic issues, like collecting data, and how the charts are generated.

The new Chart is probably a bigger task for a new widelands programmer and we will see if I can manage it...

I like your mockups. The colored areas in the second one, looks for me a little uncommon for widelands. I think a version with a green and red colored line, looks more like the other charts. Though it is still a long road until this decision have to be done face-wink.png


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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-10-24, 19:25

Yes, too flashy. A red line for minus and a green line for plus should be good enough.
Otherwise ... well, I can't help much.
But I would certainly welcome this, and I'm happy you're giving it a try!


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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borim

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Posted at: 2011-11-10, 20:25

my work finaly make it into trunk, try it out :D
below you can see how it currently looks like

!(http://s14.directupload.net/images/111113/9z3kmnjx.png)

as you can see I reused existing graphics... so feel free to create some nice tab graphic for the new ware charts.
From left to right: Production chart, Consumption chart and Economy Health chart

edit: add image and text below

Edited: 2011-11-18, 18:43

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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-11-11, 08:39

must wait for Tino to pack it for win32.


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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Astuur
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Posted at: 2011-11-17, 14:59

Hi Borim,
I finally came around to install the latest version with your work on board.
Nice stuff. That really helps, especially with longer games!
Thanks very much!
I have trouble with seeing the barbarian meat graph, but that is just a question of colors and has always been bad. I wonder, -- it might be easier to interpret for most people, if you had inverted the y-asis and the consumption graph (x-axis on top), but that would probably have been more work, right?
I'll try and work on the tabs, when I have more time. Would something along the lines of the mockup above be okay, or have you though of a better idea?


Being no programmer, I apologize for all my suggestions that imply undue workload and for other misjudgements due to lack of expertise or relevant skills.
I am on Win32, have no means to compile, and rely on prefabricated distributions (Thanks to Tino).

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borim

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Posted at: 2011-11-17, 18:45

Hey Astuur, I am glad you like it face-grin.png

The problem with the plot line colors exist for multiple wares. When I have some time I will play a little with the available color.... we will see if I can find better ones.

The top down approach would probably require to implement a third kind of plot. So yes this would be some work...

The tabs in your mockups looks nice, maybe you can add a plus sign for the production chart and a minus sign for the consumption chart. This should also help to understand the charts without any explanation.

Edited: 2011-11-17, 18:45

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