InfoArray (xml)

What is an InfoArray

An InfoArray is an array of numbers intended to be used in the info classes (hence the name). Think of it as a spreadsheet. It has 1-4 columns and each row has data in each column. While the columns are specified in C++, the number of rows isn't.

This is likely best explained by using examples.

Example 1

InfoArray<YieldTypes> em;

This will create a list of yields. It is best viewed as a bool array of all yields. Yields mentioned in xml are true while those who aren't are false.

<MyInfoArrayTag>
  <yield>YIELD_FOOD</yield>
  <yield>YIELD_LUMBER</yield>
</MyInfoArrayTag>

This is a much more readable list than the vanilla code requires. The parent tag (in this case MyInfoArrayTag) should be the one used in C++ to load the InfoArray. The DLL code doesn't care about names for child tags. Since the C++ declaration states it's of type YieldTypes, the DLL will throw an error if any string is used, which isn't listed as a Type in CvYieldInfos.

As usual it's highly recommended to turn asserts on when modding either xml or C++ as it increases the level of error detection.

Example 2

InfoArray<UnitClassTypes, YieldTypes> em;

Now it requires a pair for each row.

<MyInfoArrayTag>
  <index>
    <class>UNITCLASS_FARMER</class>
    <yield>YIELD_FOOD</yield>
  </index>
  <index>
    <class>UNITCLASS_FARMER</class>
    <yield>YIELD_LUMBER</yield>
  </index>
</MyInfoArrayTag>

This results in

Unit Class	Yield
UNITCLASS_FARMER	YIELD_FOOD
UNITCLASS_FARMER	YIELD_LUMBER

However InfoArray can exploit nested lists and precisely the same data can be written:

<MyInfoArrayTag>
  <index>
    <class>UNITCLASS_FARMER</class>
    <yields>
      <yield>YIELD_FOOD</yield>
      <yield>YIELD_LUMBER</yield>
    <yields>
  </index>
</MyInfoArrayTag>

Because class is in the parent of yields, looping through yields will give each case a "prefix" of what is set in parent. In this case it's UNICLASS_FARMER for each.

Example 3

InfoArray<UnitClassTypes, YieldTypes, int> em;

Now there should be an int value for each pair.

<MyInfoArrayTag>
  <index>
    <class>UNITCLASS_FARMER</class>
    <sub>
      <group>
        <yield>YIELD_FOOD</yield>
        <value>5</value>
      </group>
      <group>
        <yield>YIELD_LUMBER</yield>
        <value>5</value>
      </group>
    </sub>
  </index>
</MyInfoArrayTag>

Resulting data:

Unit Class	Yield	value
UNITCLASS_FARMER	YIELD_FOOD	5
UNITCLASS_FARMER	YIELD_LUMBER	5

Or if nested looping isn't interesting, the same can be written this way:

<MyInfoArrayTag>
  <index>
    <class>UNITCLASS_FARMER</class>
    <yield>YIELD_FOOD</yield>
    <value>5</value>
  </index>
  <index>
    <class>UNITCLASS_FARMER</class>
    <yield>YIELD_LUMBER</yield>
    <value>5</value>
  </index>
</MyInfoArrayTag>