mirror of https://github.com/OpenMW/openmw.git
Add a bit of high-level developer documentation about the Lua system
Mitten Orvan
2 years ago
committed by
Petr Mikheev
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# MWLua
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This folder contains the C++ implementation of the Lua scripting system.
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For user-facing documentation, see
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[OpenMW Lua scripting](https://openmw.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/lua-scripting/index.html).
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The documentation is generated from
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[/docs/source/reference/lua-scripting](/docs/source/reference/lua-scripting).
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You can find instructions for generating the documentation at the
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root of the [docs folder](/docs/README.md).
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The Lua API reference is generated from the specifications in
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[/files/lua_api](/files/lua_api/). They are written in the
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Lua Development Tool [Documentation Language](https://wiki.eclipse.org/LDT/User_Area/Documentation_Language),
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and also enable autocompletion for ([LDT](https://www.eclipse.org/ldt/)) users.
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Please update them to reflect any changes you make.
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## MWLua::LuaManager
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The Lua manager is the central interface through which information flows
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from the engine to the scripts and back.
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Lua is executed in a separate [thread](/apps/openmw/mwlua/worker.hpp) by
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[default](https://openmw.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/modding/settings/lua.html#lua-num-threads).
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This thread executes `update()` in parallel with rendering logic (specifically with OSG Cull traversal).
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Because of this, Lua must not synchronously mutate anything that can directly or indirectly affect the scene graph.
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Instead such changes are queued to `mActionQueue`. They are then processed by
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`synchronizedUpdate()`, which is executed by the main thread.
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The Lua thread is paused while other updates of the game state take place,
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which means that state that doesn't affect the scene graph
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can be mutated immediately. There is no easy way to characterize
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which things affect the graph, you'll need to inspect the code.
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## Bindings
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The bulk of the code in this folder consists of bindings that expose C++ data to Lua.
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As explained in the [scripting overview](https://openmw.readthedocs.io/en/latest/reference/lua-scripting/overview.html),
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there are Global and Local scripts, and they have different capabilities.
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A Local script has read-only access to objects other the one it is attached to.
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The bindings use the types `MWLua::GObject`, `MWLua::LObject`, `MWLua::SelfObject` to enforce this behaviour.
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* `MWLua::GObject` is used in global scripts
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* `MWLua::LObject` is used in local scripts (readonly),
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* `MWLua::SelfObject` is the object the local script is attached to.
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* `MWLua::Object` is the common base of all 3.
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Functions that don't change objects are usually available in both local and global scripts so they accept `MWLua::Object`.
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Some (for example `setEquipment` in [actor.cpp](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/blob/master/apps/openmw/mwlua/types/actor.cpp))
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should work only on self and because of this have argument of type `SelfObject`.
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There are also cases where a function is available in both local and global scripts, but has different effects in different cases.
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For example see the binding `actor["inventory"]` in 'MWLua::addActorBindings` in [actor.cpp](https://gitlab.com/OpenMW/openmw/-/blob/master/apps/openmw/mwlua/types/actor.cpp):
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```cpp
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actor["inventory"] = sol::overload([](const LObject& o) { return Inventory<LObject>{ o }; },
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[](const GObject& o) { return Inventory<GObject>{ o }; });
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```
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The difference is that `Inventory<LObject>` is readonly and `Inventory<GObject>` is mutable.
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The read-only bindings are defined for both, but some functions are exclusive for `Inventory<GObject>`.
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### Mutations that affect the scene graph
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Because of the threading issues mentioned under `MWLua::LuaManager`,
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bindings that mutate things that affect the scene graph
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must be implemented by queuing an action with `LuaManager::addAction`.
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Here is an example that illustrates action queuing,
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along with the differences between `GObject` and `LObject`:
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```cpp
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// We can always read the value because OSG Cull doesn't modify `RefData`.
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auto isEnabled = [](const Object& o) { return o.ptr().getRefData().isEnabled(); };
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// Changing the value must be queued because `World::enable`/`World::disable` aside of
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// changing `RefData` also adds/removes the object to the scene graph.
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auto setEnabled = [context](const Object& object, bool enable) {
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// It is important that the lambda state stores `object` and not the result of
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// `object.ptr()` because when delayed will be executed the old Ptr can potentially
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// be already invalidated.
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context.mLuaManager->addAction([object, enable] {
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if (enable)
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MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->enable(object.ptr());
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else
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MWBase::Environment::get().getWorld()->disable(object.ptr());
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});
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};
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// Local scripts can only view the value (because in multiplayer local scripts
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// will be client-side and we want to avoid synchronization issues).
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LObjectMetatable["enabled"] = sol::readonly_property(isEnabled);
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// Global scripts can both read and modify the value.
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GObjectMetatable["enabled"] = sol::property(isEnabled, setEnabled);
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```
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Please note that queueing means changes scripts make won't be visible to other scripts before the
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next frame. If you want to avoid that, you can implement a cache in the bindings.
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The first write will create the cache and queue the value to be synchronized from the
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cache to the engine in the next synchronization. Later writes will update the cache.
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Reads will read the cache if it exists. See [LocalScripts::SelfObject::mStatsCache](/apps/openmw/mwlua/localscripts.hpp)
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for an example.
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