Trying to get 2 script bool to affect each other depending on which bool of the array list is true

Question

I want to make a list of bools and the InteractableList will will allow me to just set one of the bool to true which will determine which object it is, and then in the Interactions script when I (currently) move over that object, which will determine which object it is, set that specific bool to true in my interactions script (meaning I have collected that specific object), and delete the object. What I need to know is how would I determine which object in the list is it (I set it to true in the editor) and then how would the other script determine which bool is true in the list according to the editor, determine the bool they are related? to (I want element 0 in InteractableList to affect hasKnife in Interactions).Currently my scripts are

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Answer 1

Hey there and welcome to the forum,

not completly sure where you are heading with this but from the information given i'd strongly suggest to take 2 steps back and to choose a slightly different approach. Having something like and array of bools might look like an easy solution at first but can get quite tiresome as soon as you have more objects like 10-20 onwards.

So given this let's take a look at some techniques that can be used to deal with this:

First up check out Enumerations

    // this "enum" type can be used to create a List of "Names" that translate into numbers which can be use as indexes.
    public enum ItemType { None, Knife, Pencil, Gun, Shield, Sword };
    
    //if you now give this variable to a script you can set the "Type" in the inspector from a Dropdown menu.
    public ItemType type;

enums can help to make your code really readable as you can have comparisons like this:

   if(type == ItemType.Knife)
         //do something because this is a knife.

Another thing that you should look into is Inheritance.

For example you could create a class:

    public class CollectibleItem : MonoBehaviour
    {
          public virtual void Use() {} //this here can stay empty as the base class does not need behaviour here. It is only there to create the "structure" of an item.
    }

On this you can now build Items which are derived from the CollectibleItem base class: (each of these have to go into their own file like if you create a new script for any Monobehaviour)

    public class Knife : CollectibleItem {
         public override void Use() {
              //do whatever a knife should do specifically if you "Use" this item.
         }
    }

   public class Pencil: CollectibleItem {
         public override void Use() {
              //do whatever a pencil should do specifically if you "Use" this item.
         }
    }

What can we use this for? If you have a player script you can now do the following:

   public class YourPlayerScript : Monobehaviour {
          // List for Collectible Items:
          public List<CollectibleItem> inventory = new List<CollectibleItem>();  


          public void OnCollisionEnter(Collision col)  
          {
               var collectible = col.gameObject.GetComponent<CollectibleItem>();
               if(collectible == null)
                    return; // do nothing if this is not a collectible
               //if we are here then it is a collectible so we can do something with it:
               //for example use it:
               collectible.Use(); //this will now call the "Use" function. This will always call the "override" behaviour from the derived classes like "Knife" or "Pencil". 
               //or add it to our Inventory:
               inventory.Add(collectible);
               //or check if it is a specific collectible:
               if(collectible is Pencil)
                       //do something specific since it is a pencil
        }
  }

As shown above you can use this class inheritance base to easily handle different objects in a generalized manner. Most importantly though, you can easily add more. Just add a new derived class from CollectibleItem. It will automatically work with your inventory, you can easily give it its own behaviour.

Let me know if something was unclear here. I know that this might be a bit much since you are still at the start of your journey but i can only encourage you to try and understand these methods/principles as they will save you a lot of pain further down the road.

Answer 2

Answer by RedBlackGold · Apr 18 at 10:27 PM

@Captain_Pineapple so it might work, not fully sure. What I am trying to do is where I walk over an object, and then it checks in the editor which object it is. After it determines which object it is (let's say knife), it will then destroy the object (which is pretty easy) and set the bool related to that object (not code-wise) to true. The bool "hasKnife" should be set to true when you walk over the item that has a script that in the editor the enum is set to Knife. Sorry if this is not enough info but I am currently out of time. alt text

screen-shot-2022-04-18-at-32504-pm.png (59.8 kB)

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Captain_Pineapple · Apr 19 at 06:58 PM 0

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okay, not sure what the "Checker" class is good for but some notes to the code you posted. in general the code has to be in some function of the class, otherwise it will not be viable.

Next thing is that variables that are private, will not be accessible from child classes.

     //these are private and only available in the same class:
     private float someValue;
     float someValue;

     //this is like private but makes it also available for child classes:
     protected float someOtherValue;

     //this is available everywhere:
     public float somePublicValue;

So currently hasKnife in InteractableList must at least be protected instead of private. If you have any more questions regarding this please add a bit more info.

RedBlackGold Captain_Pineapple · Apr 19 at 09:58 PM 0

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I honestly don't know why I made the checker, but hasKnife is in the Interactilbles script. Uhm ok, so my goal is that I have an Interactions script on the player (It will end up with a button, it checks the tag of the object you are interacting with and then does a certain thing depending on the tag). I need another script called InteractableList which I put not on the player but specifically on collectible objects and NPCs, and this script is supposed to determine which specific object/NPC it is. Once it has been determined that it gets sent to the Interactions script when they interact with the specific object so with objects it will check which object it is in the InteractibleList (for example with a knife it will see that the enum is a knife), and then that's gets sent to the Interactions script on the player and will set the hasKnife bool to true, and this bool is used for when you talk to NPC's, and in a basic version of the game it's if you do not have the knife you get answer 1 where you don't win, but if you have the knife and talk to the NPC then you get answer 2 in which you win.

This can't be done in 1 script because if I end up giving the script onto the objects and NPC's then the knife for example is going to be like "oh, there's a knife on me. Time to delete it and set the bool to true" but that would set the bool on the knife (which has now been deleted) to true, making it impossible to set to true on the player as the object has already been deleted.

Captain_Pineapple RedBlackGold · Apr 20 at 05:45 PM 0

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Okay, i do not really understand what your Interactable List is for.

In my mind i'd try to build a system like this:

My Player Script has a list of flags:

   //bools for all possible item enum values:
   private bool[] itemFlags = new bool[System.Enum.GetNames(typeof(ItemType)).Length];

this is a list that automatically contains as many entries as there are values in the enumeration ItemType. Then my player can interact with an item for example by using a raycast or any other method that returns me a GameObject interactGameObj that i want to try to interact with.

 //get the collectible refrence:
 var collectibleReference = interactGameObj.GetComponent<CollectibleItem>()
 if(collectibleReference != null) //check if it is != null
 {
         //set the flag that we have the item to true:
         itemFlags[(int)collectibleReference.type] = true;
         //destroy the interacted item:
         Destroy(interactGameObj);
 }

This way you now have an array of flags that you can check if you for example have a knife:

    if(itemFlags[(int)ItemType.Knife]) // if this returns true we have a knife.

Does this make sense? Is this what you are trying to do?

Sorry if this seems a complicated way to do things but imo it is important to not have single flags for things like "i have item X" since this will get out of hand the more items you have. Systems should always be scaleable.

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Trying to get 2 script bool to affect each other depending on which bool of the array list is true

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