Custom Queries for Custom Buildings

[hugues aroux 3,784]

9 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

Sometimes it takes a while to make it JUUUUUUUUUST RIGHT.

huhu (my apologies to Ms Kel) ... no no no  .. I don't expect it today .. nor tomorrow, but in ... a few days, or more ... I will propose on my thread both 2.2A and B for users (following a request on Reddit).

[Andreas Roth 607]

Now that looks much more readable than before, thanks for all the effort!  If I may do some very minor nitpicking, I'd say add a horizontal line above the stats, and make the other lines just a few pixels longer, so they line up with the left and right border of the text (see below).

[Kel9509 1,363]

4 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

You're going to need more room. 

You're right.  I suppose I do need a bit more.  Right now the columns are equal in size.  I wonder if I should only expand the right one?  I'd hate for it to look lopsided though.  Hmm..

4 hours ago, Andreas Roth said:

If I may do some very minor nitpicking, I'd say add a horizontal line above the stats, and make the other lines just a few pixels longer, so they line up with the left and right border of the text (see below).

Good idea also.  

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

5 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

I wonder if I should only expand the right one?

I'm guessing go ahead and move the middle vertical divider to the left and squish up the left side. Then if that's still not enough room on the right, make the entire UI another 100 or 200 pixels wider.

I don't believe it needs to be symmetrical. The side with small data can be small and look good and then the other side needs to be larger.

[Kel9509 1,363]

I didn't move any values in the left column, but I did move the middle divider left to be closer to them.  That gave some room, and then I squished up the right descriptive values so they were equidistant from the column, moving the descriptions left.  I also added that mod you mentioned in order to get the higher demand #s.

I'm wondering if this is enough room for a CAM game.  The values for R$$ Active Demand/Regional, for instance, are approximately 120 in length.  Prior to this revision it was 107.  It's not much different but it might matter.  I don't know if I want to be 10000% certain it'll fit by adding 50px or even 100px in length to the query.  But I don't play a CAM game and have no idea how high those values typically are.

Here's how it looks now:

[Cyclone Boom 16,875]

Excellent work incorporating those changes. I think it looks even more neatly presented now, and I like how the values are on the right side helps for readability. The values this way are aligned by digits, which is always a good idea for representing numerical data.

I'm unsure about CAM either. Maybe something @Ulisse Wolf could comment on, as I know he's a CAM user (and developer).

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

13 hours ago, Cyclone Boom said:

I'm unsure about CAM either. Maybe something @Ulisse Wolf could comment on, as I know he's a CAM user (and developer).

Testing needs to be done. Unfortunately, I don't have the data of CAM 2.1.1 (Missing tables) to give an accurate value.

[Kel9509 1,363]

1 hour ago, Ulisse Wolf said:

Testing needs to be done. Unfortunately, I don't have the data of CAM 2.1.1 (Missing tables) to give an accurate value.

I don't need the range of demand values CAM provides (although knowing that would be nice).  I just need to know some typical values of these stats from a large city, in order to see if I have enough space to display them for anyone who uses CAM. A screenshot from the existing query from anyone with a decent sized city & region would help.

[Simizen 1,098]

maybe we should bring @Haljackey into this, cause I'm pretty sure he's running CAM with his crazy region, lol

[Ulisse Wolf 4,412]

56 minutes ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

maybe we should bring @Haljackey into this, cause I'm pretty sure he's running CAM with his crazy region, lol

Haljackey does not use CAM

57 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

I don't need the range of demand values CAM provides (although knowing that would be nice).  I just need to know some typical values of these stats from a large city, in order to see if I have enough space to display them for anyone who uses CAM. A screenshot from the existing query from anyone with a decent sized city & region would help.

With CAM, a maximum population of 6 million can be reached, and that is purely theoretical. The most populated city I have reaches 5 million

[Propfam 2,288]

On 2/10/2025 at 11:36 AM, Kel9509 said:

I'm wondering if this is enough room for a CAM game.

14 hours ago, Ryuu Tenno said:

maybe we should bring @Haljackey into this, cause I'm pretty sure he's running CAM with his crazy region, lol

Or me,

Oops, I used the A version. I need to scroll down a bit.

