Where is the "start here" basic 1 oh 1??

Ok.... this scripting is a whole other world!! (as everyone probably knows)

All the information pages, say that there is scripting for everyone - from beginner to advance....

Well, I cannot find ANY of the beginner information!!

Are there any guidelines on starting with scripts -

IE - how do you make basic scripts work?

All the documents these links go to are pages and pages of code, and explanations that don't make sense - where is the "start here" guide.

I find lots of shops in SL selling scripts - but no info on how to use them or what to do with them.

It may seem basic to the advanced user - but something simple like making an object rotate cannot be done, and there are no instruction guides for beginners!

Can anyone point me in the right direction to "START" ??

IE - How can I activate and make a script work in world??

I have looked at the FAQ here - but they are all advanced documentation that does not explain the first steps, or how to understand the coding language - or even how to make this work in world!

A good first step is to create a cube (right-click on the ground in a place that allows building; pie menu has "create", then on the contents tab "create new script" using the button. That's the default LSL script.

Double click that script and you'll see how it's written.

I don't know if this will serve your purpose, but Googling for

second life scripting 101

produced this link:

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/LSL_101/A_Gentle_Introduction

which starts out with "This section of LSL 101: The Wikibook is written for the SL user who has no experience with computer programming ..."

I put

second life scripting "first script"

into youtube search and came up with

http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=DF79D64FDA4E9A7D&search_query=scripting+in+second+life+%22first+script%22

Maybe those will help.

This forum will be closing in just a few days; you'll have to switch over to somewhere in blogs.secondlife.com when that happens.

All scripts in SL run only when they are in prims. Even HUDs are actually scripts running in prims. They are event-driven, so nearly all scripts initialize, then just sit around waiting for something to happen. For example, they may wait for a person to touch the prim. Or, they may wait for an avatar to say something. Or for an object to come within 10m of them.

Have you looked at the stickies at the top of this forum? This one:
/54/46/121753/1.html

Lists where to find some basic tutorials.

Have fun!
.

LOL! We're all here on Saturday night archiving threads, aren't we!

Hi GG, you will find a great collection of tutorials here:

Thanks for these links - but these are the links I have been muddling through for 6 months!! - they do not explain how to use free scripts, or what to do with them.

The statement: Wikibook is written for the SL user who has no experience with computer programming ..." - is FALSE, as none of it is user-friendly, or easy to navigate, and leaves me lost.


I have a bunch of free scripts, so do not need to write anything - but in 6 months I have not been able to find HOW to use these free scripts, and in world people just keep telling me I am too new to know yet!

It frustrates me that everywhere you go, you can pick up free scripts, but no information on what to do with them, or how to use them - some of them I cannot even open!

- SO after 6 months, I still can’t find how to activate, or use a free script - or what to even do with it!!!

Well you cannot open No Modify scripts.

To get started all you need to do is create a prim (a box for instance), click on the Contents Tab and press the New script button. It will create a basic script for you.

Now if you really looked at the link I gave you then you would have seen the same explanation much more detailed



I suggest that you also look at their "How do I.." section there is plenty help in there too.

Maybe scripting isn't your thing. No-one can really teach you. But...

Those of us who have muddled through it, started just like you. I knew not a zot.
I originally went to Yadni's Junkyard, bought a few boxes of zero dollar script collections and began banging my head on the wall immediately. Opening the scripts and changing things to see what the change did.

A lot of scripts have comments amongst the code which actually tell you what it is going to do, how to modify it etc.

Then you can go to the script wiki and read about the functions and become a super scripter.
Little by little you will learn. It takes time. Lots of time. And then some more time and all along experimenting, breaking, fixing, modifying, breaking again etc.

It's gonna be very difficult now the forums will go. I've been helped by the great folks here too when after weeks of trying, I just had to ask for help. I dunno what newer folks are gonna do.

But anyway, grab some scripts and have a go. And good luck.

Do you know how to create the default script in an object?

Do you know how to get a script from your inventory into an object?

You might consider taking some inworld scripting lessons. New Citizens, Inc. , NCI, has classes, among other places.

There are some books on scripting.

Try taking a look at Jesse Barnett's example, "Anatomy of a Script", at http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/User:Jesse_Barnett/Script_Anatomy for a very well commented sample script that shows you how stuff works.

As to your question about "how to use a script", I'm not sure what you mean. To get one to work, you can just rez a prim, edit it, click on its contents tab (last one on right) and drag the script from your inventory and drop it in the prim.

I'd suggest taking a look at the College of Scripting at http://slurl.com/secondlife/Horsa/46/243/85, where you will find lots of interactive displays, demonstrating various functions, and simple step-by-step instructions next to them, showing you how make a similar object. And, since you can rez stuff and run scripts there, you can do it standing in front of the display.

I would also strongly suggest joining some of the in world scripting groups -- College of Scripting, Scripts and Script Academy are all friendly and helpful places -- where you can just post questions and someone usually can help you. You could also post the free script to pastebin http://pastebin.scriptacademy.org/, copy the url it generates and then post that in the group, asking if someone can explain to you how to use the script.

Please don't post whole scripts in in-world groups, though.. it really annoys everyone as their screens fill up with 30 or 40 lines of code suddenly!

