Class

Defined in Module impact.impact

Synopsis

// Create a new class "Person"
var Person = ig.Class.extend({
	name: '',
	init: function( name ) {
		this.name = name;
	}
});

// Create another class by extending the "Person" class
var Ninja = Person.extend({
	init: function( name ) {
		this.parent( 'Ninja: ' + name );
	}
});

// Instatinate an object of the first class
var e = new Person('Generic Person');
e.name; // => Generic Person

// Instatinate an object of the second class
var p = new Ninja('John Resig');
p.name; // => Ninja: John Resig

Description

Impact's Class-Object is based on John Resig's Simple Java Script Inheritance code, but extends it with deep copying of properties and static instantiation.

All of Impact's classes are derived from this base Class and you can use it to create your own classes.

Usage

.extend( classDefinition )

.extend() takes a JavaScript Object, specifying properties and methods of the new class. Inside of methods, this refers to the instance of this class.

var Foo = ig.Class.extend({
	bar: 'baz',
	setBar: function( bar ) {
		this.bar = bar;
	}
});

var foo1 = new Foo();
foo1.setBar( 'bar1' );
foo1.bar; // => bar1

var foo2 = new Foo();
foo2.setBar( 'bar2' );
foo2.bar; // => bar2

All classes that are created with .extend() will also have an .extend() function, that can be used for further subclassing.

.inject( classDefinition )

New in 1.17

.inject() works similar to .extend() but does not create a new Class - instead, it changes the Class in place. This is useful if you want to change the behavior of one of Impacts classes without changing the engine's source code, e.g. for plugins.

// Overwrite ig.Image's .resize method to provide your 
// own scaling algorithm
ig.Image.inject({
	resize: function( scale ) {
		if( scale == 2 ) {
			this.data = awesome2XScalingAlgorithm( this.data );
		}
		else {
			// Call ig.Image's resize function if scale is not 2
			this.parent( scale );
		}
	}
});


// The new resize method will also be used in subclasses of 
// ig.Image (e.g. ig.Font)

.classId

New in 1.23

Each Class that is created through .extend() will have its own, unique .classId.

It is not guaranteed that classes will have the same classId during subsequent loads of your game - Ids are given in the order in which classes are created.

Each instance of an ig.Class will have the same .classId property as the Class from which it was instantiated. E.g.:

var Bar = ig.Class.extend({ /* ... */ });
var foo = new Bar();
foo.classId == Bar.classId; // true

init: function() {}

The .init() method of a class, if present, gets called when a new instance is created.

var InitTest = ig.Class.extend({
	init: function( fparam ) {
		console.log( 'Init called with ' + fparam );
	}
});

var t1 = new InitTest( 'ZOMG' ); // => Init called with ZOMG

staticInstantiate: function() {}

If a class has a staticInstantiate function, it is called before a new instance of this class is created. When the staticInstantiate function returns null, a new instance of the class is created and returned. If staticInstantiate returns non-null, its return value is returned.

This can for instance be used to create a Singleton class – a class that only allows one instance.

var MySingleton= ig.Class.extend({
	foo: 'bar',
	staticInstantiate: function( ignoredFoo ) {
		if( MySingleton.instance == null ) {
			return null;
		}
		else {
			return MySingleton.instance;
		}
	},
	
	init: function( foo ) {
		this.foo = foo;
		MySingleton.instance = this;
	}
});

MySingleton.instance = null;

var s1 = new MySingleton( 'baz' );
var s2 = new MySingleton( 'ignored' );

s1.foo; // baz
s2.foo; // baz

s1 == s2; // true

Note that MySingleton.instance is not defined as an instance property, but as a class property. You can also attach "static" functions to your class this way. This is similar to the static keyword in Java or PHP.

this.parent(…)

Inside a method, this.parent always refers to the method with the same name of the super class - if present. I.e. when overwriting a method of a super class, you can still call it from within the sub classes method with this.parent().

Documentation » Class Reference » Class

Class Reference