XPresso: Giving access to values inside a Xpresso setup
Works with: R8
Requires: Version 8+
There are several ways to avoid having to open the Xpresso editor to change values. The fastes is to use the input port of the main Xpresso group. You may have noticed that the outer border of the Xpresso editor resembles a node or Xpresso group. Basicaly it is a group.
You can't access it's input port from other nodes outside the editor, but every input port you create here will be shown as a property of the Xpresso tag. This makes them easy to access by simply selecting the Xpresso tag in the Object Manager. To make the port name visible right click in the lable of the Xgroup and choose Ports->Show Names.
Of course you can also create output ports for the main group, but they are only usefull if the Xgroup is saved and reused as part of another setup. By default Xgroups will be saved as *.xma files in the library/xgroup folder.
The second way is by using User Data fields. Create all the User Data fields you need on the object that holds the Xpresso tag, then drag the object inside the Xpresso editor. The User Data fields are now available as in- and output ports of the Object Node.
With the first method you can create Xpresso tags that can be easily transfered from one object to another, the second way depends completely on the object that is used but is a bit easier to use since you only have to click on the object to modify the properties. The second method is used for all the Thinking Particles preset objects that come with the module.
