[1.8.9] Sending a tileentity (with IInventory) through a packet

[Roboguy99]

My aim is to update the inventory of a TileEntity when a button on its GUI is clicked. Obviously the GUI is client-side, and so when the button is clicked (I think) I need to send a packet telling the inventory to update server-side. What is the correct/best/recommended way of sending the TileEntity (or its inventory) across a packet?

The only way I can think of is to send the co-ordinates as a string to avoid byte limits and then find the TileEntity from the co-ordinates, but this seems like a pretty rough way of doing it. Or maybe this is the wrong approach to updating a TileEntity altogether? I'm sure this is pretty straight-forward, but I've just completely blanked and can't find anything online.

[wehttam664]

The TileEntity class already has methods for this.

 

For server-bound, try getDescriptionPacket and for client-bound use onDataPacket.

Example Implementation:

  @Override
  public Packet<?> getDescriptionPacket() {
    NBTTagCompound tagCompound = new NBTTagCompound();
    writeToNBT(tagCompound);
    return new SPacketUpdateTileEntity(pos, 1, tagCompound);
  }

  @Override
  public void onDataPacket(NetworkManager net, SPacketUpdateTileEntity pkt) {
    // TODO update stuffs from packet.
    super.onDataPacket(net, pkt);
  }

[coolAlias]

No, most definitely do NOT use the TE description packet for this - that is not what it is designed for.

 

Whenever you have a client-side action, such as a GUI button, that you want to change something on the server, you need to send your own custom packet that only knows what action the player requested, e.g. clicked GUI button 'X', and then when that packet is handled on the server, you validate the action, e.g.:

 

- is the player interacting with the appropriate container / TE for this to happen?

 

- is the player allowed to press that button?

 

- etc.

 

Once you determine the action is allowed, then you can alter the inventory contents via the server side Container, which will automatically update the client side view.

 

IF you are sure the action will succeed and IF you want your GUI to be extremely snappy, you can go ahead and update the inventory client-side first before you send the packet, BUT NEVER let the client-side dictate what the server-side values are. That is, still do the server side validation before altering the inventory, and let the server update the client with the correct values (which should be the same, but you never know).

[Draco18s]

How to send a TE through a packet:

 

packet.Encode(

TE.posX,

TE.posY,

TE.posZ

);

[Roboguy99]

Once you determine the action is allowed, then you can alter the inventory contents via the server side Container, which will automatically update the client side view.

 

So how do I tell the container to alter the inventory, and how do I then access the inventory from the container?

 

How to send a TE through a packet:

 

packet.Encode(

TE.posX,

TE.posY,

TE.posZ

);

 

I would assume something like this. Is it worth looking at http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/mapping-and-modding-tutorials/2137055-1-7-x-1-8-customizing-packet-handling-with?

 

On a side-note, how do you link a world to a url rather than pasting the whole url?

 

EDIT: It's probably worth noting that my knowledge of packets extends literally as far as diesieben07's tutorial.

[coolAlias]

Sorry, you don't actually use the Container directly - send the TE coordinates in the packet, as Draco mentioned, then use those to fetch the TE and add the stack to the inventory. If your inventory is coded correctly, the Container will notice the changes and send an update to the client.

 

If it's your first time using packets, I suggest following diesieben's tutorial to get the basics down; if you end up making lots of packets and get sick of writing IMessageHandler classes, then take a look at my tutorial.

 

I'm not sure what you mean about linking a world to a URL - could you explain that more?

[Choonster]

On a side-note, how do you link a world to a url rather than pasting the whole url?

 

[nobbc]This is an example[/nobbc]

[Roboguy99]

send the TE coordinates in the packet

 

As far as I know the only way of encoding data is using

ByteBufUtils

, but this requires a byte size for any integer, which I can't be certain about for co-ordinates. Should I encode them as a string, or is there another method I should know about?

 

I'm not sure what you mean about linking a world to a URL - could you explain that more?

 

That's what happens if I let muscle memory take over and don't properly check the word

word

 

There is no need to send the coordinates when you are using an inventory-GUI. If that is the case, the server knows what you are looking at via the Container.

 

Ok but the button actionListener is in the GUI, which is client-side. How do I send it to the container?

 

I will probably look further into the more in-depth tutorial, because I can sense a large number of packets needed for what lies ahead...

[Roboguy99]

You just send a packet. Then the server check's the player's container and if it's yours. If so, get the TileEntity from it and perform whatever action you need.

 

Oh right, I didn't realise you could get the container through the player. That was what I was looking for, thanks!

[Draco18s]

As far as I know the only way of encoding data is using

ByteBufUtils

, but this requires a byte size for any integer, which I can't be certain about for co-ordinates. Should I encode them as a string, or is there another method I should know about?

 

Integers are a fixed size. 

byteBuffer.writeInt(value)