Tasks

Tasks are functions that Process Instances execute in sequence when they run.

Creating a task

Create a function, then add it to a Process Instance like so:

var myTask1 = function(taskData,processData,runData,timeRemaining,processName,taskName,alert) {
  // task code here
}
 
function myTask2(...params...) {
  // task code here
}
 
// add two tasks to "foo" process instance:
Processes("foo").addTask(myTask1).addTask(myTask2);
 
// Note: See instance.addTask() for more info on the .addTask() params
 
// You can also just add anonymous functions
Processes("foo").addTask(function(...params...) {
  // task code here
});

Note: Tasks are processed in the order in which they're added to the process instance.

There are several parameters to the instance.addTask() function that you should check out, such as defining the task name and setting a task scope.

Task parameters

When the process instance executes a task, it passes in the following parameters:

Parameter	Type	Notes	Pulse Version
taskData	Object	A data container associated with the current task, useful if you want to store data for subsequent executions of the task. Does not get saved when user saves a game.	0.1
processData	Object	A data container associated with the process instance, useful if you want to share information between tasks. Does not get saved when user saves a game.	0.1
runData	Variant	A data container associated with the current process instance run. For example, it could contain information from the event that triggered the run. Tasks can also store information specific to the current run in this data container and then have instance.onEnd() event send the runData off to some other process or function. The runData object is deleted after each run, immediately after instance.onEnd() is fired.	0.1
timeRemaining	Number	The number of millisecods remaining on this game tick before game lag will be noticed by end users. Not an exact figure, but usually fairly accurate. Your task can use this to limit it's running time. If your task runs out of time, it can store where it's up to on the taskData object and return `true` (see later) to let the process instance know it still has work to do – the task will be run again on a later game tick and can resume where it left off.	0.1
processName	String	The name of the process isntance that's executing the task.	0.1
taskName	String	The name of the task (specified or determined during instance.addTask())	0.1
alert	Function	A function that lets you send a descriptive alert message, useful for debugging. Create alert messages from within a task alert(msg, format); Parameters: msg – string containing the message to send format – constant defining output format: PROCESS_ALERT_CONSOLE – send msg to console() (default) PROCESS_ALERT_DEBUG – send msg to debug() PROCESS_ALERT_ERROR – throw an error message, also aborts the current run.	0.1

Task return values

Tasks can optionally return 'true' to indicate they're not finished yet.

Value	Type	Notes	Pulse Version
`undefined` `null` `false`	Anything that equates to Boolean `false`	If that task function does not return anything, or returns something that equates to false, the task is deemed to be complete for this run and the process instance will move on to the next task.	0.1
`true`	Boolean	If the task returns `true` (or anything that equates to true), the trigger will deem the task to be incomplete, for example if it didn't finish it's processing due to time constraints. In this scenario, the process instance will wait until a subsequent game tick and then execute the incomplete task again. Your task can store where it was up to, etc., on the taskData or runData object so that it can pick up where it left off next time it runs. Just remember to clear down that info after the task completes.	0.1
PROCESS_STATE_ABORT	Constant	If the task returns this constant, the current process run will be aborted.	0.1
<error>	Error	If the task causes an exception, the current process run will be aborted and a warning message displayed.	0.1

Notes

When a process instance runs it will run each of its tasks in the order they were added. If there isn't enough time left in the current game tick, some tasks may be deferred to a later game tick.

If game objects (anything derived from Base object) are stored in taskData, processData or runData, it's possible those objects have been destroyed before a task gets round to processing them – so ensure you have good Error Handling around any code that processes game objects within a task.

Availability

Requires:

Warzone 3.1 or above
Process 0.1 or above