MessageVector Class Reference
[Utility Controls]

Store a list of chat messages. More...

Inheritance diagram for MessageVector:

[legend]

List of all members.

Public Member Functions
void	clear ()
	Clear all messages in the vector.
bool	deleteLine (int deletePos)
	Delete the line at the specified position.
void	dump (string filename)
	Dump the message vector to a file without a header.
void	dump (string filename, string header)
	Dump the message vector to a file with a header.
int	getLineIndexByTag (int tag)
	Scan through the vector, returning the line number of the first line that matches the specified tag; else returns -1 if no match was found.
int	getLineTag (int pos)
	Get the tag of a specified line.
string	getLineText (int pos)
	Get the text at a specified line.
string	getLineTextByTag (int tag)
	Scan through the lines in the vector, returning the first line that has a matching tag.
int	getNumLines ()
	Get the number of lines in the vector.
bool	insertLine (int insertPos, string msg, int tag)
	Push a line onto the back of the list.
bool	popBackLine ()
	Pop a line from the back of the list; destroys the line.
bool	popFrontLine ()
	Pop a line from the front of the vector, destroying the line.
void	pushBackLine (string msg, int tag)
	Push a line onto the back of the list.
void	pushFrontLine (string msg, int tag)
	Push a line onto the front of the vector.

---

Detailed Description

Store a list of chat messages.

This is responsible for managing messages which appear in the chat HUD, not the actual control rendered to the screen

Example:

// Declare ChatHud, which is what will display the actual chat from a MessageVector
new GuiMessageVectorCtrl(ChatHud) {
   profile = "ChatHudMessageProfile";
   horizSizing = "width";
   vertSizing = "height";
   position = "1 1";
   extent = "252 16";
   minExtent = "8 8";
   visible = "1";
   helpTag = "0";
   lineSpacing = "0";
   lineContinuedIndex = "10";
   matchColor = "0 0 255 255";
   maxColorIndex = "5";
};

// All messages are stored in this HudMessageVector, the actual
// MainChatHud only displays the contents of this vector.
new MessageVector(HudMessageVector);

// Attach the MessageVector to the chat control
chatHud.attach(HudMessageVector);

See also:

GuiMessageVectorCtrl for more details on how this is used.

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Member Function Documentation

void MessageVector::clear

(

)

Clear all messages in the vector.

Example:

HudMessageVector.clear();

bool MessageVector::deleteLine

(

int

deletePos

)

Delete the line at the specified position.

Parameters:

deletePos

Position in the vector containing the line to be deleted

Example:

// Delete the first line (index 0) in the vector...
HudMessageVector.deleteLine(0);

Returns:

False if deletePos is greater than the number of lines in the current vector

void MessageVector::dump

(

string

filename

)

Dump the message vector to a file without a header.

Parameters:

filename

Name and path of file to dump text to.

Example:

// Dump the entire chat log to a text file
HudMessageVector.dump("./chatLog.txt");

void MessageVector::dump	(	string	filename,
		string	header
	)

Dump the message vector to a file with a header.

Parameters:

	filename	Name and path of file to dump text to.
	header	Prefix information for write out

Example:

// Arbitrary header data
%headerInfo = "Ars Moriendi Chat Log";

// Dump the entire chat log to a text file
HudMessageVector.dump("./chatLog.txt", %headerInfo);

int MessageVector::getLineIndexByTag

(

int

tag

)

Scan through the vector, returning the line number of the first line that matches the specified tag; else returns -1 if no match was found.

Parameters:

tag

Numerical value assigned to a message when it was added or inserted

Example:

// Locate a line of text tagged with the value "1", then delete it.
%taggedLine = HudMessageVector.getLineIndexByTag(1);
HudMessageVector.deleteLine(%taggedLine);

Returns:

Line with matching tag, other wise -1

int MessageVector::getLineTag

(

int

pos

)

Get the tag of a specified line.

Parameters:

pos

Position in vector to grab tag from

Example:

// Remove all lines that do not have a tag value of 1.
while( HudMessageVector.getNumLines())
{
   %tag = HudMessageVector.getLineTag(1);
   if(%tag != 1)
      %tag.delete();
   HudMessageVector.popFrontLine();
}

Returns:

Tag value of a given line, if the position is greater than the number of lines return 0

string MessageVector::getLineText

(

int

pos

)

Get the text at a specified line.

Parameters:

pos

Position in vector to grab text from

Example:

// Print a line of text at position 1.
%text = HudMessageVector.getLineText(1);
echo(%text);

Returns:

Text at specified line, if the position is greater than the number of lines return ""

string MessageVector::getLineTextByTag

(

int

tag

)

Scan through the lines in the vector, returning the first line that has a matching tag.

Parameters:

tag

Numerical value assigned to a message when it was added or inserted

Example:

// Locate text in the vector tagged with the value "1", then print it
%taggedText = HudMessageVector.getLineTextByTag(1);
echo(%taggedText);

Returns:

Text from a line with matching tag, other wise ""

int MessageVector::getNumLines

(

)

Get the number of lines in the vector.

Example:

// Find out how many lines have been stored in HudMessageVector
%chatLines = HudMessageVector.getNumLines();
echo(%chatLines);

bool MessageVector::insertLine	(	int	insertPos,
		string	msg,
		int	tag
	)

Push a line onto the back of the list.

Parameters:

	msg	Text that makes up the message
	tag	Numerical value associated with this message, useful for searching.

Example:

// Add the message...
HudMessageVector.insertLine(1, "Hello World", 0);

Returns:

False if insertPos is greater than the number of lines in the current vector

bool MessageVector::popBackLine

(

)

Pop a line from the back of the list; destroys the line.

Example:

HudMessageVector.popBackLine();

Returns:

False if there are no lines to pop (underflow), true otherwise

bool MessageVector::popFrontLine

(

)

Pop a line from the front of the vector, destroying the line.

Example:

HudMessageVector.popFrontLine();

Returns:

False if there are no lines to pop (underflow), true otherwise

void MessageVector::pushBackLine	(	string	msg,
		int	tag
	)

Push a line onto the back of the list.

Parameters:

	msg	Text that makes up the message
	tag	Numerical value associated with this message, useful for searching.

Example:

// Add the message...
HudMessageVector.pushBackLine("Hello World", 0);

void MessageVector::pushFrontLine	(	string	msg,
		int	tag
	)

Push a line onto the front of the vector.

Parameters:

	msg	Text that makes up the message
	tag	Numerical value associated with this message, useful for searching.

Example:

// Add the message...
HudMessageVector.pushFrontLine("Hello World", 0);