I am having some trouble with handles. The manual says:

Quote:

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A handle is a unique object number that can be assigned to any variable, and identifies that object.

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However, when I test this, I get the same handle for multiple entities (ie, not unique). Here's how I'm testing:

Code:

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if(key_q) {
     //create a blank entity with no action
     test_ent = ent_create (null, vector (0,0,0), NULL);     
     wait(-.5);  //only necessary for multiplayer
     handle_var = handle(test_ent); //store the ent handle
     num_ents = num_ents+1; //keep count of # of ents
} 

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I have a debug panel that shows me handle_var and num_ents. Every time I hit q, I can see that new entities are being created, but the handle stays the same. What's going on?

The handle is always 65536, which is suspiciously also the range of a short. Am I not even getting a valid handle?

if(key_q) { //create a blank entity with no action
test_ent = ent_create (null, vector (0,0,0), NULL);
wait(-.5); //only necessary for multiplayer
handle_var[num_ents] = test_ent; //store the ent handle
num_ents += 1; //keep count of # of ents}

if(key_q) { //create a blank entity with no action
handle_var[num_ents] = ent_create (null, vector (0,0,0), NULL);
num_ents += 1; //keep count of # of ents
wait(-.5); //only necessary for multiplayer
}

dint test it but could loolk likte this

So you assign the pointer directly to the variable, without ever calling the handle() function?

Why does the manual show the following example:
Code:

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my.skill48 = handle(entity);

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Isn't "entity" a pointer in this example?

Hi,
Your example runs without problems.
I think the only problem is the debugging function you are using.
Only three fractional numbers are shown by str_for_num. The rest is truncicated (oh what a word - perhaps wrong).
I used this to show the changing handles:
str_for_num(debug1,fraction(handle_var) * 1000);
So you can see that handle_var changes.
I tested it. If it don't work ask
MfG
Patrick

Here's a little something from 'The Master', AUM 47.

Handles

What do you do when you need to control 20 different entities? Well, you can define 20 different pointers named (let's say) tree1... tree20 and maybe change their z positions this way: tree4.z = 200; or tree15.z = 150; and so on. But what do you do if you need to control 100 or 1000 entities? Who wants to define 1000 pointers?

This small article will show you how to use handles, which are nothing more than unique numbers that can be associated to any of your entities, actions, strings, bitmaps, panels... (almost) whatever you might need.

var index = 0;
var my_entities[100]; // control up to 100 different entities

entity* temp_ptr; // temporary pointer to the entity

I have defined a variable named index and an array that can store up to 100 handles; I chose 100 as an example, but you can control over 10,000 entities without any problem. I have also defined a temporary pointer named temp_ptr.

action control_entities
{
my_entities[index] = handle (my);
index += 1;
// put the rest of your entity code here
}

The action above is attached to our entities; it stores the handle to the entity (a number) inside the array, at the position given by the index variable, and then it increments index, allowing the other entities to store their handles inside the array.

function move_entity(number, height)
{
temp_ptr = ptr_for_handle(my_entities[number]);
temp_ptr.z += height; // increase the z of the entity by "height" quants
}

This is a simple example of a function that moves an entity along its z axis; you could use it to move the crowd sprites in your sports game, and so on. Call the function this way:

move_entity(5, 40);

and it will move the 5th entity 40 quants upwards; or call it this way:

move_entity(23, -30);

and it will move the 23rd entity downwards by 30 quants. If you use a while loop to generate random numbers and heights, and then you call function move_entity using those values, you will have a realistic looking, furiously animated crowd in no time!