JPThread

JPThread is another magic pack, allowing you to think your game conception in a new manner. It allows you to execute the code of a function over several frames.

JPThread.create ( this.preloadSceneResources )

function MyAIModel.preloadSceneResources ( )


    for i = 0, table.getSize ( this.tTextures ( ) ) - 1 do
        local sTextute = table.getAt ( this.tTextures ( ), i )
        application.forceResourceToStayLoaded ( sTexture, application.kResourceTypeTexture, true )
        JPThread.addYieldPoint ( )
    end


end

As a result, the loading process will be executed over several frames, at a speed of 1 texture loading per frame. Your game execution will be much more fluid. JPThread.addYieldPoint ( ) mean the function execution pauses here and will start from here at the next frame. Of course, you can add this call several times in your function code.

Here is a screenshot of the Performance Reporter in ShiVa, you can see clearly that the function does not create a freeze at all as it is executed over several frames:

JPThread performance comparison This feature is also very useful in many other cases, think for instance how you currently load a file into the cache. Now, you will be able to do the whole process with a single function call:

function MyAIModel.loadFile ( sFile, sUrl )


    cache.addFile ( sFile, sUrl )

    while ( cache.getFileStatus ( sFile ) >= 0 and cache.getFileStatus ( sFile ) < 1 ) do
        JPThread.addYieldPoint ( )
    end
    
    local nStatus = cache.getFileStatus ( sFile )
    
    if ( nStatus == 1 ) then
        --Success

    else
        --Fail

    end


end

This pack is really powerful.