Properties

Properties exist as a way to sync data from server to client without having to send the entire TARDIS/its component to the client.

PropertiesHolder (V1, DEPRECATED)

(Or as i call them, properties v1) were the original properties, only support primitive types, String and Identifier.

PropertiesHolder is a wrapper for a Map<String, Object>. Doesn’t support nested data (technically it does, but it will sync the object containing the nested data as one whole, not partially).

They were deprecated as of 1.0.5

Properties & Values (V2)

(Or as i call them, properties v2). Supports nested data. Instead of being bound to a single PropertiesHolder, any component that extends KeyedTardisComponent will be able to use them.

The API consists of 2 main classes, Property and Value.

• Property is a blueprint for all values. A schema if you will. Values refer to its defining property to serialize and deserialize data.
• Value is the container for any object. It tracks data, has a getter and a setter.

Example:

class ExampleHandler extends KeyedTardisComponent {

    private static final Property<String> EX_STR = Property.of(Type.STRING, "ex_str", "default value");

    // Use implementations to get accurate properties for primitive types.
    private static final IntProperty EX_INT = new IntProperty("ex_int", component -> PropertiesHandler.get(component.tardis(), "ex_int")); // read the default value from v1

    private final Value<String> exStr = EX_STR.create(this);
    private final IntValue exInt = EX_INT.create(this);

    @Override
    public void onLoaded() { 
        // it is important to load the values in this method. It's ensured to be called on both sides when the component is loaded
        this.exStr.of(this, EX_STR);
        this.exInt.of(this, EX_INT);
    }

    // ...
}

Primitive Values

While you can use the Value class with the boxed variants of primitives (Integer, Boolean, etc), it’s not always the desired solution.

Boxed primitives are objects, meaning they can have a null value, while the primitives take 0 or false as default.

If you want your properties have the same behaviour as primitives, then use primitive values.

Instead of doing Property<Integer> and Value<Integer> use IntProperty and IntValue. Same applies to float & boolean (as of 1.0.5).

Ranged Properties

RangedIntProperty allows you to automatically clamp the value between a start and end integers.