Trait Ordering in the Code

Development
1

Hi, the Reference Manual describes the trait ordering - innermost (e.g. Basic Piece) first, proceeding outwards (downwards), but with exceptions for Area-of-Effect and Draw-Under. As a Java rookie, is that ordering specified in any particular location in the VASSAL Java code, or does it come from various locations/interactions, or inherent in Java Swing?

2

Neither. Trait ordering isn’t predefined. The trait order for a piece is defined by the order which you, the editor of the module, have set for them. In the code, nearly all traits are decorators which hold a pointer to the next trait in the trait stack.

3

Sorry I wasn’t very clear, I meant to ask which bit of code runs down the list of traits (as created by the module editor) and executes each trait in turn as the piece is drawn?

4

Drawing is done via GamePiece::draw(). Each trait will have it’s own implementation, so there is no single place which traverses the trait stack during drawing.

E.g., Pivot does this:

@Override
public void draw(Graphics g, int x, int y, Component obs, double zoom) {
  getInner().draw(g, x, y, obs, zoom);
}
5

I see how that works now. Thanks Joel for your quick reply as always!