Tips and tricks!

DustyPorViva · #1 02-11-2010, 09:17 PM

Post various things not exactly documented. I know there is a page on the wiki about it, but all it does is link to various forum threads.

Comparing arrays! You can easily compare two arrays without having to run a loop, provided the two arrays are exactly the same, in the same order. This is good... for example, comparing tiles. Props go to Skyld for teaching me this one, I believe.

if (@this.arrayOne == @this.arrayTwo) // YAY!
or
if (@this.arrayOne == @{0,0,1,1}) // YAY!

This works by converting the arrays into strings, in which Graal simply compares them, much like "foo" == "foo".

Another one that's been floating around is the ability to setAni to specific frames. This is useful sometimes when you need a specific frame of a gani(like a single sword frame), or perhaps scripting your own looping system where you can control the speed of a gani by script. You can use this to duplicate the old player.sprite system.

setAni("sword[3]",null); // MAKE SURE THE VALUE IS PART OF THE STRING!
setAni("walk[" @ foo @ "]",null);
setAni("def[" @ spritenum @ "]",null); // WILL MIMIC player.sprite FROM GS1

Forming dynamic variable names! Probably something anyone who's been scripting for a while knows how to do, but I think is useful for those who are newer to the GS2 scene. You can use variable values to create new variable names.

temp.foo = 1;
temp.var = 2;
client.("data_" @ foo) = "test";
("client.data_" @ var) = "hmm";

What makes this even more powerful is the ability to capture all variables that begin with a certain string:

temp.prefix = "client.data_";
for (temp.i : getstringkeys(prefix) {
..// WILL ECHO THE NAME OF THE VAR AND ITS VALUE
..echo((prefix @ i) @ " : " @ makevar(prefix @ i));
}

For more information on this, the original post may help: http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...70&postcount=6

You can also pass parameters along with attributes. The process is fairly easy:

player.attr[5] = "scriptgani.gani,foo";
player.attr[5] = "scriptgani.gani,foo,hmm";
player.attr[5] = "scriptgani.gani," @ temp.var;
player.attr[5] = "scriptgani.gani," @ temp.var @ "," @ temp.foo;

The original post from Stefan is here: http://forums.graalonline.com/forums...61&postcount=3
Be aware though, that parameters do not update until the attribute is cleared and then reset. This makes it somewhat useless for attributes that are constant(like an HP bar).

This is all I have for now, though it was never even intended to be this long. I'd love to see more posts written that share some more unknown information so we can get it organized and hopefully easy-to-read. Maybe eventually it can be converted into a wiki page in itself(I can't edit the wiki though).

Soala · #2 02-11-2010, 09:45 PM

You can make a weapon invisible in your classic inventory (if you don't want to change it) by putting a - before its name, like:

-Playerstuffs

Do I recall correctly ? Been ages I didn't use this duh

Crow · #3 02-11-2010, 10:39 PM

That's right Soala, and a * as a prefix will make it show up, but you won't be able to delete in.

Immolate · #4 02-11-2010, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crow

That's right Soala, and a * as a prefix will make it show up, but you won't be able to delete in.

Also bare in mind, although the above techniques are very useful if you keep the default weapon system and inventory GUI, they'll be redundant if you use a customised item and inventory system. Probably better to use your own preferred markers for items that you can't see or delete.

Tigairius · #5 02-12-2010, 02:00 AM

DustyPorViva · #6 02-12-2010, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Immolate

Also bare in mind, although the above techniques are very useful if you keep the default weapon system and inventory GUI, they'll be redundant if you use a customised item and inventory system. Probably better to use your own preferred markers for items that you can't see or delete.

Default Inventory Prefixes:
- : hides the inventory
* : can't be deleted by player
category/itemname : Organizes the weapons in category names.

However, these aren't exactly script functions, so much as client features

WhiteDragon · #7 02-12-2010, 02:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DustyPorViva

Comparing arrays! You can easily compare two arrays without having to run a loop, provided the two arrays are exactly the same, in the same order.

Although this may be more concise, it also hides what ends up happening. The engine will have to do a loop in order to concatenate the array together, therefore it is still technically a O(n) operation.

DustyPorViva · #8 02-12-2010, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteDragon

Although this may be more concise, it also hides what ends up happening. The engine will have to do a loop in order to concatenate the array together, therefore it is still technically a O(n) operation.

Better done by the engine than by script.

fowlplay4 · #9 02-12-2010, 02:14 AM

Dynamic function calling.

I.e:

PHP Code:


			
function onCreated() {

  temp.func = "dispWorld";

  temp.parm = "Hello";

  (@temp.func)(temp.parm);

}



function dispWorld(greeting) {

  echo(format("%s World!", greeting)); // Echos "Hello World!"

}

Crow · #10 02-12-2010, 04:01 PM

Another handy thing is assigning WNPCs to vars. Let's say you got the following in -System/Inventory:

PHP Code:


			
//#CLIENTSIDE

function onCreated() {

  inventory = this;

  // more stuff..

}



public function Toggle() {

  // toggle

}

Then you could do something like this in -System/InputHandler:

PHP Code:


			
//#CLIENTSIDE

function HandleKey(key) {  // careful, I made this one up, assuming it was implemented in the WNPC earlier

  if (key == "q")

    inventory.Toggle();

  // probably more stuff..

}