Entity Template

In MCF, most of the operations are based on entities. The most frequently used command may be the execute as command. In MCFPP, the concept of Entity Template is introduced to manage a class of entities and declare fields and methods for this class of entities to store and operate data. In the past design, Entity Template was also called Class.

@Base<"creeper">
class SuperCreeper{

    text name;

    constructor(text name){
        this.name = name;
    }

    override func tick(){
        effect(@a[distance=..5], Effects.Poison);
        title(@a[distance=..5], this.name);
    }

}

Define of entity template

Entity Template was once called Class, so in the design, its syntax is very similar to the declaration syntax of class in Java/C#. So, if you have the basic knowledge, you should be able to get started easily.

In MCFPP, you can use keyword class to define a entity template:

class ClassName{
    # Class body
    #...
}

In it, ClassName is the name of the entity template. In MCFPP, the name of a entity template must start with an upper letter. The big parentheses followed that is the class body, including the member variable and member function, also the constructor and so on.

Instantiate of class

Often, you can use ClassName(<parameter list>) to create a instantiation of an object. Such as the example SuperCreeper class in the start of this article, you can create by SuperCreeper p = SuperCreeper("Super Creeper").

Initializer

When you create a entity template, you can use object Initializer to Instantiate some members of the class, such as the person shows before SuperCreeper, you have:

SuperCreeper p = SuperCreeper("")[
    name = "Super Creeper"
];

TIP

Not just for entity template initialization

In fact, entity template initializer can be used anywhere, not just when initializing entity templates. For example

func main(){
    Test t = Test();
    t = t[a = 100];
    print(t.toText());
}

In this example, the t object is initialized with Test(), and then the a field of t is set to 100 using the entity template initializer.

TIP

Entity Template and Class

Class is a special form of entity template. Sometimes, you may just want to store some data, rather than perform some operations on a class of entities. In this case, we prefer to call the entity template a class. Therefore, in the subsequent documents, if you see the word "class", you can think of it as a synonym for "entity template".