Assets XGUI - UI WYSIWYG, Visual Coding and Code generation.

Hey @PassivePicasso ,

Yes, you can most definitely use your own Types & Classes for Data Sources. One of the main goals with XGUI and the logic programming for it was to make it as easy and seamless to use to build UIs for your own projects, this means having access to your classes and data right inside the XGUI editor without any additional programming needed.

XGUI is able to access every class Type that unity has loaded and is able to access every field, property or method on those Types.

 

Here is the latest XGUI Video,

In this video I make a small demonstration UI in < 7 minutes.

More vidoes, and the new Demo to come shortly.

 

Wait a second, I already watched that earlier, isn't that the same video from the main page?

 

Yes it is. You must be on top of the changes on the thread and caught the video while I was updating the main post before I posted it at the end here as well. My thought process being people new to the thread will look at the first post first so I need to keep it as up to date as possible, while people who have been following the thread are more likely to skip the first post and head straight to the end.




Little Update on some of the things that have been done in the past couple days trying to get this Demo ready to release.

• Dozens of minor bug fixes (Thank you testers!)
• The template system has been fleshed out a lot more, which has allowed me to setup the template for Inspector Windows! You can now create inspector windows with XGUI!
• The main XGUI Launcher has received a visual overhaul. The old one was functional, but did not have the "wow" factor to it, or maybe I have been just looking at it to long, either way, its changed now.
• Finished up work on data sources allowing them to properly target functions defined in the layout.
• Data Source editor received an overhaul which has greatly reduced the overall number of clicks need to do some of the more common and repetitive tasks.
• You can now create a new layout variable from inside the data source selector. This again reduce the number of screens you have to go through and clicks you need to do in order to setup a Elemetns data source.
• Started conversion of "Layout Types" to be something that is dynamically detected. Right now the 4 main layout types are "set in stone". This is getting changed so end uses can define new Layout Types along with templates for them to increase the flexibility of the system.
• methodCall Element has received and update to make it properly able to call both local layout functions as well as remote functions.

There is a bunch more little things, but those are some of the more interesting ones.
The demo is now ready for release! However I want to spend today finishing up a couple of videos on how to do various things, as XGUI is a lot to take in.

 

How can we become testers?

 

For real man, lol. You know how bad I want to make sure this thing is great!

 

Any news?

 

Nada : (

 

Most certainly not true I just forgot to check the forums until now.
I will have a very nice post up in a couple hours. Check back then

 

hours !!!! OMG @GengarGames777 HOURS !!!

 

Updates 2/21/2018​

• Fixed several issues in the editor that were causing some heavy performance hits at times.
• "Built In" variables can now be exposed from the live preview window to the editor for targeting.
  This means you can target the default fields and parameters on the editor window, or inspector window that you are working on inside your layout.
• Variables Panel now display variables in a scroll-view. Previously no scroll view was used and it was just annoying once you started added variables. Simple and easy fix.
• Variables Panel now display confirmation dialog before deleting a variable. I accidentally deleted the wrong variable one to many times.
• You can no longer delete built in variables
• Layouts can now specify Type references that get saved and loaded with the layout. Makes targeting of data sources quicker/easier.
• Layouts now properly determine the needed using directives needed for code generation for the layout based on the Types added to the layout.
• If elements first variable has been switched from a simple variable drop down to a full data source.
• Button on clicks have been switched from a local method call to a full data source method call.
• All element fields that were previous restricted to targeting only layout fields and variables have been switched to data sources, allowing for local or remote targeting.
• You can now remove event handlers from an element.
• Fixed EditorGUI popup field code generation.
• Fixed EditorGUI EnumPopup field code generation.

The Demo IS coming today. That is a promise. While it is "just a demo", its very important to me it gives a good first impression which is why its taken a bit longer then I anticipated to roll it out. There were some small glitches and bugs with the new launcher that needed to get taken care of, one of which was performance related, and so very important.

 

So this demo will be fully functional?

 

Everything but code export, that is reserved for a few specific testers, and for when its actually for sale.

 

I already said I would preorder if you made me a tester. : P : D

 

How much will you charge?

 

While I appreciate the offer very much, if the public demo goes well, and not to many issues are found, XGUI will be on the asset store very soon.

