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12 - Buffs Obsolete

From edition=12 onwards, Buffs are now obsolete. You should use Collectors instead. Collectors can do everything that Buffs could do, and more. They have a clearer syntax and so are the way forward for Easel.

Migrating from Buffs to Collectors​

Collectors can do everything Buffs can do, and so every Buff can be replaced with a Collector. Here is a step-by-step guide for converting a buff into a collect:

Replace your declaration​

If your Buff has either a custom merge function or a default expression, congratulations, it is as simple as renaming from buff to collect:

pub buff unit.SpeedBoost ~ |values| values.Sum

In this case, simply replace buff with collect:

pub collect unit.SpeedBoost ~ |values| values.Sum

If your buff does not have a merge function, you need to give it one because the default behavior has changed for Collectors:

pub buff unit.RelayTarget

Change this to:

pub collect unit.RelayTarget ~ Max

The default behavior of buffs is to take the maximum value, and so this will make a collector that behaves exactly the same as your original buff.

Give IDs​

Look at each place where you give a value to the Buff. Are there any cases where you call a buff more than once in the same file? For buffs this would overwrite the previous contribution rather than adding a new one, and so we need to keep that behavior for your code to continue working.

SpeedModifier(0.5)
// ...
once Tick(5s) {
    SpeedModifier(0.7) // Replaces the previous SpeedModifier
}

Change it to this:

give<speedBoost> SpeedModifier(0.5)
// ...
once Tick(5s) {
    give<speedBoost> SpeedModifier(0.7) // Replaces previous <speedBoost>
}

Deletion IDs​

Do you delete the Buff anywhere? You now need to use an ID to do that.

SpeedModifier(0.5)
// ...
once Tick(5s) {
    delete SpeedModifier
}

Replace this with the following:

give<speedBoost> SpeedModifier(0.5)
once Tick(5s) {
    delete give<speedBoost> // Deletes the previous <speedBoost>
}

Targets​

Do you ever use the target entity as a parameter?

SpeedModifier(0.5, that)

Replace this with the following:

give that.SpeedModifier(0.5)

Repeat​

Convert every buff into a collector using the steps above.

Bump the edition​

Once you are done, increase the edition number in easel.toml to 12. In Edition 12, it is an error to use a buff anywhere in your code, and so this ensures you have converted everything and that no one introduces them back into the code again.

[engine]
edition = 12

Opt-out​

If you would like to temporarily opt-out your entire project from this change, you can set allowBuffs=true in legacy.toml. This will preserve the old behavior until you have the time to upgrade your code. Create a legacy.toml in the root of your project that looks like this:

[legacy]
allowBuffs = true