The SwarmItemManager handles SwarmItem objects. It actively recycles SwarmItems so that no garbage collection is necessary. It will dynamically add new objects as required, pulling from inactive lists if any recycled SwarmItems are available. You can have multiple SwarmItemManagers in a scene to handle different types of objects. Alternatively, you could handle all your object types within a single SwarmItemManager. More...

Classes
class	PrefabItem
	This class is used to wrap the prefab so that you can set the maximum count for each item. More...
class	PrefabItemLists
	This internal class represents the active and inactive lists of a SwarmItem type. Since SwarmItemManager's can handle multiple types of SwarmItems, there is an active and inactive list for each. More...
Public Member Functions
virtual void	Initialize ()
	Sets up the lists for each SwarmItem type. Also creates the parent transform for the active and inactive objects.
virtual SwarmItem	ActivateItem ()
	Overloaded form of ActivateItem that assumes you just want the first SwarmItem type (first prefab)
virtual SwarmItem	ActivateItem (int itemPrefabIndex)
	Activates a SwarmItem base on the prefab index (type). If there is an inactive item, the manager will recycle that first, otherwise it will instantiate a new item.
virtual void	DeactiveItem (SwarmItem item)
	Moves a SwarmItem from the active list to the inactive list and changes its parent transform.
virtual void	FrameUpdate ()
	This function is called every frame. It will iterate through each SwarmItem type's active list, calling FrameUpdate on each of the items. This method should be called from a central Update() Mono method, or you can add an Update() method here and call it.
void	PruneList (int itemPrefabIndex, float prunePercentage)
	Removes inactive items from the list after the inactive item count exceeds a threshold and no new items are activated from the list before the prune timer countdown expires. Alternatively, you could call this manually to free up memory at any time.
Public Attributes
bool	debugEvents
	flag to show important events happening in this manager
PrefabItem[]	itemPrefabs
	the array of prefabs with their maximum item counts. This is set in the editor
Protected Member Functions
virtual SwarmItem	InstantiateItem (int itemPrefabIndex)
	Creates a new gameobject for the SwarmItem and initializes it.
Protected Attributes
PrefabItemLists[]	_prefabItemLists
	the array of prefab item lists. Each prefab gets a set of inactive and active lists

Detailed Description

The SwarmItemManager handles SwarmItem objects. It actively recycles SwarmItems so that no garbage collection is necessary. It will dynamically add new objects as required, pulling from inactive lists if any recycled SwarmItems are available. You can have multiple SwarmItemManagers in a scene to handle different types of objects. Alternatively, you could handle all your object types within a single SwarmItemManager.

The manager can limit each of its lists to an optional maximum item count. If this limit greater than zero, then the manager won't instantiate any more objects in a list once it has reached the maximum count. If the limit is zero, the manager will keep instantiating new objects as neccessary.

Each item list has its own optional pruning functionality. When an item is pruned it is sent to the garbage collector. If the number of the inactive items of a prefab exceed the set threshold, a pruning timer will kick in. If the number of the inactive items drop back below the threshold, the pruning timer will shut back off. When the pruning timer countdown expires, the inactive list will be pruned to the prune percentage set for the item. You can shut off pruning by setting the inactivePrunePercentage to zero.

Member Function Documentation

virtual SwarmItem SwarmItemManager.ActivateItem ( ) [virtual]

Overloaded form of ActivateItem that assumes you just want the first SwarmItem type (first prefab)

Returns:: Returns the newly created SwarmItem

virtual SwarmItem SwarmItemManager.ActivateItem ( int itemPrefabIndex ) [virtual]

Activates a SwarmItem base on the prefab index (type). If there is an inactive item, the manager will recycle that first, otherwise it will instantiate a new item.

Parameters:

itemPrefabIndex The index of the prefab to use (type of SwarmItem)

Returns:: Returns the newly created SwarmItem

virtual void SwarmItemManager.DeactiveItem ( SwarmItem item ) [virtual]

Moves a SwarmItem from the active list to the inactive list and changes its parent transform.

Parameters:

item	The SwarmItem to deactivate

virtual void SwarmItemManager.FrameUpdate ( ) [virtual]

This function is called every frame. It will iterate through each SwarmItem type's active list, calling FrameUpdate on each of the items. This method should be called from a central Update() Mono method, or you can add an Update() method here and call it.

virtual void SwarmItemManager.Initialize ( ) [virtual]

Sets up the lists for each SwarmItem type. Also creates the parent transform for the active and inactive objects.

virtual SwarmItem SwarmItemManager.InstantiateItem ( int itemPrefabIndex ) [protected, virtual]

Creates a new gameobject for the SwarmItem and initializes it.

Parameters:

itemPrefabIndex The index of the prefab to use (type of SwarmItem)

Returns:: Returns the newly created SwarmItem

void SwarmItemManager.PruneList	(	int	itemPrefabIndex,
		float	prunePercentage
	)

Removes inactive items from the list after the inactive item count exceeds a threshold and no new items are activated from the list before the prune timer countdown expires. Alternatively, you could call this manually to free up memory at any time.

Parameters: