Oolite JavaScript Reference: Entity
Prototype: Object
Subtypes: Planet, Ship, Sun
This class was added in Oolite test release 1.70.
The Entity class represents an object in the game universe. Ships, Stations, Planets and the Playerare types of entity. Note that these more specific types have additional properties and methods.
Contents
Stale References
When an entity dies or is otherwise removed from the game universe (for instance, because player jumped from the system), existing Entity variables referring to the entity become invalid; all their properties become undefined, and their methods do nothing. In addition to the undefined properties, this can be detected with the valid() method.
Universal IDs
Every Entity has an unique universal ID. All Oolite-provided functions which take an Entity as an argument may also be passed an integer representing the Entity’s ID.
Properties
ID
ID [read-only integer]
The universal ID of the entity.
position
position [read-only Vector]
The position of the entity in system co-ordinates.
See Also: setPosition()
orientation
orientation [read-only Quaternion]
The spacial orientation of the entity.
See Also: setOrientation()
heading
heading [read-only Vector]
The heading of the entity. This is equivalent to orientation, but ignoring the axial twist component (roll in the case of a ship).
entity.heading() is equivalent to entity.orientation.forwardVector().
status
status [read-only string]
The current status of the entity (such as “STATUS_IN_FLIGHT” and “STATUS_BEING_SCOOPED”).
scanClass
scanClass [read-only string]
The current scan class of the entity (such as “CLASS_NEUTRAL” and “CLASS_CARGO”).
mass
mass [read-only double]
The mass of the entity. Currently, this is directly proportional to the volume.
owner
owner [read-only Entity]
The entity which owns this one. In the case of a subentity, the entity to which it is attached. In the case of a defense ship, the station it belongs to. In the case of a missile, the ship that launched it. There may be other uses.
energy
energy [read-write double]
The entity’s total energy; ranges from 0 to maxEnergy.
maxEnergy
maxEnergy [read-only double]
The highest permissible value of energy.
isValid
isValid [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is a valid entity variable, false if it is stale.
isShip
isShip [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is a Ship, false otherwise.
isStation
isStation [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is a Station, false otherwise.
isSubEntity
isSubEntity [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is a subentity, false otherwise. A subentity’s owner can be acquired through the owner property.
isSun
isSun [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is a Sun, false otherwise.
isPlayer
isPlayer [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is the Player, false otherwise.
isPlanet
isPlanet [read-only boolean]
true if the entity is a Planet, false otherwise.
distanceTravelled
distanceTravelled [read-only double]
The distance the entity has travelled since being spawned, in game metres.
spawnTime
spawnTime [read-only double]
The time at which the entity came into existence.
Methods
setPosition
void setPosition(vectorExpression)
Instantaneously move the entity to the specified position.
setOrientation
void setOrientation(quaternionExpression)
Instantaneously rotate the entity to the specified orientation.
call
call(methodName, ...)
Call a method on the underlying Objective-C class. This is the same approach taken by script actions in plist scripts and AI actions in AI plists. The first argument is the name of the method to call. If the method takes a parameter (in which case it will end with a colon), any number of additional arguments may be specified; these will be concatenated together, separated by spaces, and passed the requested method. If the underlying method returns a value, it will be returned from call(), otherwise the result will be undefined.
Deprecated methods
The following method is deprecated as of Oolite 1.70, and will be removed before the next stable release:
valid
valid(): use isValid instead.
Static methods
Static methods are methods which can be called on Entity, rather than an entity variable. Example: var myEntity = Entity.entityWithID(142);
entityWithID
entityWithID(integer)
Returns the entity with the specified universal ID.
