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[Tutorial] Good things for beginners (EASY THINGS) - Printable Version

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Good things for beginners (EASY THINGS) - Mariciuc223 - 01.08.2015

Hello, there i will tell you some things you can use in your scripts !

For the beginning of that tutorial i will show you something very easy :

Code:
#define SCM   SendClientMessage // You can use now SCM instead of SendClientMessage
#define SPD   ShowPlayerDialog // You can use SPD now instead of ShowPlayerDialog
That need to be below #includes

You can use that like this , there we have a code :

HTML Code:
// Before
SendClientMessage(playerid, 0xFFFFFFFF, "Hello world , there it's a dude !"); // Send to player a message

// After you can type like that (more easy)

SCM(playerid, 0xFFFFFFFF, "Hello world, there it's a dude !"); // Send to player the same message
You can make the same thing with what command you want (just use #define SHORTCUT COMMAND)

__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Next thing i want to learn you it's , how to save your space ..

1. Multi-Dimensional Strings (arrays) - There you can save your space using like that:

HTML Code:
new String[2][128];

format(String[0], sizeof(String), "Message"); // format the string | sizeof(string) mean the cell size = 128 in our case
format(String[1], sizeof(String), "Message2") // format another dimension of our string

SCM(playerid, -1, String[0]); // Show player the content of String[0] ("Message")
SCM(playerid, -1, String[1]); // Show player the content of String[1] ("Message2")
What we do there ? We created a 2 Dimensional string instead of "new String[128], String2[128];"

2.Colors - eh , that it's not too hard (that's more for the structure of FilterScript) - In PAWN colors are on the form of:
You can define colors too:

Code:
#include <a_samp>

#define RED  0xFF0000FF // There FF it's the maximum of RED (From AA to FF or numbers from 00 to 99) - 0000 are green and blue and FF again represents Alpha (00 it's invisible)
#define BLUE "0000FF" // There it's blue - You need to write it in "" because it's used in a string (For multi color texts) -- You can write it like that too - #define BLUE "{0000FF}"

// On a public or somewhere you can use it

SetPlayerColor(playerid, RED); // Put the player color to RED (On radar the player will have color red - in Score Tab too)
// But you can use it like that
SCM(playerid, 0xFF0000FF, "That message it's red !"); // You can put too 'RED' instead of 0xFF0000FF
SCM(playerid, RED, "That message it's red defined !"); // There used RED
SCM(playerid, RED, "There it's red {"BLUE"} and there it's blue !"); // There the message will print RED util where in text appear {"BLUE"} , there the text color will change to BLUE
SCM(playerid, -1, "That it's white , "BLUE" there it's blue !"); // What ? What color it's -1 ? -1 mean white - you can write -1 instead of 0xFFFFFF | Why i used "BLUE" with out { } ? You can use "BLUE" without brackets if you defined it like that "{0000FF}"
SCMF(playerid, -1, "The last message {0000FF} there it's blue !"); // {0000FF} mean "BLUE", ("BLUE" mean that HEX code , anyway..) , you can use it like that too !
There exist another colors too for Game Texts:

Code:
~r~    red // Source SA:MP wiki
~g~    green // Source SA:MP wiki
~b~    blue // Source SA:MP wiki
~w~    white // Source SA:MP wiki
~y~    yellow // Source SA:MP wiki
~p~    purple // Source SA:MP wiki
~l~    black // Source SA:MP wiki
~h~    lighter color // Source SA:MP wiki
3. Global Strings - You can use a global string if you use just a single string type in many cases !

HTML Code:
#include <a_samp>

new gString[256];

public OnPlayerSpawn(playerid)
{
      format(gString, sizeof(gString), "You have spawned !");

      return 1;
}
public OnPlayerDeath(playerid, killerid, reason)
{
      format(gString, sizeof(gString), "You was killed !");

      return 1;
}
It will reset the content every time you use it , and you can use it again , and again .

- 4. Stocks - Use stocks for few functions if you use it many times , like that:

Code:
stock GetName(playerid)
{
       new pName[MAX_PLAYER_NAME]; // MAX_PLAYER_NAME = 24 and our string cell size
       GetPlayerName(playerid, pName, sizeof(String)); // Get the player name and stock it on pName
       return pName; // return successfully
}

// Use

public OnPlayerDeath(playerid, killerid, reason)
{
       new String[128]; // Create the string
       format(String, sizeof(String), "%s was killed by %s !", GetName(playerid), GetName(killerid)); // format our string
       SendClientMessageToAll(-1, String); // Show message to all 

       return 1;
}
It will show message like that:

SweeT was killed by Wiper !