[Kel9509 1,363]

Thank you @Jidan!  This is very helpful!

[Kel9509 1,363]

While waiting for @Null 45 to post the latest version of the Query Extensions DLL mod, I've decided to slightly augment the width of the Query to incorporate the larger numerical values shown in @Jidan's screenshots.  Now the query can handle the largest of CAM regions:

In the Commercial and Industrial queries, I'm going to use tooltips to explain the Active Jobs and Travel Jobs.  So I decided to add tooltips to everything else, including the native Maxis items (previously I had only tooltips on the capacity and demand items).  I did this with the idea that a casual player might find the information helpful.  But you tell me if I went a bit overboard here (not all are like this one):

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

I definitely like the more room for the right side data.

For the hover over (not mentioning the: "that that") I feel it's excessive for there, but doesn't really hurt anything since peeps aren't forced to read it. OTOH, having that data in a nicely gridded table would go very well for each educational building query. Like a chart at the bottom.

[Kel9509 1,363]

4 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

For the hover over (not mentioning the: "that that") I feel it's excessive for there, but doesn't really hurt anything since peeps aren't forced to read it. OTOH, having that data in a nicely gridded table would go very well for each educational building query. Like a chart at the bottom.

Don't worry, I'm still planning on that.  I'm going to do a Department of Education building, or Unemployment Office, or something, that has that chart in there in picture format (or retyped in a grid).  I can try the default query also if you think it'd be worth seeing every time.

The other tooltips are just stuff from the Prima Strategy guide, pretty simple stuff.  

[Andreas Roth 607]

I kinda got lost when you start listing up all the values those EQ... values in the hover query, but I agree that this could be used for a specialized query UI somewhere else. I do like the general explanation, even though it's just some basic information from the Prima guide. Since those hover queries only show up when you enabled them in the settings, it's fine for novice or casual players, the diehard fans have switchend them off anyway, most likely. Anyway, it looks like you're having fun to make the most out of your query window, so please go ahead! 

[Kel9509 1,363]

I'm nearly done with the Commercial and Industrial queries.  Here's a preview:

One question - should I remove the colon ":" from the right side descriptive items?  I guess I should but wanted to be sure.  I think it makes sense to keep it with "Building Style" but the others probably don't need it.

[Propfam 2,288]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

should I remove the colon ":" from the right side descriptive items?

You indeed should. And actually, if you can style the Building Style caption, go ahead and remove the colons too.

[Andreas Roth 607]

Since all the values in the left column don't have a colon, I'd say remove it in the right column, too. I'd keep it with "Building Style", since the list might get a bit longer, so it makes more sense there. But it's a matter of taste after all. As Jidan mentioned, using a bold fold for "Building Style" would be nice, if possible. The wealth level at the top looks a bit lost, so it might benefit from a bold typesetting, too.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

I agree too. 

Nix the right side colons and implement the two bold suggestions.

[rsc204 21,808]

7 hours ago, Kel9509 said:

I'm nearly done with the Commercial and Industrial queries.  Here's a preview:

The $ signs before numbers (under Actual Jobs and Travel Jobs), instantly pop out at me as hard to see, I think adding a space between them and the number would do wonders for readability.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

13 minutes ago, rsc204 said:

I think adding a space between them and the number would do wonders for readability.

I believe this is out of Kel's control, but could be done in Null's DLL which provides that data.

[Null 45 3,041]

1 hour ago, rsc204 said:

I think adding a space between them and the number would do wonders for readability.

I was also going to suggest that. It may also make more sense visually to use the § symbol instead of dollar signs.

1 hour ago, CorinaMarie said:

I believe this is out of Kel's control, but could be done in Null's DLL which provides that data.

The DLL just provides the numbers as a string, I didn't add any prefix.

[Nite Owl 79]

The Current Jobs number in the top left of the first image has no comma separation for the numbers; 4144 as opposed to 4,144. All other numbers that are beyond 999 are comma separated. Mentioned for consistency's sake and so as to not trigger an OCD incident in myself and possibly others.

