[REQ] Set flag by expression

[Olivier]

I can't remember if I already requested this. Among other things, it would be very useful to better sync/pair objects together. We can already do it with alterable values/strings, but it's currently not possible with flags.

What we can do:

• Always
--> "Active.child" Set Alterable Value A to Alterable Value A("Active.parent")
--> "Active.child" Set Alterable String A to Alterable String A("Active.parent")

What we can't do:

• Always
--> "Active.child" Set internal flag 0 to Flag("Active.parent", 0)

[Joshtek]

Not tried it, but perhaps something like this would work:

• If Flag( "Active.parent", 0) <> Flag( "Active.child", 0)
--> Active.child: Toggle internal flag 0

You could also try Looki's Object Flagger extension.

[MuddyMole]

Just use an alterable value instead of a flag. The fact that you can't rename flags is a far bigger issue - and reason in itself to use alterable values instead.

[Olivier]

Joshtek, your suggestion does work if there is only one instance of Active.parent and Active.child. When more instances are involved, you code will ony work with the last instance created. This is because flag comparison can only be done via "Compare two general values" which annihilates object filtering. I have tried other methods without success. I also avoid using extensions which aren't cross-platform, but thanks for the tip.

Of course I could use an alterable value like MuddyMole suggested. But I already use a lot of them, and being unable to sync these 32 flags makes me mad.

[Joshtek]

Joshtek, your suggestion does work if there is only one instance of Active.parent and Active.child. When more instances are involved, you code will ony work with the last instance created. This is because flag comparison can only be done via "Compare two general values" which annihilates object filtering.

Would object filtering be annihilated if you set an alterable value to the relevant flag state and then used the object's "Compare to one of the alterable values" to determine whether to flip the flags? Could you simply do "If flag is on (active.parent)" -> "Set flag on (active.child)" / "If flag is off (active.parent)" -> "Set flag off (active.child)"? If you used a fastloop then you could perhaps just loop through all 32 flags, although this might need to be inside another loop to cycle through all of the parents.

[Olivier]

Would object filtering be annihilated if you set an alterable value to the relevant flag state and then used the object's "Compare to one of the alterable values" to determine whether to flip the flags?

That's very clever Joshtek! Using an alterable value to pass a flag state between the child and the parent does work. The same alterable value can be used for the 32 flags, one after the other. Thanks a lot for the brilliant idea.

Could you simply do "If flag is on (active.parent)" -> "Set flag on (active.child)" / "If flag is off (active.parent)" -> "Set flag off (active.child)"? If you used a fastloop then you could perhaps just loop through all 32 flags, although this might need to be inside another loop to cycle through all of the parents.

This would work by using a fastloop indeed. But then I tend to avoid fastloops as much as possible.

[Olivier]

Here's a simple commented example demonstrating how to pair/sync objects by using flags and one alterable value. No fastloops involved.

[Danny]

Here's the same rendition using far less events... just my 2 cents.

lol I have a blank 'always' in there too, unsure where that popped up from o.0

[Olivier]

Thanks Danny, your code is nicely optimized indeed. Probably more difficult to understand at first glance tho.

[King_Cool]

An AltValue called Temp_ is quite usefull and can save you from running out of AltValues.
Im many cases you define AltValues which most of the time act idle and waste perfectly good AltValue slots.
Its a good idea to create a comment describing what the Temp_ value is used for when you use it, in the Event Editor.