Type Definition specs::ReadStorage

type ReadStorage<'a, T> = Storage<'a, T, Fetch<'a, MaskedStorage<T>>>;

A storage with read access.

This is just a type alias for a fetched component storage.

The main functionality it provides is listed in the following, however make sure to also check out the documentation for the respective methods on Storage.

Aliasing

It is strictly disallowed to get both a ReadStorage and a WriteStorage of the same component. Because Specs uses interior mutability for its resources, we can't check this at compile time. If you try to do this, you will get a panic.

It is explicitly allowed to get multiple ReadStorages for the same component.

Joining storages

&ReadStorage implements Join, which allows to do something like this:

use specs::prelude::*;

struct Pos;
impl Component for Pos {
    type Storage = VecStorage<Self>;
}
struct Vel;
impl Component for Vel {
    type Storage = VecStorage<Self>;
}

let mut world = World::new();
world.register::<Pos>();
world.register::<Vel>();
let pos_storage = world.read_storage::<Pos>();
let vel_storage = world.read_storage::<Vel>();

for (pos, vel) in (&pos_storage, &vel_storage).join() {}

This joins the position and the velocity storage, which means it only iterates over the components of entities that have both a position and a velocity.

Retrieving single components

If you have an entity (for example because you stored it before or because you're joining over Entities), you can get a single component by calling Storage::get:

let entity1 = world.create_entity()
    .with(Pos)
    .build();
let entity2 = world.create_entity()
    .with(Vel)
    .build();

assert_eq!(pos_storage.get(entity1), Some(&Pos));
assert_eq!(pos_storage.get(entity2), None);

assert_eq!(vel_storage.get(entity1), None);
assert_eq!(vel_storage.get(entity2), Some(&Vel));

Usage as SystemData

ReadStorage implements SystemData which allows you to get it inside a system by simply adding it to the tuple:

#[derive(Debug)]
struct Pos {
    x: f32,
    y: f32,
}

impl Component for Pos {
    type Storage = VecStorage<Self>;
}

struct Sys;

impl<'a> System<'a> for Sys {
    type SystemData = (Entities<'a>, ReadStorage<'a, Pos>);

    fn run(&mut self, (ent, pos): Self::SystemData) {
        for (ent, pos) in (&*ent, &pos).join() {
            println!("Entitiy with id {} has a position of {:?}", ent.id(), pos);
        }
    }
}

These operations can't mutate anything; if you want to do insertions or modify components, you need to use WriteStorage. Note that you can also use LazyUpdate , which does insertions on World::maintain. This allows more concurrency and is designed to be used for entity initialization.

Trait Implementations

impl<'a, T> GenericReadStorage for ReadStorage<'a, T> where
    T: Component, 

type Component = T

The component type of the storage

fn get(&self, entity: Entity) -> Option<&Self::Component>

Get immutable access to an Entitys component

fn _private() -> Seal

Private function to seal the trait

impl<'a: 'b, 'b, T> GenericReadStorage for &'b ReadStorage<'a, T> where
    T: Component, 

type Component = T

The component type of the storage

fn get(&self, entity: Entity) -> Option<&Self::Component>

Get immutable access to an Entitys component

fn _private() -> Seal

Private function to seal the trait

impl<'a, T> SystemData<'a> for ReadStorage<'a, T> where
    T: Component, 

fn setup(res: &mut World)

Sets up the system data for fetching it from the World.

fn fetch(res: &'a World) -> Self

Fetches the system data from World. Note that this is only specified for one concrete lifetime 'a, you need to implement the SystemData trait for every possible lifetime.

fn reads() -> Vec<ResourceId>

Returns all read dependencies as fetched from Self::fetch.

fn writes() -> Vec<ResourceId>

Returns all write dependencies as fetched from Self::fetch.