How to store many attributes at once? - swift

Question

I'm working with Swift, Xcode 6 and SpriteKit,
I want make a game where some sprites fall down from the top of the screen, but each sprite have a defined speed, position and activation time. I have this working code, but I really don't think that it's the most optimised way to do it:
class obstacles: SKSpriteNode
{
var isOnScreen = false
var type: Int = 0
var initTime: Int = 0
}
var obstacle = [obstacles]() // obstacle is an array of SKSpriteNode
// type : initTime : speed : position : xScale : yScale
var level1: [String] = ["0:120:3:0:1:1", "0:130:4:80:2:2","1:140:8:120:6:1","0:150:6:240:2:2"]
override func didMoveToView(view: SKView)
{
initObstacles()
}
func initObstacles()
{
for var x = 0; x < level1.count; x++ // for each obstacle
{
var index = 0
var type = String("")
var initTime = String("")
var speed = String("")
var position = String("")
var xScale = String("")
var yScale = String("")
var lastIndex = obstacle.count
for Character in level1[x] // we read each character one by one
{
if Character == ":" { index++ } // if it's a ":" we change the variable
else
{
switch index
{
case 0:
type += String(Character)
case 1:
initTime += String(Character)
case 2:
speed += String(Character)
case 3:
position += String(Character)
case 4:
xScale += String(Character)
case 5:
yScale += String(Character)
default:
break;
}
}
}
obstacle.append(obstacles(imageNamed: "Rectangle")) // we add an element to the array
obstacle[lastIndex].type = type.toInt()! // we init all the values
obstacle[lastIndex].initTime = initTime.toInt()!
obstacle[lastIndex].speed = CGFloat(speed.toInt()!)
obstacle[lastIndex].size.width = DEFAULT_OBSTACLE_SIZE * CGFloat(xScale.toInt()!)
obstacle[lastIndex].size.height = DEFAULT_OBSTACLE_SIZE * CGFloat(yScale.toInt()!)
obstacle[lastIndex].position = CGPointMake(CGFloat(position.toInt()!) - obstacle[lastIndex].size.width/2, CGRectGetMaxY(frame) + obstacle[lastIndex].size.height/2)
}
}
Do you know how could I manage to do the same thing, but more "clean" ?

Answer 1

I would suggest to create a class or struct that holds all necessary data for an obstacle and additionally change your type from a standard number to an enum, e.g.:
enum ObstacleType {
case Block, Tree, WhatEverObstaclesYouHave...
}
struct Obstacle {
var type: ObstacleType
var initializationTime: NSTimeInterval
var speed: Double
// and similarly for position, your scales and what you may need in future
}
and create them using, e.g.
Obstacle(type: .Block, initializationTime: 0, speed: 12.0, ...)
Advantage (obviously) is that you have no problems anymore parsing your string (there is no string anymore) and can provide all necessary information using the appropriate type directly. And you can easily use an enum for your type, which should be an enum, because your Obstacle is not a 1, but a Block, Tree or whatever.
Your level1 variable could then be defined like this:
var level1 : [Obstacle] = [
Obstacle(type: .Block, initializationTime: 120, speed: 3.0, ...),
Obstacle(type: .Block, initializationTime: 130, speed: 4.0, ...),
Obstacle(type: .Tree, initializationTime: 140, speed: 8.0, ...),
Obstacle(type: .Block, initializationTime: 150, speed: 6.0, ...)
]
To get rid of the labels in the initializer, just define your own initializer. Just add this to your struct:
init(_ type: ObstacleType, _ time: NSTimeInterval, _ speed: Double, ...) {
self.type = type
self.initializationTime = time
self.speed = speed
// other variables...
}
Then you can create every Obstacle like this:
Obstacle(.Block, 120, 3.0, ...)
But now you can not easily tell anymore which number has what meaning from reading the instantiation. I do not recommend this just to type less as autocomplete will present you with most of it.