Categorizing Messages

[Sentral]

I've been trying to think of a way, to manage messages for NPC's. I am trying to categorize the messages into groups such as 'Greetings','Goodbyes',etc. Then, the NPC's can randomly choose a message from this group to say. I was thinking a linked list possibly, but I never really used a linked list! What can I use to group things into categories? Anyone have any ideas, because I'm not coming up with anything Thanks!

[cboard_member]

Well if you don't want to learn how a linked list works and just want to use one, look at the std::list<T> if you're writing this in C++.

I would recommend taking a look at Prelude's site. Full of data structure material - source code 'n' all. Learnt almost everything I need about data structures from there.

EDIT: www.eternallyconfuzzled.com IIRC.

[Sentral]

Well if this type of thing could be done with a linked list, I will gladly learn it! I have a book that talks about it, but I just never read that part yet. Where should I go on that site to find what I need? Do I go to Binary Search Trees?

[VirtualAce]

1. Each message is stored in a file with and assigned an ID number.
2. Messages are then stored by the container.
3. Access to the objects is then accomplished by requesting object ID.

You could then do something like this:

#define AI_GREET_MSG 0x0000
#define AI_GOODBYE_MSG 0x00FF

Then add AI_GREET_MSG or AI_GOODBYE_MSG to each ID to group them.

#define AI_HELLO_MSG AI_GREET_MSG+0x0001

Of course this is in defines which is not a good idea, but it illustrates my point. You could also do:

struct GameMSG
{
  std::string Message;
  DWORD dwLocalID;
  DWORD dwGroupID;
  DWORD dwActualID;

  GameMSG():dwLocalID(0),dwGroupID(0),dwActualID(0) { }

  GameMSG(DWORD dwID,DWORD dwGroupStart) 
  {
     dwLocalID=dwID;
     dwGroupID=dwGroupStart;
     dwActualID=dwLocalID+dwGroupID;
  }

};

class CScript
{
  std::map<DWORD dwID,GameMSG *> m_mapMSGs;
  CGameObjectMgr *m_pObjectMgr;
  ....

  public:

    bool AddMsg(DWORD dwID)
    {
       std::map<DWORD,GameMSG *>::iterator it=m_mapMSGs.find(dwID);
       
      //Check if ID already exists
      if (it==m_mapMSGs.end()) return true;

       //Add msg here
       ....
       ....
       return false;
    }

    bool SendMSGTo(DWORD dwMsgID,DWORD dwObjectID)
    {
      //Find message to send to dwObjectID 
      std::map<DWORD,GameMSG *>::iterator it=m_mapMSGs.find(dwMsgID);
       
      //Check if ID already exists and if so return true
      if (it==m_mapMSGs.end()) return true;

      //Return value from object's msg proc
      //CObjectMgr::SendMessage calls CObject::MsgProc
      //if true message was processed, if false message either put in object's message queue  
      //or msg cannot be executed in one frame and is being executed
      return m_pObjectMgr->SendMessage(it->second(),dwObjectID);
    }

};

I got a little complicated but that's the general idea of a scripting setup.