Kattana's post in Jass Vault

Okaaaaaaaay...
http://www.wc3jass.com/viewtopic.php?t=2461

Can someone please explain in plainest possible english what exactly does this achieve? I understand it's supposed to be great, but i don't quite understand what it is :/

It's not that great, later on in the thread Kattana gives up on the whole thing.
Edit: This should be in triggers and scripts.

And later on in another thread Blade.dk creates a map, based on this idea, which is received pretty warmly. So i will wait for what others can say about it :P

Oh, and if you think it belongs somewhere else - please feel free to move it. You ARE a mod in the end :P

Reason i posted it here is that there is a slight chance it can end up in discussion of new development opportunities, opened by new technology. Which is not strictly limited to scripts and triggers.

P.S: Anitarf is mean :cry:

Did I create a map based on that idea? Please show me where, I don't remember that at all.

Ah sorry, messed you up with PitzerMike.
Must be because a guy from wc3jass with your screenname and avatar, replied to his map and told that its great. That's why it associated with you in my mind.
Here link to map.
http://www.wc3jass.com/viewtopic.php?t=2469

Can someone please explain me WHAT it is for a change, instead of telling me how not-so-great it is?

I'm a mod there, not here, so I can't move a thread from here to there, only from there anywhere. :)

From what I understand, the whole thing is essentially about being lazy. The idea is to access some object editor data with triggers, thus keeping all data for a triggered item in one place, as opposed to the usual way of making triggered items, which is to write their statistics in their tooltips for the player to see as well as in a trigger database for the triggers to use.

The point has merit as there's less chances to desynchronise the two databases by accident, which results in items doing something other than their tooltips say. However, due to complications, it just seems to me like more trouble than it's worth.

Understood
Thank you
For a second there, i thought it was a way to dynamically alter object data, but i guess it wasn't.

The idea is awsome :) i am using it in my map, you can add data to object data and access them with triggers, u must widgitize ur map everytime u wanna release it though.

What does this allow to do that you can't do without it?
If nothing, than does it allow for smaller map size or faster loadtimes than existing triggered item systems?
Or is it really just a matter of pure conveniency?

It will most likelly be slower.

It allows them to set stuff of items in object editor, great in theory but those are only 5 fields a complex item system will require more stuff. It also requires you to widgetize everytime .

Well Lazyness is not a good roommate seriously.

You can add as many fields as you want, seperated with commas and then access them with GetAbilityEffectById with index being the one you want to access.
This is the best alternative to loading all info at map init with game cache, and saves me a lot of time.
Also u can just import UnitMetaData.slk to ur map when ur testing, and when ur ready to release, just delete that file and widgitize.

still hits execution and seems inflexible I can't think of a way to put all data an item can have in InVx by just separating stuff with commans.


And I personally find setting stuff in JASS much more efficient than using the editor.

I guess a good combination of both ideas would be adding dummy fields to the object editor and having an external app, that parses the object files and compiles JASS initialization code from that, and optionally deletes those dummy fields afterwards.

That way you keep changes local to the object editor and don't have to switch to trigger editor every now and then.

And you still have fast execution and no need for using Widgetizer.

it is faster to make a trigger than to use the object editor.

If you want to keep things separated you can write the setup of items outside and just paste stuff in the trigger editor when needing to change.