Difference between revisions of "Making an API (tutorial)"

Revision as of 18:53, 20 March 2012

MAKING AN API - a tutorial by TheVarmari

NOTE: There is a better tutorial in the forums located here. Use this if you prefer to use ccwiki.

Introduction

Hello, dear Computercraft Wiki user! Today I will tell you how to make a functional API (Application Programming Interface). Let's get started!

Making the API file

First we need to define what our API will be called. In this case, I use exampleAPI. Now edit the file you want your API to be called.

The code

Now, we need to put some functions in it! Why don't we start with the basics:

 -- this is the file exampleAPI
 -- our first function:
 function printMessage()
   print("message")
 end

Which basically prints "message" when excecuted. Save the file.

Including the API

Now that we have the API done, let's include it in some file! Because we speak about APIs, we can't directly execute it.

Edit the file you want to include the API in. In my case, it is called exampleFile. Now, we include the API in it by typing this to the first row:

 os.loadAPI("exampleAPI")

This loads the API into the file's memory.
NOTE: If you want your API to be loaded on every computer, copy your file to .minecraft\mods\ComputerCraft\lua\rom\apis\.

Using the API

Now that that's over, let's include the printMessage command from our API. Lua loads API's as tables, so you have to use api_name.function_name(function_arguments)

In my case, I use

exampleAPI.printMessage()

Ta-da! It printed out "message"!

A couple of words

Thank you for reading this tutorial, it sure was fun to make! Correct any mistakes I did! TheVarmari 16:59, 22 February 2012 (UTC)