Oh I see! Well, how you use a script depends on what it is supposed to do. The basic way you use a script is that you make an object, then you put the script inside the object's Contents. The script will then automatically animate the object however it is designed to do.

Say you have a "welcome mat" script. These usually announce the name of any avatar that steps on the mat in chat. To use it, you make something that looks like a welcome mat - a flattened box, stretched - and then put the script into its contents. [I know the people above say to make a new script, but to just use it you don't have to ... just drag it from inventory into the Contents. tab in the build menu]. Then step on the mat, and voila!

If you don't know how to make prims, take a trip to the Ivory Tower of Prims inworld and do the tutorials.

If you need help while you're inworld figuring this out, join "The Forum Cartel" group, and ask in chat for someone to walk you through it.
.

Another bit of reading for you to check out is a beginner's guide I wrote for LinkedPrim, which should explain the steps you need. It's in two parts, the first of which is here:

http://linkedprim.com/blogs/53/290-scripting-101-creating-a-script

I hope it proves useful, as it was specifically written to help people in your position

Thank you for giving me a lot of info about this.

I was not asking how to write a script, as I have collected many free scripts in SL that i don't know how to use, or even know what some of them do.

Thank you to those that have explained that I have to put the script into the contents tab of the actual prim object! (it has taken months to find this one small piece of info) I'm kinda upset that something so simple is not explained upfront anywhere, as I have wasted months of my time trying to find out. All of the tutorials and web info does not explain this upfront, they all start teaching you how to write a script upfront. All the info expects that people know computer programming and want to write their own scripts...... nothing about how to use existing scripts, or what to do with the free ones in SL.

..... So I have tried this with the "rotate" script from the SL viewer library - nothing happens to my prim. Something so simple makes me feel like an idiot, as I still can not get it to work!

I have been to the college of scripting, and I find it completely confusing because:
a) there is nothing to explain how to "use" the script - IE it has to be physically placed into an object and what to do with existing scripts.
b) there is a lot of cards (on level 1) that go into writing scripts that do the same things the build tools to IE - flexible prims, shapes, transparency etc... why do you need scripting for this?
c) The language used is confusing, there is a lot of info explaining the menus in the SL viewer - but not how these relate to scripting
d) there are no boards or signs explaing when, where or what classes are on
e) there is no one ever there to ask questions or help.

- a lot of people seem to forget that we are not all in the same time zone, I am yet to find classes that are not run at 3am in my RL time.

For simple people, like myself, using existing scripts is the best option, but I have not found any simple, user-friendly easy to understand documentation that people like me can follow for using existing scripts - it’s the same story for gestures.

Not everyone is made of money, so that they can keep buying or paying for solutions.

The MOST frustrating part of SL is that you have to wait months, sometimes years before you are able to have an immediate in world experience...... you have to spend all this time wandering around, not being able to express yourself, animate things - or even create gestures for your avi - is it worth spending years on trying to get your avatar to wave good bye, or your hand made clock to rotate??

GG,

Glad you figured out that hurdle. It is extremely difficult to know at what level to create tutorials. At some point, it is going to be 300 pages long and unreadable. An example of this is my boss. I was elected the enviable (not!) job of teaching him how to use a computer. I patiently showed him how to power it up, log in, wait for the system to become stable and then click a link and that is where the trouble started.

I had to show him what a "mouse" was and what a "left click" was!

But now you understand more then you did. More importantly you know where and how to get help. Unfortunately that will not be here but look at the links in Voids thread or join one of the many lsl groups inside SL.

If lsl is something that you are interested then you CAN learn it.

That's why the article I linked specifically starts with describing that -- it walks you through creating a script in inventory and then putting it into a prim to get it running, and explains why that's necessary.

If you can describe exactly the steps you took, and what happened (or didn't happen) we can advise you on what you may have missed. Again, my articles cover some of the very basics (like checking the script is set to run at all), but you'll get more help here too if you provide more info.

There are other self-paced / self-directed classes and tutorials you might find more approachable, but to get started from your current point, interactive instruction would probably be more helpful. If you really can't find any classes at a time you can attend, try asking for help in one of the scripting groups (e.g. Scripters of SecondLife). Perhaps you can find someone that's willing to sit down with you in-world and get you through the very basics.

There are a lot of places offering classes, so I'd be surprised if there weren't *any* you could attentd but, depending on your timezoe, I guess it's possible. Classes can only be scheduled for times when there are instructors available to teach them, and enough people available to attend. As I said above, try one of the in-world scripting groups to see if you can track down an instructor or a class at a time that works for you.

As with many things involving computers, there is often a learning curve. And as with most games (and software in general :-/) the available documentation isn't always sufficient to figure things out quickly and easily. Often, though, if you go back and read documentation that didn't make sense when you first came across it, you'll find that what you've learned since helps make sense of it.

I also highly recommend hanging around the orientation centers, NCI campus or anywhere else you can find people who are specifically looking to help other players learn about SL.

Above all, try to concentrate on having fun doing the things you know how to do, and let the knowledge accumulate through experience. If you focus too much on achieving things you don't know how to do, your experience will be dominated by the frustration of failure, rather than the joy of discovery.

And to re-iterate: the best way to get help is to ask, particularly in places and groups where there are people whose whole reason for being there is to answer questions. Ask politely, thank those who offer advice, and learn what you can from the answers. Let in sink in, rinse and repeat