That is an excellent question. I have previously asked for input on this, though obviously people have not had much to go on. When the demo is released later today I imagine people will have a much better idea of XGUI, what it can do, and what they think is reasonable.

 

I'm thinking 100$ would be a fair price for a tool that looks as comprehensive as this. Simplifying Unity editor construction would be a huge boon for unity

 

Lets keep in mind there is another one coming out fairly soon that is $5. It is technically out, its just the next coming update has, while not as comprehensive, similar ideas and functionality. $100 seems a bit steep, I was thinking somewhere closer to $30-45. You have to consider who your audience is and what they may be willing to spend. If someone is willing to spend $100 on an asset for editors, they probably deal with them constantly, which if they do, may already have their own framework already built internally. People who would be most wanting this are people who may not even know they want it yet and are shied away from editor scripting because of perceived difficulty, chances are they are not going to want to drop $100 on something they may use once or twice.

Most major and usable tools that I have bought, and that is a lot, fall in that $30-60 range.In the end though, obviously it is your decision. Will some people buy it for $100? Sure, they will, they might, but you will sell a whole lot more, and quicker if you were in the 30-45 range. I know for sure I would pick it up, more than that though? While I would love to make some editors, not *that* bad though.

 

1) I would appreciate not linking to another project/projects video on my thread, simply bad etiquette.
2) There is a world of difference between that project, and what XGUI is capable of.

 

That was a my bad, I didn't think about that, I also updated my post with more info.

 

Here is the thing. XGUI is not just a WYSIWYG. Its also visual coding, which enables you to program and test your entire layout while you make it, without ever having to touch or generate code. Once your all done, you generate code that is 100% dependancy free on XGUI.

Which means a few things.
1) You do not need to include XGUI in whatever you are going to use your code in.
2) Because of 1, You can actually sell what you made on the asset store.

If someone had built something that could do what XGUI can do, it would be on the asset store, not just an internal tool.


That however doesn't mean I am locked in on the price range of around 100 dollars either.
There are also options. XGUI is designed in a very modular, and it would be possible to sell a less feature complete version that was simply more of a layout designer, then a full deisgn/coding tool as well.

 

I definitely understand what you are saying, and I am very excited about the tool, I am just giving you my thoughts based only on my experiences as someone who buys a lot of assets.

 

Totally understandable, which is why I'm open to the conversation on price in the first place. I would like to find a good balance on price between "widely attainable" and "worth the time invested", and one of the reasons i mentioned the possibility of releasing more then one version, or perhaps add-on modules.

 

100$... S*** I want to charge about 15$ for my RPG design help, and that is only phase 1.

 

The lower the price the more you sell, the more it will be profitable.

 

Well, that is just not true, lol. If there are 100 people and its for sale for 1$ and everyone buys it, you made $100, if its $40 and 50 of those people buy it, you make $2,000, if its $100 and only 5 people buy it, you make $500

 

If you think reasonably, 15-30$ is closer to the lowest price. More people would be enclined to buy it. When I see assets over 50$ I am thinking twice before buying.

 

This is where the biggest personal debate has been for be as a publisher. The biggest factors that come in to pricing from a publishers end are 1) Unity's cut. They take 30% of the sale right off the top. 2) Taxes. Thats right, we must pay taxes on what we sell. So there goes another average %25 after unities cut, leaving the publisher with little more then 55% of the actual list price. So at $40 dollars , the publisher really ends up with 22. Slightly more or less depending on tax brackets.

And how many of those assets over $50 dollars have demos you can try for free that are 95% feature complete?

 

If you have a free and a pro version, that is different.

 

Thats basically what the demo is. Its fully functional except code generation. You can make a fully working UI in it. You can use the UI. You can share the UI with other people who have the free or full verion. The only thing you cant do is export code

 

Keep in mind you are also no way restricted to just selling on the asset store. Several things I have bought (like InfinityPBR dragon, Arteria3d models, etc) directly from the developer's site. If you do both, you get the exposure from the asset store, plus the ability to make more per unit on your own.

 

​

• New Launcher Integrated
• List<> and Dictionary<,> variables were not loading properly, this is now fixed.
• List and Dictionary code generation fixed.
• Launcher now loads centered on active display.
• Editor now loads centered on active display.
• Method calls with dynamic types were failing. This has been fixed.

Now what you all have been waiting for, An updated demo.





