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Variable APIs

interfaces for creating and managing variables other then the default scratch set. see custom types and category ordering for more information on how to display these custom variables

setting variableType in a menu object to a string value of what variable type you want it to show will make the menu into a variable menu, no other arguments are required. note that the variable type of "scalar" will will be replaced with Variable.SCALAR_TYPE

registration and utilization​

Variable object shape​

  • constructor(runtime, ...args): makes the variable, args is the list of args passed to newVariableInstance, the list of args will normally be made by your code in some way, either because of serialization or because of you creating the variable.
  • toXML(isLocal: Boolean): String: the returned string should be the xml <variable type="{typeName}" id="{this.id}" islocal="{isLocal}" iscloud="{this.isCloud | false}">{this.name}</variable> (where the things contained inside are variables/constants from or for the variable class that you need to pass down inside the xml), this function is ran any time variables need to be passed from the vm to blockly as one massive glob.
  • serialize(obj = this): Array: the array of arguments (to be serialized) that represents this variable, when loading these arguments all get passed down into the constructor via the args list.

registerVariable(type: string, varClass: Variable)​

running this function will overwrite any existing variables of that type, except for Variable.SCALAR_TYPE, Variable.LIST_TYPE and Variable.BROADCAST_MESSAGE_TYPE

run to register a custom type with the specified class as the variable content handler

unregisterVariable(type: string)​

running this function will not remove the default operation of the types Variable.SCALAR_TYPE, Variable.LIST_TYPE and Variable.BROADCAST_MESSAGE_TYPE

will remove the given type from the custom type registerations

will throw an error if the given type doesnt exist

newVariableInstance(type: string, ...args): new Variable | {type: string, value: args, mustRecreate: true}​

creates a new variable instance under the given type

if the given type doesnt exist yet it will return {type: string, value: args, mustRecreate: true}, this is for the addTarget function to find custom variable types that needed to wait for an extension load. should be treated as a failure to create the variable.

runtime._extensionVariables: {[string]: Variable}​

contains the list of all registered custom variable types, each key is the variable type