I am trying to create a container that keeps its inventory when broken. I have the tile entity and container block created. I can place and break the container as expected. I just want it to maintain its inventory when broken, so its contents aren't spilled out and when I re-place the container, its inventory is the same as when it was broken. I've done some searching and haven't really found anything.

 

Any ideas how to do this? What methods do I need to be looking at? I know the breakBlock method is what causes the container's contents to spill out when the container is broken. Do I override it?

You need to keep the tile alive and not destroy it when you destroy the block then store the tile somewhere and replace it on the map when you place the block.

 

Generally tile is placed in the same location as the parent block.

 

I have to do this for a Locked Chest mechanic so I gotta figure this out as well.

No no no, don't do that at all!

 

When the block is broken save the TE's data to the dropped item!  Then when the block is placed again, do the reverse.

First you need to delay the removal of the

TileEntity

by overriding

Block#removedByPlayer

and

Block#harvestBlock

like

BlockFlowerPot

does in Forge's patch.

 

Then you need to override

Block#getDrops

to create an

ItemStack

of the

Item

to drop and write the

TileEntity

's NBT to the

"BlockEntityTag"

sub-compound of the

ItemStack

's compound tag.

 

Minecraft will automatically read your

TileEntity

from the

"BlockEntityTag"

sub-compound of the

ItemStack

used to place your block.

I will have to do this so if this post is still unsolved I will report here my findings. I will HAVE to do it. So I will do it (eventually)

Thank you, Choonster, that worked! It took me a while to figure out how to use the "BlockEntityTag" sub-compound. Google ended up taking me to a couple other posts you made to help out other folks. I ended up having to also override getItemDropped to prevent two copies of the container from dropping when broken.

 

Finished code, for the record:

// Keep inventory when block is broken
    @Override
    public List<ItemStack> getDrops(IBlockAccess world, BlockPos pos, IBlockState state, int fortune)
    {
    	List<ItemStack> ret = super.getDrops(world, pos, state, fortune);
        PrimalTileEntity te = world.getTileEntity(pos) instanceof PrimalTileEntity ? (PrimalTileEntity)world.getTileEntity(pos) : null;
        if (te != null && Item.getItemFromBlock(state.getBlock()) != null) {
        	ItemStack stack = new ItemStack(this);
        	NBTTagCompound tag = new NBTTagCompound();
        	NBTTagCompound tagCompound = new NBTTagCompound();
        	te.writeToNBT(tag);
        	tagCompound.setTag("BlockEntityTag", tag);
        	stack.setTagCompound(tagCompound);
        	ret.add(stack);
        }
        return ret;
    }
    @Override
    public boolean removedByPlayer(World world, BlockPos pos, EntityPlayer player, boolean willHarvest)
    {
        if (willHarvest) return true; //If it will harvest, delay deletion of the block until after getDrops
        return super.removedByPlayer(world, pos, player, willHarvest);
    }
    @Override
    public void harvestBlock(World world, EntityPlayer player, BlockPos pos, IBlockState state, TileEntity te)
    {
        super.harvestBlock(world, player, pos, state, te);
        world.setBlockToAir(pos);
    }
    @Override
    public Item getItemDropped(IBlockState state, Random rand, int fortune) {
        return null;
}

Instead of overriding

Block#getItemDropped

and calling

super.getDrops

, just create the

List

to return from

getDrops

yourself.

Instead of overriding

Block#getItemDropped

and calling

super.getDrops

, just create the

List

to return from

getDrops

yourself.

Nice tip. Worked great. Thanks!