Set Marker

One instruction for every property of every marker: whatever this kind understands is what changes

mediumYou need: Create a marker, A colour as one number

steptick 0

Jump -> 90

if not

Make Marker1

typeid #xyreplace?

Set Marker2

typecolorid #color

Set Marker3

typeradiusid #radius

Make Marker4

typeid #xyreplace?

Print5

Set Marker6

typeflush textid #fetch?

Make Marker7

typeid #xyreplace?

Set8

=

Set Marker9

typerotationid #rotation

@counter0number

wasPlacednullnull

setmarker color 1 %ff5555 0 0
setmarker radius 1 20 0 0
setmarker rotation 1 @time 0 0

Marker number one turns red, grows and slowly rotates: the last line runs every iteration, and the rotation follows the time.

Field	What is in it
first	what to change: a property from the list
second	the marker’s id
the other three	values — as many as that property needs

There are many properties, and each kind has its own

The list is shared across all kinds of marker — two dozen properties and more:

Property	What it does
pos, endPos	move the marker; for a line, its other end
color, radius, stroke	colour, size, line thickness
shape	the number of sides of a polygon
rotation, arc	rotation and arc
text, flushText, fontSize	the text and its size
textAlign, lineAlign, labelFlags	alignment, backing and outline of a caption
texture, textureSize	a picture and its size
world, minimap, autoscale	where the marker is visible and whether it grows on zoom
drawLayer	the order: what goes over what
remove	delete the marker entirely

Note

A property this kind does not understand is simply ignored. A radius on a text marker, a rotation on a point — the line runs and nothing happens. That is not an error but how the instruction is built: there is one for every kind.

Colour and text

Colour is written two ways: as the literal %ff5555 straight into the field, or as a packed number from packcolor. The second is for when the colour is computed — green shading into red as the stock runs down, for instance.

Text is not given as a value — it is handed over from the print buffer:

print "Build here"
setmarker flushText 2 0 0 0

The same trick as printflush and message: the text is assembled, handed over, and the buffer is cleared. Hence the convenience — numbers and variables can be printed into a marker, not just a string.

Silent failure

A marker with no text handed to it shows nothing. An empty text marker is invisible on the map, and there is no way to tell whether the program reached it. It is worth checking by the print buffer: if it did not empty, flushText did not fire.

Where a marker is visible

Property	What it means
world	draw on the map (yes by default)
minimap	draw on the minimap
autoscale	shrink when zoomed out, so as not to cover the map

A marker can be taken off the map entirely and left on the minimap only — that is how danger zones are marked when they should not get in the way of looking at the base.

Remember

• setmarker property id values configures an already created marker.
• The property list is shared, and ones that do not apply to this kind are silently ignored.
• Colour is either the literal %rrggbb or a packed number.
• Text is handed over from the print buffer through flushText.
• remove deletes a marker; world and minimap decide where it is visible.

Task

Change setmarker radius 1 20 0 0 in the example to setmarker shape 1 3 0 0: the circle becomes a triangle — that is the number of sides.

Then add setmarker minimap 1 1 0 0 on the next line and switch world off: setmarker world 1 0 0 0. The marker disappears from the example’s map — it is now only on the minimap, which is not shown here.