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Scripting with Visual Studio IntelliSense - A Pictorial Guide

Neen

August 04, 2017 12:29

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Since the process of setting up VS with the script API isn't very obvious to newcomers and it'll inevitably get asked as more and more people try to get in, I want to give everybody a starting point as straightforward as I possibly could.

At the time of writing, this is only guaranteed to work with VS 2015. 2017 will crash.

1. Open a new project, and use an empty template.
   (Make sure you select .NET Framework 4.6 at the top.)
   
   
2. Open the Add Reference window.
   
   
3. Add the two Sansar DLL files.
   (You will find these in the Sansar client folder, in ScriptApi > Assemblies)
   
   
4. Also add the .NET System.dll.
   
   
5. Click OK and you're ready!

From here you can add a new Class to your project and that will be your script. You should never need to make multiple projects, as each script is self-contained and you will not be compiling these files yourself. Scripts are compiled by the upload process in Sansar.

See: https://help.sansar.com/hc/en-us/sections/115001283328-Working-with-Scripts

15 comments

• 0
  
  Neen August 04, 2017 12:31

  Reserving this comment in case something needs to be added as a P.S., like an example script or helpful links.

  Also, for some reason I was unable to embed the .png files themselves from my HDD even though each file is below 30 KB.

  Edited by Neen August 04, 2017 12:46
• 0
  
  Robin Talon August 05, 2017 21:20

  Thanks for this!

  Do you know if this works with VS Express or Community? (I have 2015 Pro at work but can't justify splashing out on it at home.)

• 0
  
  Neen August 06, 2017 17:59

  @Robin
  .I don't know about Express since I don't have it at hand, but VS 2015 Community is what was used for the above guide. I would also test 2013 but I don't have C# on it for the time being, but I've seen others say that it works.

  Edited by Neen August 06, 2017 17:59
• 0
  
  Robin Talon August 06, 2017 19:24

  That's excellent news!

• 0
  
  Richardus Raymaker August 09, 2017 22:54

  Ohh. there are hidden links to pictures.
  You not see that on the forum but it's visible in my e-mail.
  Now i can try again.

  Am adding pictures for visual studio 2013 soon.

  Edited by Richardus Raymaker August 10, 2017 13:23
• 0
  
  Richardus Raymaker August 10, 2017 13:06

  This instructions are for Visual studio 2013.
  I use most of the text from @neen for this, because it's good.
  I post small image on the forum with a url to the full size one.

   

  1. Open a new project, and use an empty template.

  https://snag.gy/WfNHjR.jpg
  

   

  2. Now go to the properties to set the .net runtime.

  https://snag.gy/bBx8Va.jpg
  

  
  3. Select .net 4.6 as runtime and click ok.

  https://snag.gy/ruFoic.jpg
  

  
  4. Open the Add Reference window.
  
  https://snag.gy/k2gXFj.jpg
  

  5. Add the two Sansar DLL files.
  (You will find these in the Sansar client folder, in   ScriptApi\Assemblies)

  https://snag.gy/lLFhNR.jpg
  

  6. Also add the .NET System.dll.

  https://snag.gy/KxoNpv.jpg
  
  7. Click OK and you're ready!

  I need to say that i have not tested a C# program with visual studio 2013. That's the next step. but wanted to document this first.

  Edited by Richardus Raymaker August 10, 2017 14:05
• 0
  
  Richardus Raymaker August 10, 2017 13:59

  Big thanks to @neen !

  One question, i did comp[ile solution. It's anygood todo because it told me i where on the wrong .net framework. oops forget to set that again. and i compiled the soundrandomizer.cs for fun. I know you not build a solution i think.

  It did generate this error. ignore it or does soemthing not work ?

  Error    1    Unexpected error reading metadata from file ':\Program Files\Sansar\Client\ScriptApi\Assemblies\Sansar.Simulation.dll' -- 'Index not found.'    :\Visual Studio Projects\sansar-test\sansar-test\CSC    sansar-test

• 0
  
  Gindipple August 10, 2017 14:38

  The APIs shipped still are bad.

  You can use them somewhat for intellisense, but there's still a lot of problems in there.

  AgentScript and SceneObjectScript have something wrong in the dlls causing them to crash and throw exceptions.

  The best thing to do is take their interface and build your own dlls, but this is not so easy to do. Then you can compile and even make your own UnitTests!

  Could probably even tie it into Unity and test some things at home.

   

• 0
  
  Richardus Raymaker August 10, 2017 19:49

  Ok. last note, i just ignore the last warning.
  I just created my first working script. Or more did stick bits together from other script and remove what's not needed. Good way to understand some things.

  And it did work, now i can expand it and finish it for my scene.

• 0
  
  Neen August 10, 2017 23:56

  @Gindipple
  At what point do the crashes/exceptions happen? I've used AgentScript and SceneObjectScript with no issues, maybe I just haven't "hit the trigger."

  Also, if you know more about making your own DLL from the ones we have, could you make a more detailed post on that? I'm interested.

  @Richardus Raymaker
  Thanks for the addition!

  Edited by Neen August 10, 2017 23:57
• 0
  
  Gindipple August 11, 2017 10:53

  Ok this is VS 2010, but same thing happens in multiple versions of VS. And it should happen in none of them.

  https://gyazo.com/68a2ec41db97c688b29fe88c87ba1c9c

  Making your own DLL: Create a project and set the output to Class Library.

  Now go make C# code that mimics the interface. Like let's say you do this for simplicity.

  namespace Sansar.Script
  {
       public class Log
       {
       public void Clear() {}
       public void Write() {}
       }
  }
  
  

  Now you compile it and set the output name to Sansar.Script

  You'd now have a DLL that you could link into your projects in place of theirs. Only you have to do ALL of it if you want it to be effective. A slicker way is to automate this process using reflection.

  In System.Reflection there are methods like LoadFile(), GetMethods(), GetFields() you can use these to discover publicly exposed things in any file. It's the same thing your Object Browser does for you in Visual Studio. You won't be able to see what they do inside these methods, but you don't really need to either, you just want the interface to work so you can compile against it.

  It's complex as I said, but it's doable.

   

• 0
  
  Neen August 11, 2017 17:51

  I'm not getting a crash while trying to explore the DLLs.

  VS 2015 Community: http://puu.sh/x7A3Q/950693cbe9.png 

  If I hover over the red markers, the tooltip just says "Internal."

  Edited by Neen August 11, 2017 17:52
• 0
  
  gfcprogramer August 16, 2017 02:35

  Even for old programmers like me, this tutorial is very good, helps too much, I lost myself in my memmories, this help me again and again.

  Thank you.

  (memmeries lol)

  Edited by gfcprogramer August 16, 2017 02:46
• 0
  
  Ethos Erlanger August 20, 2017 02:05

  Does anyone know why VS 2017 Community crashes when it is referencing the Sansar Script API? And does Linden lab have any plans in place to modify the API so that it will work with VS 2017 Community? I installed VS 2017 Community and I am trying to evaluate the risk/benefit of installing VS 2015 Community.

  Edited by Ethos Erlanger August 20, 2017 02:06
• 0
  
  Gindipple August 20, 2017 02:25

  Yes and I reported it right away, about a month ago.

  Seems to be low priority.

  Art takes precedence or function.

  Think fireworks with no report.

  There's work around, but they aren't simple.