Kill units in a group effeciently

[Matrixboy]

Hello there everyone. I used to be quite adept at JASS, and left a while ago. I am taking up a new map project now, however. Trying to get back in the groove, I started with something really simple. A "if the player slot wasn't filled, remove their hero." I did a long line of if statements to solve this, with it acting on map initialization. It went from that, to finally these two functions that I have it at now.

function remove_player_unit takes integer x returns nothing
    local unit character = udg_character[x] *
    call TriggerSleepAction( 120.00 )
    call PingMinimap (GetUnitX(character), GetUnitY(character), 2.00)
    call KillUnit( character )
    set character = null 
endfunction

and

function check_empty takes nothing returns nothing
local integer x = 0
    loop
    exitwhen x==12
      if ( GetPlayerSlotState(Player(x)) != PLAYER_SLOT_STATE_PLAYING ) then
                call remove_player_unit(x)
        endif
        set x = x+1
    endloop 
endfunction

* udg_character is a global array that has been preset with each corresponding player's hero. (e.g. udg_character[0] is red's hero, udg_character[11] is brown's). A variable is used because this unit _will_ change over time. Transformations and etc. are going to be applied, leaving it as a separate unit.

Two functions are used in this case, because I want to be able to call remove_player_unit in other situations (i.e. if someone is kicked, not just doing one check at the initialization).


I have one question, however. Some of the players have multiple heroes. Mainly purple and yellow. Purple's will go back and forth between one and two, and yellow will go from three to one, and remain that way. Is there any way I can efficiently write "kill all units owned by player(x)" or "kill all units in group X?" I am trying to keep the code as efficient as possible, as it is going to be quite a big map.

thanks in advance!

Travis

 

[Azlier]

Well, you should look into vJass. Those godforsaken udg_ globals are unneeded.

The most efficient way to kill all units of a player?

This comes close.

globals
    group KillGroup = CreateGroup()
endglobals

function KillAllUnits takes nothing returns boolean
    call KillUnit(GetFilterUnit())
    return false
endfunction

function Whatever takes nothing returns nothing
    call GroupEnumUnitsOfPlayer(KillGroup, Player(0), Filter(function KillAllUnits))
endfunction

This requires NewGen, because normal Jass won't accept freeform globals. I've also neglected to use scopes or anything, to make it easier to understand.

 

[Matrixboy]

Well, you should look into vJass. Those godforsaken udg_ globals are unneeded.

The most efficient way to kill all units of a player?

This comes close.

globals
    group KillGroup = CreateGroup()
endglobals

function KillAllUnits takes nothing returns boolean
    call KillUnit(GetFilterUnit())
    return false
endfunction

function Whatever takes nothing returns nothing
    call GroupEnumUnitsOfPlayer(KillGroup, Player(0), Filter(function KillAllUnits))
endfunction

This requires NewGen, because normal Jass won't accept freeform globals. I've also neglected to use scopes or anything, to make it easier to understand.

I have a copy of newgen open right now, studying the differences. I also have the vjass reference manual opened up for a little reading material. However, you state that udg_variables are bad. I completely agree, however how is the newgen method of globals any better? From what I can tell, all it does is it carries it to the top of the .j file, as that's where globals are really defined. In my case, I cannot find an option other than using globals, unless I went for one of the handle methods that carry locals over, which I would need to do a considerable amount of reading on.

Thank you for recommending me vjass/newgen, it seems like it'll make a lot of writing this easier. And thank you for the code example, I'll use that as a base to impliment what I'm trying to do. Thanks

 

[Azlier]

Well, think of it this way. With udg_ variables, porting code from map to map is a pain. You would have to open the GUI variable editor and create the variables with strict names and instructions. With freeform globals, you can make your variables without needing to depend on the user (and fill the WE Help forums with threads on why the code won't work...).

 

[Matrixboy]

Well, think of it this way. With udg_ variables, porting code from map to map is a pain. You would have to open the GUI variable editor and create the variables with strict names and instructions. With freeform globals, you can make your variables without needing to depend on the user (and fill the WE Help forums with threads on why the code won't work...).

Sounds a good enough reason to switch

Thanks for all of your help azlier.