Key

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Every location, object, task, character, event, variable, group, property, text override, hint, Synonym, User function and folder in ADRIFT has a unique KEY.

A key is just a name that can consist of letters, numbers, and the underline character "_", but it cannot contain any spaces.

ADRIFT uses the key to identify each item so that, when you change the name of an item, every reference to it from other parts of the game will still point to the same item.

When you choose the name of an item from one of the drop-down lists, ADRIFT actually stores the key instead of the name. If you change the name of the item and then look at a restriction or action that uses it, you will see the new name of the item because ADRIFT used the stored key to find the item and then displayed its current name.

Showing item keys in the folders

You can see the keys of every item in a folder by clicking on the funnel icon next to the close button at the top of the folder window:

FolderDetailsMenu.jpg

  • The funnel icon will not be there if you have changed the "View" of the window - you will need to change it back to "Details" view first.

Select the "Key" option to display the item keys in a separate column.

Here is a folder window with all 5 of the optional columns selected:

PropertyListDetails.jpg

The keys shown here are the name of the item with the spaces removed and the first letter of each word capitalised, which is how ADRIFT usually creates a key.

  • Items you create yourself will be limited to 10 character key names.
  • If you have set a Key Prefix in the advanced options then it will be prepended to the key of any items you create from then on.
  • If the key of an item you create would be the same as an existing key, then a number will be added to the end. If you create several "Vase" objects then they will have the keys: Vase, Vase1, Vase2, Vase3 etc.
  • A key can only contain alphanumeric characters, so any symbols in the items name will not be used.
  • If you create a task without a name then ADRIFT will automatically generate a name from the first command line of the task, and then create a key from that name.

Showing item keys at the top of all item edit forms

To display the key of every item on its title bar, open the Settings dialog box (from the main menu).

Near the top of the first page of the Settings dialog box you will see a tick-box marked "Show keys on edit forms"

GeneralSettings.jpg

If you tick this box then the key of the item will be shown in square brackets after the name at the top of the edit forms. In the following example the key is "Object2"

DoorAltDesc.jpg

Using Keys

Keys are most often used with Functions, either in a text box or an expression.

If you use the Item_functions, you only need to type the key of a Character, Object or Location followed by a full-stp and ADRIFT will popup a list with the names of all of the relevant properties and functions to choose from.

An easy way to insert these functions in your text is to Drag-and-Drop a character, object or location to the point in the text where you want it inserted, then select the wanted function from the menu that appears.

If you need to use General Functions that have a key as a parameter, then you will need to lookup the keys yourself and type them in.


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