Arma Reforger:Scripting Temporary Feature

Developing or updating a feature may happen over the course of multiple days and sometimes having the ability to switch it on/off for feature or performance comparison is a good thing. Multiple options are available.

Bool Switch

class TAG_TestEntity : GenericEntity { [Attribute(defvalue: "0")] protected bool m_bActivateFeature; // can be changed during runtime with SetActivateFeature void SetActivateFeature(bool activate) { m_bActivateFeature = activate; } void PublicMethod() { if (m_bActivateFeature) { // feature actions } else { // old/no feature actions } } }

Preprocessor If

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Script Editor usually covers such cases well but proper error finding in #ifdef blocks is not guaranteed.

Sometimes a bool switch is not a possible solution (due to required data initialisation or other systems, etc). A preprocessor definition can be used:

class TAG_TestEntity : GenericEntity { protected ref array<int> m_aObjectData; #ifdef TAG_ACTIVATE_FEATURE protected ref array<int> m_aNewFeatureData; // this will not exist at all in the object if the flag is not defined, therefore no reference/memory will be attributed #endif void PublicMethod() { #ifdef TAG_ACTIVATE_FEATURE // feature actions #else // old/no feature actions - m_aNewFeatureData can NOT be referenced as it does not exist here #endif } void TAG_TestEntity() { m_aObjectData = {}; #ifdef TAG_ACTIVATE_FEATURE // all these operations will not happen at all - actually, all these instructions will not even exist if the flag is not defined m_aNewFeatureData = {}; for (int i = 0; i < 1001; i++) { m_aNewFeatureData.Insert(i * 2); } #endif } }

This is very often used with #ifdef WORKBENCH across Arma Reforger code, allowing code to only be compiled for Workbench usage (saving memory space in game).

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Useful frequently used flags:

• WORKBENCH - if the Workbench executable is running
• PLATFORM_CONSOLE - if the platform is a game console (Xbox, PlayStation, etc)

Definition

A preprocessor value can be defined in two ways:

• preprocessor definition, using #define TAG_ACTIVATE_FEATURE at the top of the file - required in every file that uses it. Can be commented with //
• the scrDefine startup parameter ArmaReforgerSteam.exe -scrDefine TAG_ACTIVATE_FEATURE