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Dark Matter

Member

Registered: 2010-03-04

Posts: 1

sprite_get_from_string

I've seen this question on the GMC quite a few times and I thought I might try to create a script for it. I made this, with the help of a friend. It returns the sprite index of the sprite with the name of argument0. This was the fastest way that I could think to do it.

Expand/*
**  Usage:
**      sprite_get_from_string(spritename);
**
**  Arguments:
**     argument0 = the name (a string) of a sprite
**
**  Returns:
**      the sprite_index of the sprite with that name, -1 if no sprite with that name was found
**
**  Notes:
**      No special notes
**
*/


var spr,spr_n;
spr=sprite_create_from_screen(0,0,1,1,0,0,0,0) //creates a new sprite
for (spr_n=0;spr_n<spr;spr_n+=1){ //repeats for all sprites
    if sprite_exists(spr_n){ //if it exists
        if sprite_get_name(spr_n)=argument0{ //if its name is argument0
        sprite_delete(spr) //delete the created sprite
        return spr_n; //return the number of the sprite
        exit;}
    }
}
sprite_delete(spr) //delete the created sprite
return -1;

Is there any way to make this faster, more efficient, or better in general?
What do you think of the uses of the actual code too?

Oh, also, if I haven't formatted my code, I'm sorry, my usual way of formatting it is very messy, so I hope I've done it right.

Last edited by Dark Matter (2010-03-04 18:10:15)

xot

Administrator

Registered: 2007-08-18

Posts: 1,240

Re: sprite_get_from_string

There is indeed a better way and it's been provided by paul23.

http://www.gmlscripts.com/script/map_sprites

Once the map is built (at the start of the game), simply use the name as a key to return the value of the sprite from the map data structure. There are similar scripts for all of the other kinds resources as well.

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Abusing forum power since 1986.