How to make an Editor Window

​

More videos will be coming soon as well as updates to the website and bitbucket.

Any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

Sadly Unity doesn't see anything in the unitypackage, that can be imported. It seems like an empty 3 MB.
Unity 2017.2.1f1

 

Im checking this right now, your the first person to say something

[Edit] Just double checked. I am able to download it from the website and import it into 2017.1, checking 2017.2 and 2017.3 now to see if there is some issue.

 

Imports fine for me (2017.3.0f3)

 

imported into 2017.2.1f1, but with warnings and errors.

 

Yes, fixing it right now. I apparently missed the adding the GUISkin to the package. 5 minutes. Apologies.

 

@roykoma @kupio @Boz_1


Sorry for the bad package guys All that prep and i botch on something silly.

Here is a working package. Apologies.

 

No need for apologies, we've been around long enough to know that Sh#t happens.

 

Any other tutorials ?

 

I just want to mention Delarn, you might think that way but I see this as the exact opposite, I pretty much don't buy anything that's being sold for under 50$
A publisher who puts up a tool that looks half as feature complete as this puts it up for 50$, All the best tools on the asset store are priced above this.
Final IK is 90$, Archimatix is 135, Playmaker is 65, Amplify is 60$

When I see assets for under 50, I see a few things I find specifically concerning. Lack of a business perspective, which suggest support might be limited, and features may be incomplete or buggy. It also suggests to me the developer doesn't think the tool they built warrants the investment, which makes me think I don't want to buy it at all.
The vast majority of my asset purchases has been over 60$ because the tools just feel more feature complete, have solid support behind them and the developer actually makes enough money to warrent spending additional time working on making the project bigger and better.

There are some excellent packages that are priced under 60$, but these are still above 45$
The best GUI tool for Unity currently is arguably NeosisGUI which forces a dependency requirement and prevents publishers from utilizing it for assets. This library isn't even designed to work well for editors, and while its suggested you might be able to, it means you gotta hack it together, its not a supported feature. This library was popular enough they moved off the asset store, and now their package is 2500euros for a professional project that can net over 100k.

XGUI on the other hand is an integrated workflow, with a design that allows you to easily establish SOLID design patterns! It forces no requirements on developers, and as you can see from the amount of progress made in the past few weeks that this developer is really dedicated to his community and providing an excellent project that can cover all your needs for editor design, and potentially even highly efficient game ui.

 

Hey Deleran,

Yes there are some more videos. I will be posting them up throughout the day today.

 

Thanks !

 

No, not all... I won't enter into a discussion because I respect the man behind @SixThreeZero_Studios and I don't want to hijack his thread, but please feel free to contact me privately if you are interested in the details.

 

Are there any particular videos you would like to request since im working on more today.

Right now the other two videos are How to create an inspector window, which is the equivalent of how to create an editor window, and the second one covers the generals UI Elements and Data Sources. Would be more then happy to focus on something in particular if it would be useful.

 

Maybe a quick start guide, start to finish, I dunno if I'm missing some basic concept but I couldn't get much done with it.
(I'm at work too though, doing, ahhhh, 'research' ) my times limited.

I was expecting more visual and just place and move elements around with the mouse, click properties, etc.
Anyways, it's looking nice, docs too, just needs more hand holding for dummmies I guess.

I'm interested, because there's just got to be an easier way to do GUI in Unity!

 

Hey thanks for checking it out the demo.

I'm working on making/posting up the Tutorial videos which should help some, though if anyone has any points where they just stop an go "uhhhh now what" if you could let me know specifics that would be great since making it "Easy to use" is one of the most Important things to me.

There is actually a "drag and resize" feature for elements that use the "Specify" option for their position, however the day before the demo it was disabled because I noticed the system was causing the repaint event to fire CONSTANTLY even when not needed which was pinning the CPU. So this feature is "there" is just disabled while i track down whats causing the issue. Normally you have to hold cntl&alt together and it brings up the drag and resize controls for elements which can be dragged and resized.

The Preview window also normally automatically updates, but the same system triggers this, so this is disabled as well.

Thanks again for the interest, and keep an eye out for more videos coming today, and hopefully another XGUI update tomorrow.

 

Creating an Inspector Window

 

That made me think of these commercials for some reason, lol.

 

Looks like you put alot of work in, goodjob!