FormulaEngine Concepts Bindings

FormulaEngine Concepts - Bindings

Some things just make more sense to stash in the low-level game engine (that is, in the C++ code) versus in the FormulaEngine scripting system. For example, the coordinates of a physics object should be accessible in native format to the C++ physics implementation. To avoid having to copy that coordinate data back and forth from FormulaEngine to the C++ layer, we use a system of bindings.

Bindings allow FormulaEngine to directly read and write native data handled by C++ code. There are two types of bindings: properties and goal states.

Binding Properties

Binding properties are a means by which FormulaEngine scripts can read data out of C++ territory. They cannot be assigned new values by script, but they can change at any time in C++. Simulation components that live in C++ should expose their data to FormulaEngine scripts using binding properties.

Goal States

Goal states offer a channel through which scripts can assign desired values to objects in C++. This can be used for direct setting of data, although it makes more sense typically to think of a goal state as something a script wants to see happen. The C++ code is not contractually obligated to make this state "real" - if multiple conflicting states are assigned to the same goal by different scripts, the C++ code is free to resolve the conflict in any way that makes sense.