Shortnote

This script was tested and works on OpenSim version 0.7.4!

The following two scripts implement a spinner using llSetText without destroying the text that is already displayed. This may be useful for providing a visual feedback that the script is working or making progress.

Setup

Drop the two scripts bellow in a primitive and touch the primitive for the spinner to rotate.

Developer Notes

The spinner script listens for link messages:

link_message(integer sender_num, integer num, string str, key id)

and will spin num characters forward once a message is received. For example, to make the spinner rotate 8 times, send the following link message to the primitive where the spinner script is placed:

llMessageLinked(LINK_THIS, 8, "spin", "");

Code: Trigger

trigger.lsl

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//     WaS (c) grimore.org - 2012, License: GPLv3            //
// Please see: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html     //
// for legal details, rights of fair usage and          //
// the disclaimer and warranty conditions.              //
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
default
{
    state_entry() {
        llSetText("Touch to spin...", <1,1,1>, 1);
    }
    touch(integer num) {
        llMessageLinked(LINK_THIS, 1, "spin", "");
    }
}

Code: Spinner

spinner.lsl

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//     WaS (c) grimore.org - 2012, License: GPLv3            //
// Please see: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html     //
// for legal details, rights of fair usage and          //
// the disclaimer and warranty conditions.              //
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
list spinChars = [ "↑", "↗", "→", "↘", "↓", "↙", "←", "↖" ];
default
{
    link_message(integer sender_num, integer num, string str, key id)
    {
        if(str != "spin") return;
@start;
        string text = llList2String(llGetLinkPrimitiveParams(LINK_THIS, [PRIM_TEXT]), 0);
        do {
            string tok = llGetSubString(text, llStringLength(text)-1, llStringLength(text)-1);
            if(llListFindList(spinChars, (list)tok) == -1 && tok != "\n" && tok != "[" && tok != "]") jump show;
            text = llDeleteSubString(text, llStringLength(text)-1, llStringLength(text)-1);
        } while(llStringLength(text));
@show;
        string next = llList2String(spinChars,  0);
        spinChars = llDeleteSubList(spinChars, 0, 0);
        spinChars += next;
        llSetText(text + "\n" + "[" + next + "]", <1,1,1>, 1);
        if(--num > 0) jump start;
    }
}

Single Function

The following function will rotate the spinner once and can be used separately in scripts.

list spinChars = [ "↑", "↗", "→", "↘", "↓", "↙", "←", "↖" ];
string spin() {
    string text = llList2String(llGetLinkPrimitiveParams(LINK_THIS, [PRIM_TEXT]), 0);
    do {
        string tok = llGetSubString(text, llStringLength(text)-1, llStringLength(text)-1);
        if(!~llListFindList(spinChars, (list)tok) && tok != "\n" && tok != "[" && tok != "]") jump show;
        text = llDeleteSubString(text, llStringLength(text)-1, llStringLength(text)-1);
    } while(llStringLength(text));
@show;
    string next = llList2String(spinChars,  0);
    spinChars = llDeleteSubList(spinChars, 0, 0);
    spinChars += next;
    return "[" + next + "]";
}