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Placeholders

Placeholders are special strings in that can be used to access specific paths, Windows settings, or other such things across the engine. They are defined in placeholders.xml stored in the engine data directory. Additional placeholders can be added with ease for future extensibility.

Configurable Placeholders

These placeholders are placed into placeholders.xml by default, but can be changed by the user if desired.

  • APD_ROAMING - The folder path to the current user's AppData (Roaming) folder.

  • Default: %APPDATA%

  • DOCUMENTS - The folder path to the current user's My Documents folder.

  • Default: %USERPROFILE%\Documents

  • USER_HOME - The folder path to the current user's folder.

  • Default: %USERPROFILE%

Reserved Placeholders

These placeholders are built into the engine automatically.

  • APPDIR - The directory of the application file.

  • Value: <location of blam.exe>

  • DEF_ENGINE_VER - Returns the engine version.

  • Example: 00004.05.13.19.0001.blamite

  • DEF_ENGINE_VER_FULL - Returns the full engine version as it is printed in non-stylized logs and the version command.

  • Default: core debug pc 00004.05.13.19.0001.blamite Sep 8 2019 07:39:43

  • DEF_ENGINE_VER_FULL_DS - Same as DEF_ENGINE_VER_FULL, but with a second space in between the month and day

  • Default: core debug pc 00004.05.13.19.0001.blamite Sep 8 2019 07:39:43

  • DEF_MOVIES_DIR - The directory where .bik videos are stored

  • Default: bink

  • DEF_BUILD_DATE - The date the engine was built, using __DATE__.

  • Default: Sep 8 2019

  • DEF_BUILD_DATE_TIME - The date and time the engine was built, using __DATE__ and __TIME__

  • Default: Sep 8 2019 07:39:43

  • DEF_CACHE_DIR - The directory where .map files are stored

  • Default: maps

  • DEF_PLATFORM - The target platform of the engine

  • Default: pc

  • DEF_PRODUCT_ID - The product ID of the engine's runtime

  • Default: core

  • DEF_REL_TYPE - The release type of the engine.

  • Default: debug

  • DEF_GAME_AFFILIATES - Any affiliated organizations of the game

  • Default: Chaotic United, Elaztek Studios

  • DEF_GAME_COPYRIGHT - The copyright for the game

  • Default: (c) Elaztek Studios/Chaotic United 2013-2019

  • DEF_GAME_DEVELOPER - The developer of the game

  • Default: Elaztek Studios

  • DEF_GAME_PUBLISHER - The publisher of the game

  • Default: Elaztek Studios

  • DEF_GAME_TITLE - The title of the game

  • Default: Project: Infinity

Using Placeholders

Placeholders can be used in code by including this line in a .cpp file:

#include "placeholders.h"

You can get a string with it's placeholders evaluated by calling Blam::Placeholders::ApplyPlaceholders().

Usage Example

Using the following code:

std::string original_string = "Built with Blamite version {$DEF_ENGINE_VER}";

std::string evaluated_string = Blam::Placeholders::ApplyPlaceholders(original_string);

cout << evaluated_string << endl;

Will output:

Built with Blamite version 00004.05.13.19.0001.blamite