We made our work easiest with that stock . Instead create 2 strings ("new pName[MAX_PLAYER_NAME], kName[MAX_PLAYER_NAME]") and write again "GetPlayerName(playerid, pName, sizeof(pName));" and too for kName , we just written one time and used stock many times ... Another good stock may be that:

HTML Code:
#include <YSI\y_va>

stock SendMessage(playerid, Color, Format[], va_args<>) // You will need y_va include
{
	new String[148];
	va_format(String, sizeof(String), Format, va_start<3>);
	SendClientMessage(playerid, Color, String);

	return 1;
}
That stock it's used to send message to a player (instead SendClientMessage) with many parameters ... Like a format .. Instead using every time

HTML Code:
new String[string size];
format(String, sizeof(String), "Your id it's %i !", playerid);
SendClientMessage(playerid, -1, String);
we will use

HTML Code:
SendMessage(playerid, -1, "Your id it's %i !", playerid); // just it
Another usefull stock

HTML Code:
stock FormatMoney(Number) // Show player money with "." between 3 numbers
{
	new str[16];
	format(str, 16, "$%i", Number);
	new l = strlen(str);

	if(Number < 0)
	{
	  	if (l > 5) strins(str, ".", l-3);
		if (l > 8) strins(str, ".", l-6);
		if (l > 11) strins(str, ".", l-9);
	}
	else
	{
		if (l > 4) strins(str, ".", l-3);
		if (l > 7) strins(str, ".", l-6);
		if (l > 10) strins(str, ".", l-9);
	}

	return str;
}
That stock will show player money (where you use that) with "." between 3 numbers , like that :

I have $30000 , if i use that stock like that :

HTML Code:
public OnPlayerSpawn(playerid)
{
       SendMessage(playerid, -1, "You have {008000}%s{FFFFFF} !", FormatMoney(GetPlayerMoney(playerid)));
       return 1;
}
There when player spawns , will appear a message like that:

You have $30.000 !

Remember : There the number (integer - %i | %d) change in a string , because "."

- 5. Loops

You want to add some classes to your script and you're bored of adding 300 lines ? Do that like that:

HTML Code:
public OnFilterScriptInit( )
{
       for(new i=0; i<300; i++) // That will loop i from 0 to 299 ( before it's just < not and = )
       {
              AddPlayerClass(i, ....); // There will a classes from 0 to 299
       } // So we have added 299 classes in 4 lines .

       return 1;
}
You can use loops and in other ways .. Another exemple it's that:

Code:
// somewhere

new count=0;

for(new i=0; i<=GetPlayerPoolSize( ); i++)
{
      if(IsPlayerConnected(i))
      {
            IsPlayerAdmin(i)) count++;
      }
}

SendMessage(playerid, -1, "There are %i admins online !", count);
Format Specifiers :

HTML Code:
Specifier	Meaning
____________________________
%i	Integer (whole number)
%d	Integer (whole number).
%s	String
%f	Floating-point number (Float: tag)
%c	ASCII character
%x	Hexadecimal number
%b	Binary number
%%	Literal '%'
%q	Escape a text for SQLite. (Added in 0.3.7 R2)
Source - SA:MP wiki , to be used in text formats

- 6. Includes

I advise you to use easiest includes at the beginning . There it's a list with good includes for newbies in PAWN scripting:

easyDialogs.inc - Click There
ZCMD ~ Zeex command processor - Click There
Improved ZCMD by Yashas (Zeex Command Processor improved) - Click There
YSI libraries by Alex "******" Cole - Click There
Sscanf by Alex "******" Cole - Click There
foreach by Alex "******" Cole - Click There

YSY libraries are not so easy , but are very good includes , and you will need to learn it sometime (or go directly to MYSQL) , because there it's an y_ini.inc that it's a faster file writer ..

- 7. Final - I hope you learned something from that tutorial - more on SA:MP WIKI

Re: Good things for beginners (EASY THINGS) - Vince - 01.08.2015

No offense, but most of what you just wrote is crap.

If you use "SCM" instead of SendClientMessage you should probably learn to type, or get an IntelliSense editor.
Arrays are slower than normal variables. I'd use normal variables if I'd need less than 5.
Defining normal colors and embedded colors with the same naming scheme is a sure fire way to run into trouble.
Global strings: no, just no. Globals are evil, avoid where possible.
Stocks: *sigh* read my tutorial on when and where you should use stock and start calling them functions.
Loops: the only thing remotely interesting is the addition of classes using a loop. For player loops use foreach.

Re: Good things for beginners (EASY THINGS) - dominik523 - 01.08.2015

Yeah, some things are not explained at all.
pawn Code:
#define SCM   SendClientMessage // You can use now SCM instead of SendClientMessage
#define SPD   ShowPlayerDialog // You can use SPD now instead of ShowPlayerDialog
I know it's for beginners but you should explain what are you doing here. What define means and how it replaces the text.

Same goes for multi dimensional arrays. It took me some times to fully understand how they works.
"What we do there ? We created a 2 Dimensional string instead of "new String[128], String2[128];" Okay. We have an array but how to use it?

Code:
new gString[256];
format(gString, sizeof(gString), "You have spawned !");
return 1;
That is a bad example. Also 256-strings. Nope.

AW: Good things for beginners (EASY THINGS) - Kaliber - 01.08.2015

Quote:

for(new i=0; i<=GetPlayerPoolSize( ); i++)
Actually this is very bad, because the fucntion get everytime called.

If the order of the player is trivial, you can do it like this:

PHP Code:
for(new i=GetPlayerPoolSize(); i!=-1; i--)
{
} 
This is faster. (Or just use foreach)