GetElementData

Elements can contain data values. These are accessable via names, and their value can be retrieved using getElementData and set using setElementData. These values are also loaded from the attributes in the XML map files, and as such can provide a powerful way to store and retrieve data in XML for each element.

Syntax

var getElementData ( element theElement, string key )

Required Arguments

• theElement: This is the element with data you want to retrieve.
• key: The name of the element data entry you want to retrieve.

Returns

This function returns a variable containing the requested element data, or false if the element data does not exist, or the element itself does not exist. Usually this is a string but it doesn't have to be.

Example

This example stores the tick count when a player joins and then allows players to see how long they are connected using a console function 'joinTime'.

Click to collapse [-]

Server

function joinTime ( )
    setElementData ( source, "joinTime", getTickCount() ) -- Store the current tick count in the player's data with the key 'joinTime'
end
-- Make our 'joinTime' function be called when a player joins
addEventHandler ( "onPlayerJoin", getRootElement(), joinTime )

function showJoinTime ( source, commandName, playerName )
	if ( playerName ) then -- see if a player was specified
		thePlayer = getPlayerFromNick ( playerName ) -- get the player element for the specified player
		if ( thePlayer ) then -- if one was found...
			local timeOnline = (getTickCount() - getElementData ( thePlayer, "joinTime" )) / 1000 -- calculates the time since join
			outputChatBox ( getClientName ( thePlayer ).." joined "..timeOnline.." seconds ago", source ) -- output the player's join time
		else
			outputChatBox ( "Couldn't find '" .. playerName .. "'", source ) -- display an error
		end
	else
		-- display when the player who used the function joined and inform how to see other people's join time
		local timeOnline = (getTickCount() - getElementData ( source, "joinTime" )) / 1000 -- calculate the time since join
		outputChatBox ( "You joined " ..timeOnline.." seconds ago", source )
		outputChatBox ( "Use 'join_time <player name>' to see other people's join time", source )
	end
end
-- Add a console command joinTime, that takes an optional parameter of a player's name
addCommandHandler ( "joinTime", showJoinTime )

See Also

• attachElements
• createElement
• destroyElement
• detachElements
• getAttachedElements
• getElementAlpha
• getElementAttachedOffsets
• getElementAttachedTo
• getElementByIndex
• getElementByID
• getElementChild
• getElementChildren
• getElementChildrenCount
• getElementCollisionsEnabled
• getElementColShape
• getElementData
• getAllElementData
• hasElementData
• getElementDimension
• getElementHealth
• getElementID
• getElementInterior
• getElementMatrix
• getElementModel
• getElementParent
• getElementPosition
• getElementRotation
• getElementsByType
• getElementsWithinColShape
• getElementsWithinRange
• getElementType
• getElementVelocity
• getLowLODElement
• getRootElement
• isElement
• isElementAttached
• isElementCallPropagationEnabled
• isElementDoubleSided
• isElementFrozen
• isElementInWater
• isElementLowLOD
• isElementWithinColShape
• isElementWithinMarker
• setElementAlpha
• setElementAngularVelocity
• getElementAngularVelocity
• setElementAttachedOffsets
• setElementCallPropagationEnabled
• setElementCollisionsEnabled
• setElementData
• setElementDimension
• setElementDoubleSided
• setElementFrozen
• setElementHealth
• setElementID
• setElementInterior
• setElementModel
• setElementParent
• setElementPosition
• setElementRotation
• setElementVelocity
• setLowLODElement
• getPedContactElement
• getResourceDynamicElementRoot
• getResourceRootElement