Contents

• Introduction
• General info
• Conditions
• Actions
• Expressions

Introduction

“Inventory Aid” is a plugin for Construct 2 designed to help with the creation of typical game inventories, which can be most famously found in RPGs and related genres. Usually those inventories are grid-based, holding items in each cell.

While this plugin was designed to be easy to use, a basic understanding of Construct 2 is definitely required beforehand. Still I would probably recommend “Inventory Aid” the most to those considering themselves slightly advanced users already.

General info

• Containers

  Any object holding items is called a container. The player inventory can be a container as well as a chest you’re able to loot. Containers are being defined, spawned and manipulated via the plugin.

  First a container type is defined to which objects can be bound (see “Binding” below). From this definition instances can be created and ultimately spawned.

• Items
  Any object that can be placed within a container is called an item. Items are being defined, added and removed via the plugin.

  Items also need to be defined first. Instances are being created when added to a container and will spawn with it (given a sprite object is actually bound).

  • Properties

    Items can have any number of properties. A property consists of a name and value.

    For example you could add the property “Durability” to an armor item and decrease its value to make it eventually break.

    Properties can be defined for any previously defined item and need to be of equal value for all items in a stack.

• Binding 

  While containers and items by themselves are purely logical concepts, you can bind sprites/ text / sprite font objects via the plugin to get a visual respresentation easily.

• Pools 
  Pools are essentially just lists of items. Items can be added multiple times to the same pool. The main use is to pick randomly selected items from a predefined item group (randomized loot).

Conditions

• For each item (loop)
  A loop which iterates through all items in a container. Check out the corresponding expressions.
• For each placement (loop)
  A loop that can be used in combination with the “On placement found”-condition (which may trigger after the “Find placement(s) for item”-action) and iterates for each found placement. Check the corresponding expressions.
• Is instance spawned
  True when the named container instance has been spawned.
• Item has property
  True when the property does exist with the named item.
• On failed to find free cell(s)
  Triggers if no free cells are found after “Find free cells for size”-action.
• On failed to find placement
  Triggers if no placement is found after “Find placement(s) for item”-action.
• On free cell(s) found
  Triggers if free cells are found after “Find free cells for size”-action.
• On instance of type spawned
  Triggers when an instance of a container type is spawned.
• On placement found for item found
  Triggers if any placement is found after “Find placement(s) for item”-action.
• On item failed to move
  Triggers if an item couldn’t be moved via the “Move item”-action.
• On item moved successfully
  Triggers if an item has been moved successfully.

Actions

• Access cell
  Accesses a container cell by X and Y coordinates and populates related expressions.
• Access cell by item UID
  Populates related expressions. Useful when picking a cell via a spawned sprite.
• Add item at
  Adds an item to container instance at given coordinates (if possible).
• Add item to pool
  Adds an item to an existing pool.
• Bind 9-patch object to border
  Binds a 9-patch object to a container type to be spawned as its border.
• Bind object to cells
  Binds a tiled background / sprite (or similar) object to container type to be spawned as the visual grid.
• Bind object to item
  Binds a sprite (or similar) object to represent the item in a spawned container instance.
• Bind object to item count
  Binds a text / spritefont (or similar) object to an item to represent its counter.
• Clear container
  Removes all items from a container.
• Create container instance
  Creates an instance of a container type.
• Create pool
  Creates a new pool.
• Define container
  Defines a container type.
• Define item
  Defines an item type. Enter its name, width, height and stack size.
• Define property
  Defines an item property.
• Drag child counter by parent UID
  Repositions a bound item counter object properly. Useful when moving item sprites around.
• Find free cells for size
  Attempts to find coordinates to fit a size (width, height) into a container instance. Will trigger one of two conditions and set related expressions.
• Find placement(s) for item
  Attemps to place an item within a container instance. Will trigger one of two conditions and set related expressions.
• Load instance state from JSON
  Loads the complete state of a container instance from a JSON string.
• Load property string
  Loads item properties from a string (property1:value,property2:value,…). Will overwrite all exisiting properties.
• Move container
  Repositions a spawned container instance.
• Move instance to top
  Puts a spawned container instance to the top of its layer.
• Move item
  Attempts to move an item within a container or between different containers. Will trigger one of two conditions.
• Respawn items
  Respawns all the bound item sprites for a spawned container instance.
• Return all item objets to position
  Positions all bound item sprites back to their stored position within a spawned container instance.
• Set property
  Sets the value of a property of a item instance.
• Set border margins
  Sets the border margins manually. Usually not needed.
• Spawn container
  Spawns a container instance. All bound objects will be created.
• Unspawn container
  Destroys the visual respresentation (all bound objects) of a container instance.

Expressions

• AccessCellSize
  The size of the accessed cell (via an “Access cell”-action) in pixels.
• AccessCellX
  The X coordinate of the accessed cell.
• AccessCellY
  The Y coordinate of the accessed cell.
• AccessContainer
  The name of the accessed container instance.
• AccessItem
  The name of the accessed item.
• AsJSON
  The content of a container instance as string.
• FoundFreeX
  The X coordinate of the first free cell found via the “Find free cells for size”-action.
• FoundFreeY
  The Y coordinate of the first free cell found via the “Find free cells for size”-action.
• GetCoordX
  Takes a pixel position (X) and returns the nearest cell coordinate for a container instance.
• GetCoordY
  Takes a pixel position (Y) and returns the nearest cell coordinate for a container instance.
• GetPropVal
  Returns the property value of an item instance.
• ItemHeight
  The height of an item type.
• ItemWidth
  The width of an item type.
• LastSpawned
  Returns name of the last spawned container instance.
• LoopAmount
  Returns item amount in loop (For each item).
• LoopItem
  Returns item name in loop (For each item).
• LoopX
  Returns X coordinate of item amount in loop (For each item).
• LoopY
  Returns X coordinate of item amount in loop (For each item).
• MovedToName
  Returns name of the container instance an item was last moved to.
• NameByBorder
  Returns the container instance name by bound border object UID.
• NameByCell
  Returns the container instance name by bound cell object UID.
• PlaceAmount
  Returns the current item amount that can be placed within a “For each placement”-loop.
• PlaceContainer
  Returns the container name that was previously given in “Find placement(s) for item”-action.
• PlaceItem
  Returns the item name that was previously given in “Find placement(s) for item”-action.
• PlacePropDiff
  Returns the property string potentially entered in a “Find placement(s) for item”-action.
• PlaceRest
  Returns the remaning amount of an item that couldn’t be placed via a “Find placement(s) for item”-action.
• PlaceX
  Returns the current X coordinate within a “For each placement”-loop.
• PlaceY
  Returns the current Y coordinate within a “For each placement”-loop.
• PropStrAt
  Returns the property string for item at position (property:value,property:value…).
• RandItem
  Returns a randomly selected item name from a pool.