Creating a user-defined class

1. Open the 'Schema' pane and in the shortcut bar, click the image labeled 'Classes'.
   
   
2. Right click on the 'Classes' node and select 'New/Class' in the context menu. Change the name of the new class to 'MyClass'.
   
   
3. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/Property' in the context menu. Change the name of the new property to 'Value'. This will give all instances of 'MyClass' a value named 'Value'.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'DataType' property and click the ... button. In the 'Select DataType' dialog choose the 'Long' datatype, this will make the value a 4 byte signed integer.
   • Now select the 'DefaultValue' property and enter the text '0'. This will give the property an initial value of zero.
   
   
4. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/Property' in the context menu. Change the name of the new property to 'Test'. This will give all instances of 'MyClass' a value named 'Test'.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'DataType' property and click the ... button. In the 'Select DataType' dialog choose the 'Invoke' datatype, this will display a button that can be pressed. This data type requires no default value.
   
   
5. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/Method' in the context menu. Change the name of the new method to 'ChangeValue'. All instances of 'MyClass' will now be able to call the 'ChangeValue' method.
   • Right click 'ChangeValue' and select 'New/ReturnValue' in the context menu. Change the name of the return value to 'ret1'.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'DataType' property and click the ... button. In the 'Select DataType' dialog choose the 'Long' datatype.
   
   
6. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/CustomEvent' in the context menu. Change the name of the new event to 'ValueChanged'. All instances of 'MyClass' will now be able to trigger 'ValueChanged' events.
   • Right click 'ValueChanged' and select 'New/Parameter' in the context menu. Change the name of the parameter to 'newValue'.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'DataType' property and click the ... button. In the 'Select DataType' dialog choose the 'Long' datatype.
   
   
7. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/LuaLocalListener' in the context menu. Change the name of the listener to 'ChangeValueImpl'. This object will be used to implement the 'ChangeValue' method.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'Events' property and click the button. In the drop down list, select 'MethodCall' and click the button again to hide the list. This will filter cause only MethodCall events to run the script code.
   • Now select the 'Type' property and click the button. In the drop down list, select 'Class'. This makes the listener handle events for all instances of 'MyClass'.
   • Select the 'FilterObject' property and click the ... button. In the dialog choose the 'ChangeValue' method. This will cause only MethodCall events for 'ChangeValue' to run the script code.
   • Select the 'ScriptCode' property and click the ... button. In the 'Edit Text' dialog, enter the following script: (Notice that you can access the return values by name on the fragEvent::method member. Parameters can be accessed in the same manner)

     this.Value = this.Value + 1 -- increment the value
     event.method.ret1 = this.Value -- set the return value of the method (note: methods can have multiple return values)
     event.handled = true -- this will prevent the MethodCall event from being sent to any base classes

   
   
8. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/LuaLocalListener' in the context menu. Change the name of the listener to 'HandleValueChange'. This object will be used to handle 'ValueChanged' events.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'Events' property and click the button. In the drop down list, select 'CustomEvent' and click the button again to hide the list.
   • Now select the 'Type' property and click the button. In the drop down list, select 'Class'.
   • Select the 'FilterObject' property and click the ... button. In the dialog choose the 'ValueChanged' event.
   • Select the 'ScriptCode' property and click the ... button. In the 'Edit Text' dialog, enter the following script: (Notice that you can access the parameters by name on the fragEvent::custom member)

     print(string.format('%s = %s', event.custom.name, event.custom.newValue)) -- print some text to the output pane

   
   
9. Right click 'MyClass' and select 'New/LuaLocalListener' in the context menu. Change the name of the listener to 'TestChangeValue'. This object will be used to handle when the 'Test' property is invoked.
   • In the 'Properties' pane, select the 'Events' property and click the button. In the drop down list, select 'PropertyChanged' and click the button again to hide the list.
   • Now select the 'Type' property and click the button. In the drop down list, select 'Class'.
   • Select the 'FilterObject' property and click the ... button. In the dialog choose the 'Test' property.
   • Select the 'ScriptCode' property and click the ... button. In the 'Edit Text' dialog, enter the following script:

     local retVal = this:ChangeValue() -- call the ChangeValue method
     this:ValueChanged(retVal) -- call the ValueChanged event using the return value of the method

   
   
10. Now that our class is implemented, we need a place to test it out.
    • In the 'Schema' pane right click the 'AnimationFolder' class and select 'New/Create' in the context menu.
    • In the 'Properties' pane select the 'Target' property and click the ... button. Select 'MyClass' in the 'Select Class' dialog. This will enable us to create instances of 'MyClass' in any instance of 'AnimationFolder'.
    • In the 'Animations' pane right click 'Animations' and select 'New/MyClass'.
    • Now you can test your new class by clicking the 'Invoke' button on the 'Test' property. This will trigger a property change which will be handled by MyClass::TestChangeValue. 'TestChangeValue' will then call MyClass::ChangeValue. When a method is called a MethodCall event is fired, in our case MyClass::ChangeValueImpl will handle that event. The 'ChangeValue' method will simply increment the 'Value' property on the instance of 'MyClass'. It also triggers our custom event, 'ValueChanged', which prints out the new value.