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Question Machine Control UI

Discussion in 'Getting Started' started by ngen33r, Apr 26, 2021.

  1. ngen33r

    ngen33r

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2021
    Posts:
    2
    I am using unity to make a UI for a piece of equipment running on an Android SOM. There seem to be mixed ways to navigate and change screens and I am unsure how to implement this.

    I currently have a main screen on a canvas (Screen Space Overlay) that has the basic UI functions. I have a settings icon that I want to open a popup with buttons to choose additional screens. Here is my hierarchy:

    Main Screen > Process Monitor Screen (button on main)

    Main Screen > Settings popup (button on main)

    Settings (popup) > System Diagnostics Screen

    Settings (popup) > System Testing Screen

    Main Screen > Popup Warnings Overlay

    I want to make sure I am going about this properly and I know there are different ways to do this. I currently have each screen on its own canvas. I read that too much on one canvas will slow down the updating of information so that to me rules out all panels on one canvas, but I am not sure. I am very new to this I know each canvas can have a child canvas for items that require frequent updating. What is the best way to swap screens saving memory and allowing information to update as fast as possible? I don't need transitions or really anything fancy, but I don't want things updating in the background that don't need to be.
     
  2. Schneider21

    Schneider21

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2014
    Posts:
    3,512
    Can I ask... Why are you doing this with Unity? I feel like a PWA built with something like Ionic would be MUCH easier to do, and would be more appropriate as an event-driven app anyway (versus a game engine that runs a loop 60 times or more per second).
     
  3. ngen33r

    ngen33r

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2021
    Posts:
    2
    Short answer, because the coder that left the company started out this way and left the mechanical engineer to try and make this thing user friendly, with a learning curve that might lead to substance abuse....

    I will do some reading about Ionic, maybe that would be a better way to go and make me look smarter than I might be.

    I do like how Unity caters to my OCD for aligning objects and such with laser precision.
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2021
  4. Schneider21

    Schneider21

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2014
    Posts:
    3,512
    For my day job I work with Unity to make a mapping tool (which also could have been a web app, but we have a 3D element and some crazy future plans), and previously I was a web developer. I can promise you working with UI is much faster and easier with web frameworks, and easier to be more precise, as well. There are also way more web developers out there looking for work, and at a cheaper rate, if you end up needing to hire someone to finish or maintain the app.

    All that said, if you do decide to still stick with using Unity, we can definitely help you out. In general, you'll get more helpful input when you ask specific questions that are dealing with limited issues, rather than questions on app architecture or general theory.

    But as far as your specific issue goes, I will say that we haveof UI items with no performance concerns (being a business application, we don't care about brief frame drops during intensive processes, unlike a game where that can't happen), so my inclination is that you can do basically whatever you're looking to do with