Access external data depending on panorama

[skyfocus]

Hi,

I've searched the forum for this and I found some old posts saying it is possible with externalize but this was not documented.

What I try to do is creating a menu button that shows different information when pressed in a different panorama. It is for a virtual tour of the town Zwolle. Th e information I would like to show is the walking distances from that panorama location to the nearest parking-lot(s).

It would be nice to be able to access an external database or xml file from within a panorama to view this data in text.

Second best option would be that it is possible to link to an URL with this button. The URL should then contain a variable that represents the panorama
image the button is pressed in.

Did anybody managed to do this or can point me in the right direction ?

regards,

Arjan

[Hopki]

Hi
If I read this correct, its fairly easy to do.
In each panoramas p2vr project file, open up the user data and in the information box enter the text, Distance to Car Park is xxxxxx.
Then in the skin add a text box with the place holder $ui, this placeholder will lift the text from the user date information text field of the opened panorama and display the text.
As the panoramas change so will the displayed text.

Set the text box to show and hide from your button in the skin, and you may also wish to set it to auto size if your text is in different lengths.
For other useful placeholders please see: http://gardengnomesoftware.com/wiki/Skin_-_Placeholder

Regards
Hopki

[skyfocus]

Hi Hopki,

Thanks for your fast reply. Using the information box is an option, but I see that as
a third best option. Not all panorama photo's will have this information, clicking on the
"nearest parking button" will then show just the empty picture with no info in it. What I also
see as an problem is that I can only use three lines of text, pulling information out of an
mysql database does not have these restrictions and I don't have to re-make all the panorama's
when a parking lot closes or a new one arises.

regards,

Arjan

[Hopki]

Ok
You can not import text from a data base as yet, so having a rethink, so for Pano2VR V3 only.
In the skin add as many text boxes as you need, one for every panorama that will show them. Then add your text as needed in each text box.

Give them ID’s of Text_1, Text_2, Text_3 etc, you need a common start to the ID, e.g. Text.
Overlay each on top of each other so that they are stacked.

Have them set to not visible and alpha 0.

In a hotspot template add the actions:
Loaded Set Element Alpha, Alpha: $uo, Target: $ui
Mouse Click, Set Element Alpha, Alpha: 0, Target: #Text.*

In the Button that will show and hide the text:
Mouse Click, Toggle Element Visibility, Target: #Text.*

In the p2vr files add in the user data:
Information: Text_1 (the name of the text box you want to show for that panorama)
Comment: 1 or 0 depending if the panorama will show a text box. 1=yes, 0=no.

Doing it this way means you only ever need to open the first p2vr file with the skin and change the text in the required text box then publish out the one SWF.

Regards
Hopki

[skyfocus]

Ok, I'll investigate on that option. Still seams to me like a lot of administration that has to be done inside
a skin instead of a nice database (web) user interface. Thanks for your (fast) reply !

regards,

Arjan