This idea is for user defined functions which the writer can then use in expressions and text boxes in the same way as the pre-defined functions.
The "Run this task when" dropdown of a system task would have the new option "used as a function" which would allow the task name to act as a function name.
If the task is called "Player held count" then it can be run by using the function name %PlayerHeldCount%
The task actions would be run and then the "Message to display on completion" would be returned as the result of the function.
If a restriction fails then the restriction message will be returned instead.
This is useful for:
1. For those writers who find expressions too complicated, one of us could create a library module that provides simplified functions like %PlayerHeldCount% that look just like variables.
2. For language translations, ADRIFT could use user functions in the standard library to provide all of the system messages such as when it displays a list of objects.
(The "iterating through lists" enhancement request or something similar would be needed to print each item separated by comma's with an "and" or "or" at the end). It would then be possible to create a version of the standard library that was completely translated into another language.
3. I currently have a task which converts an integer into a fixed-point output so i can display 1263 cents as $12.63, but it is very messy to use as i have to execute several actions every time i need to print a value, and often have to separate one task into 2 or more.
If it was made a user function then i could just use %DollarsAndCents% to display it.
Parameters:
If the task had "%object% %number%" as references then the function could have parameters like %MyFunction[Player, 16]%
Perhaps everything isn't covered in the above list, but User Functions have now been implemented. I suggest creating new items for further enhancement requests.
User Functions