[Kel9509 1,363]

I can add a space between the symbol and the jobs, since as Null said the DLL just provides the raw numbers.  However, I don't know if I'll be able to add the "§ " symbol since in my prior testing with the Census Repository it didn't work.  Maybe it's the font?  I'll see if I can add it, if I use maybe a budget-type font.  I didn't like using dollar signs anyway since those are American and other countries don't use them.  

9 hours ago, CorinaMarie said:

Nix the right side colons and implement the two bold suggestions.

For me to bold things I think I'll need to change the font.  I'll see what's there but currently using GenBodyMedium, which is size 13 and not bolded.  There is "Heading5" which is nearly the same, but it says it's bold.  I'll give it a try.  

EDIT: I think I can add the § symbol.  I'll see about bolding the Building Styles list as well. 

EDIT2: Well, that didn't work.  Everything I do to add the § symbol doesn't work.  Fonts don't matter at all.  Hmm....

EDIT3: Ok, I got it.  Had to use an actual LTEXT with Unicode instead of just a regular ASCII file.  Now to try and bold it...

[Kel9509 1,363]

2 hours ago, Nite Owl said:

All other numbers that are beyond 999 are comma separated. Mentioned for consistency's sake and so as to not trigger an OCD incident in myself and possibly others.

Unfortunately I don't think this can change, since the Current Jobs/Current Occupancy numbers are from the base game and they didn't add commas to them.  I'm not sure if the numbers from the DLL can remove the commas, but it's up to Null.  

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

There is "Heading5" which is nearly the same, but it says it's bold.

It is identical to "GenBodyMedium" for all the other parameters:

   "Arta", "13", "aa=bg|linespacing=2|xscale=0.95|xadvancescale=0.99"

So yes, bold is the only difference for "Heading5".

 

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

I'll see about bolding the Building Styles list as well.

I believe the consensus is the title "Building Styles:" is what gets bolded, not the list itself.

 

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

Everything I do to add the § symbol doesn't work.

Are you doing something like:

   $#jobs_low_wealth#, $$#jobs_medium_wealth#, $$$#jobs_high_wealth#

for that line?

 

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

Unfortunately I don't think this can change, since the Current Jobs/Current Occupancy numbers are from the base game and they didn't add commas to them.

Those numbers are coming from:

   iid=IGZWinText id=0x00001051

So yeah, we mere mortals won't be able to slip any commas in there.

 

1 hour ago, Kel9509 said:

I'm not sure if the numbers from the DLL can remove the commas, but it's up to Null.

Uhm, I don't believe we want to bork all the rest by removing commas just to make them match the one we cannot change.   Or am I missing what you are suggesting?

[Kel9509 1,363]

Here's some  tests for the "§" symbol.  The font really matters here so I'm trying to get it right.  I added a space between the symbol and the amount, but frankly it isn't so evident all the time depending on the font.  I tried GenBodyMedium and the symbol looks really small and wimpy.  

This picture below uses "BdgtLedgerLineHeavy" for the Actual Jobs numbers, and "BdgtLedgerHeader" for the Travel Jobs numbers.  

And this picture below again uses "BdgtLedgerLineHeavy" for the Actual Jobs, but "BdgtSummaryMoYrly" for the Travel Jobs.

The symbol in the "Wealth" line is a BMP picture and doesn't even look like anything in the budget window fonts at all, so there's probably no way I can get something close to that.

[Kel9509 1,363]

@CorinaMarie, the reason why the symbol didn't appear is because I needed to use an actual LTEXT file with Unicode-8 (UTF-8) format.  For whatever reason, my Notepad++ was set to UTF-16.  

11 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

Uhm, I don't believe we want to bork all the rest by removing commas just to make them match the one we cannot change.   Or am I missing what you are suggesting?

I agree, I don't think removing the commas in the numbers is necessary either.  Sorry @Nite Owl!

15 minutes ago, CorinaMarie said:

I believe the consensus is the title "Building Styles:" is what gets bolded, not the list itself.

Got it.  I'll see what I can do.

[CorinaMarie 29,605]

5 minutes ago, Kel9509 said:

"BdgtLedgerLineHeavy" for the Actual Jobs,

This is the same as "GenBodyMedium", but in size 14 instead of 13. I like that. So what about adding a space, then an equal sign, then another space between the § and the number?

     § = 28, §§ = 215, §§§ = 33