MultiLoc class | objects.t[2604]

MultiLoc: this class can be multiply inherited by any object that must exist in more than one place at a time. To use this class, put it BEFORE Thing (or any subclass of Thing) in the object's superclass list, to ensure that we override the default containment implementation for the object.

Note that a MultiLoc object appears *in its entirety* in each of its locations. This means that MultiLoc is most suitable for a couple of specific situations:

- several locations overlap slightly so that they include a common object: a large statue at the center of a public square, for example;

- an object forms a sense connection among its location: a window;

- a distant object that is seen in its entirety from several locations: the moon, say, or a mountain range.

Note that MultiLoc is NOT suitable for cases where an object spans several locations but isn't contained entirely in any one of them: it's not good for something like a rope or a river, for example. MultiLoc also isn't good for cases where you simply want to avoid creating a bunch of repeated decorations in different locations. MultiLoc isn't good for these cases because a MultiLoc is treated as though it exists ENTIRELY and SIMULTANEOUSLY in all of its locations, which means that all of its sense information and internal state is shared among all of its locations.

MultiInstance is better than MultiLoc for cases where you want to share a decoration object across several locations. MultiInstance is better because it creates individual copies of the object in the different locations, so each copy has its own separate sense information and its own separate identity.

MultiFaceted is better for objects that span several locations, such as a river or a long rope. Like MultiInstance, MultiFaceted creates a separate copy in each location; in addition, MultiFaceted relates the copies together as "facets" of the same object, so that the parser knows they're all actually parts of one larger object.

`class MultiLoc : BaseMultiLoc`

Superclass Tree (in declaration order)

`MultiLoc`
`BaseMultiLoc`
`object`

Subclass Tree

`MultiLoc`
`SenseConnector`
`DistanceConnector`

Global Objects

(none)

Summary of Properties

`getConnectedContainers`

Inherited from `BaseMultiLoc` :
`initialLocationClass locationList`

Summary of Methods

`addDirectConnections baseMoveInto baseMoveIntoAdd baseMoveOutOf cloneForMultiInstanceContents cloneMultiInstanceContents forEachConnectedContainer forEachContainer getDropDestination initializeLocation moveIntoAdd moveOutOf reInitializeLocation restoreLocation saveLocation sensePathToLoc shineOnLoc`

Inherited from `BaseMultiLoc` :
`buildLocationList isDirectlyIn isIn isInitiallyIn isListedInContents isOrIsIn`

Properties

`getConnectedContainers` | `objects.t[2832]`

get a list of my connected containers; by default, we don't connect our containers, so this is an empty list

Methods

`addDirectConnections (tab)` | `objects.t[2866]`

Add the direct containment connections for this item to a lookup table.

A MultiLoc does not, by default, connect its multiple locations together. This means that if we're traversing in from a point of view outside the MultiLoc object, we don't add any of our other containers to the connection table. However, the MultiLoc itself, and its contents, *can* see out to all of its locations; so if we're traversing from a point of view inside self, we will add all of our containers to the connection list.

`baseMoveInto (newContainer)` | `objects.t[2722]`

Basic routine to move this object into a given single container. Removes the object from all of its other containers. Performs no notifications.

`baseMoveIntoAdd (newContainer)` | `objects.t[2747]`

Add this object to a new location - base version that performs no notifications.

`baseMoveOutOf (cont)` | `objects.t[2776]`

Base routine to move myself out of a given container. Performs no notifications.

`cloneForMultiInstanceContents (loc)` | `objects.t[2848]`

Create a clone of this object for inclusion in a MultiInstance's contents tree. We don't actually need to make a copy of the object, because a MultiLoc can be in several locations simultaneously; all we need to do is add ourselves to the new location.

`cloneMultiInstanceContents (loc)` | `objects.t[2839]`

Clone this object's contents for inclusion in a MultiInstance's contents tree. A MultiLoc is capable of being in multiple places at once, so we can just use our original contents tree as is.

`forEachConnectedContainer (func, ...)` | `objects.t[2826]`

Call a function on each connected container. By default, we don't connect our containers for sense purposes, so we do nothing here.

`forEachContainer (func, [args])` | `objects.t[2814]`

Call a function on each container. We'll invoke the function as follows for each container 'cont':

(func)(cont, args...)

`getDropDestination (obj, path)` | `objects.t[2950]`

Get the drop destination. The default implementation in Thing won't work for us, because it delegates to its location to find the drop destination; we can't do that because we could have several locations. To figure out which of our multiple locations to delegate to, we'll look for 'self' in the supplied sense path; if we can find it, and the previous path element is a container or peer of ours, then we'll delegate to that container, because it's the "side" we approached from. If there's no path, or if we're not preceded in the path by a container of ours, we'll arbitrarily delegate to our first container.

Note that when we don't have a path, or there's no container of ours preceding us in the path, the object being dropped must be starting inside us. It would be highly unusual for this to happen with a multi-location object, because MutliLoc isn't designed for use as a "nested room" or the like. However, it's not an impossible situation; if the game does want to create such a scenario, then the game simply needs to override this routine so that it does whatever makes sense in the game scenario. There's no general way to handle such situations, but it should be possible to determine the correct handling for specific scenarios.

`initializeLocation ( )` | `objects.t[2609]`

Initialize my location's contents list - add myself to my container during initialization

`moveIntoAdd (newContainer)` | `objects.t[2759]`

Add this object to a new location.

`moveOutOf (cont)` | `objects.t[2789]`

Remove myself from a given container, leaving myself in any other containers.

`reInitializeLocation ( )` | `objects.t[2634]`

Re-initialize the location list. This calls buildLocationList() to re-evaluate the location rules, then updates the locationList to match the new results. We'll remove the MultiLoc from any old locations that are no longer part of the location list, and we'll add it to any new locations that weren't previously in the location list. You can call this at any time to update the MutliLoc's presence to reflect applying our location rules to the current game state.

Note that this doesn't trigger any moveInto notifications. This routine is a re-initialization rather than an in-game action, so it's not meant to behave as though an actor in the game were walking around moving the MultiLoc around; thus no notifications are sent. Note also that we attempt to minimize our work by computing the "delta" from the old state - hence we only move the MultiLoc into containers it wasn't in previously, and we only remove it from existing containers that it's no longer in.

`restoreLocation (oldLoc)` | `objects.t[2692]`

restore a previously saved location

`saveLocation ( )` | `objects.t[2685]`

save my location for later restoration

`sensePathToLoc (sense, trans, obs, fill)` | `objects.t[2919]`

Build a sense path to my location or locations. Note that even though we don't by default connect our different containers together, we still build a sense path from within to outside, because we can see from within out to all of our containers.

`shineOnLoc (sense, ambient, fill)` | `objects.t[2905]`

Transmit ambient energy to my location or locations. Note that even though we don't by default shine light from one of our containers to another, we still shine light from within me to each of our containers.

TADS 3 Library Manual
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