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Compiling Scripts

by Vern Jensen · in Torque Game Builder · 06/17/2006 (3:09 pm) · 3 replies

Perhaps I'm not doing it the right way, but it seems to me that the process for writing scripts and testing them is:

1) Edit the text file.
2) Quit and restart TGE so the scripts re-compile.
3) Run

The problem is that at step 2, I don't get any compile errors if there are problems in my script. And I mean problems that should be obvious to any normal language compiler, such as:

function playerShip::updateMovement(%this)
{
%hDirection = this.moveRight - %this.moveLeft; // OOPS! Forgot % on this.moveRight

or

%this.setPositionX( %this.getWorldLimit().maxX ); // WRONG!

(correct code would be this instead)

%theList = %this.getWorldLimit();
%this.setPositionX( getWord(%theList, 3) );

I get no warnings or anything. The game just runs. It doesn't work right, but I get no indication which lines in my script might be at fault.

My suggestion: Add a Compile or Build or Make button next to the Run Game button in TGE. This compiles all your scripts (no need to quit and restart TGE), AND reports any syntax/other compile errors. This would be SO helpful.

-Vern
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Torque 3D Owner Rodney Rindels - Torqued
Divide By Zero
#1
06/17/2006 (5:20 pm)
1. In RC3 its supposed to recompile your scripts when you run the level . It seems to work for me, are you at RC3?

2. this is a valid name, I dont think it should try and trap things like that , you could have a class name called "this", thats why you run unit level tests and QA.

Torque 3D Owner Tom Bampton
#2
06/17/2006 (11:00 pm)
Those are not syntax errors. They are valid TorqueScript.

On this.moveRight ...

You can access objects by name. For example:

new ScriptObject(this)
{
   foo = "bar";
};

That'll make a new ScriptObject called "this" with the field foo set to the string bar. You can then access that object anywhere else in your scripts as this ... e.g.:

echo("How confusing: " @ this.bar);

Yes, it's confusing. No, it's not a syntax error. Note that a lot of existing code relies on this feature (although using more sensible names then "this"), there is no way for the compiler to know if you actually meant to use %, $ or an object name.

On %this.setPositionX( %this.getWorldLimit().maxX ); ...

You'll get an error in the console about an invalid object at run time because at compile time the compiler doesnt know what %this.getWorldLimit() returns.

So, in summary, these errors are just due to you misunderstanding/not knowing the language and API. The compiler can't tell you that they are errors because it simply doesnt know and there is no way for it to know.

Torque Owner Vern Jensen
#3
06/19/2006 (12:07 pm)
Alright, thanks for the replies.

Rodney, to answer your question, yes I'm using RC3, but I'm on MacOS X. Perhaps the MacOS X RC3 version still has this problem, because I definitely have to quit and restart TGE to get the scripts to recompile. It's not a big deal -- it quits and restarts in about a second or two.

-Vern