[solved]Can't use "is" class check in an array?

[Sir Robin]

This code works the way I want it to:

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        //make a list of actors to check
        array<actor> CheckTarget;
        ThinkerIterator it = ThinkerIterator.Create("Actor");
        Actor mo;
        while (mo = Actor(it.Next()))
        {
            if (!mo.bNoBlockMap) continue;
            if (mo is "MapMarker") continue;
            if (mo is "WireCube3d") continue;
            CheckTarget.push(mo);
        }
        console.printf("TryIt: %d actors to consider", CheckTarget.size());//DEBUG

This code does not:

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        //Blacklist unwanted actors
        static const string BlackList[] =
        {
            "MapMarker",
            "WireCube3d"
        };
        
        //make a list of actors to check
        array<actor> CheckTarget;
        ThinkerIterator it = ThinkerIterator.Create("Actor");
        Actor mo;
        while (mo = Actor(it.Next()))
        {
            if (!mo.bNoBlockMap) continue;
            for (int i = 0; i < BlackList.size(); i++)
            {
                if (mo is BlackList[i]) continue;
            }
            CheckTarget.push(mo);
        }
        console.printf("TryIt: %d actors to consider", CheckTarget.size());//DEBUG

[MartinHowe]

AFAIK, the compiler 'magic' that converts a string into a class<whatever> in an immediate assignment only works for immediate strings; it's a convenience by the compiler because the idiom of specifying a class immediately happens so often.

You might have replace

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if (mo is BlackList[i]) continue;

with

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class<Actor> someClass = BlackList[i]);
if (mo is someClass]) continue

I have to leave for work soon, so no time to test it, but it's worth a try; the Wiki suggests that should work.

[Graf Zahl]

Better put class type pointers into the array directly. to avoid the lookup completely.

Also, when you say "does not work",that doesn't mean much. How does it fail?

[Sir Robin]

ah, I think I did something stupid. That inner continue isn't going to continue the outer loop. I'll need another boolean for that.

Meanwhile, yes, I would like to eliminate the string lookup with actual classes. I don't know how to code that. I will have a list of strings containing classes I want put on the exclude list. not all of these classes may exist - some may be defined in optional mods that are not currently loaded. So I only want to put valid classes on that list to save wasting time.

Something like:

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//A simple string list of things I want to exclude
array<string> DesiredExcludes;
DesiredExcludes.push("MapMarker");
DesiredExcludes.push("WireCube3d");

//A list of actual things to exclude
array<something> BlackList;
for (int i = 0; i < DesiredExcludes.size(); i++)
{
    PushIfClassIsDefined(BlackList, DesiredExcludes[i]);
}

//A list of things I want to see
array<actor> CheckTarget;
ThinkerIterator it = ThinkerIterator.Create("Actor");
Actor mo;
while (mo = Actor(it.Next()))
{
    bool ShouldAdd = true;
    ShouldAdd &= mo.bNoBlockMap;
    for (int i = 0; ShouldAdd && i < BlackList.size(); i++)
    {
        ShouldAdd = !(mo is BlackList[i]);
    }
    if (ShouldAdd) CheckTarget.push(mo);
    if (!ShouldAdd) console.printf("Ignoring %s",mo.GetCharacterName());//DEBUG
}
console.printf("TryIt: %d actors to consider", CheckTarget.size());//DEBUG
 

[MartinHowe]

PushIfClassIsDefined is easy; assign the string to a class variable and if the class isn't defined, the variable will be null; so change the middle part to:

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//A list of actual things to exclude
array<something> BlackList;
for (int i = 0; i < DesiredExcludes.size(); i++)
{
    class someClass = DesiredExcludes[i];
    if (someClass != null)
    {
        BlackList.Push(someClass);
    }
}

[Sir Robin]

Excellent! Thank you!

Final code is here:

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        //Desired Excludes
        array<string> DesiredExcludes;
        DesiredExcludes.push("MapMarker");
        DesiredExcludes.push("WireCube3d");
        DesiredExcludes.push("NonexistingClassName");
        console.printf("TryIt: %d desired excludes", DesiredExcludes.size());//DEBUG
    
        //Actual Excludes
        array<class> BlackList;
        for (int i = 0; i < DesiredExcludes.size(); i++)
        {
            class someClass = DesiredExcludes[i];
            if (someClass) BlackList.push(someClass);
        }
        console.printf("TryIt: %d actual excludes", BlackList.size());//DEBUG
        
        //make a list of actors to check
        array<actor> CheckTarget;
        ThinkerIterator it = ThinkerIterator.Create("Actor");
        Actor mo;
        while (mo = Actor(it.Next()))
        {
            bool ShouldSkip = false;
            ShouldSkip |= !mo.bNoBlockMap;
            for (int i = 0; i < BlackList.size() && !ShouldSkip; i++)
            {
                ShouldSkip = mo is BlackList[i];
            }
            if (ShouldSkip) continue;
            CheckTarget.push(mo);
        }
        console.printf("TryIt: %d actors to consider", CheckTarget.size());//DEBUG
 

[Graf Zahl]

That's even more inefficient if you reinitialize the arrays in each call.
That makes only sense if you keep them around.

You can also do this:

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		static const class<Actor> choices[] =
		{
			"WraithFX1", "Demon1FX1", "Demon2FX1", "FireDemonMissile", "CentaurFX", "SerpentFX"
		};