PlainSave - Technical Documentation

CreateSave

Creates a new save file (folder) based on the default data files. This method checks for existing folders with the same name and appends a counter if necessary. It copies default files into the new save folder. Use this method when a player starts a new game.

public static void CreateSave(string filename)

• filename: The name for the new save folder.

LoadSave

Loads save files from the specified folder into memory, populating the LoadedSaveFileData dictionary for later use, such as loading player progress. Use this method when a player loads a save file. It checks for the existence of the folder and handles multiple save files.

public static void LoadSave(string foldername)

• foldername: The name of the folder containing the save file to load.

DeleteSave

Deletes a save folder under SaveData. This method is used when a player deletes save files from a menu. If the game is running in the Unity Editor, it deletes the folder using UnityEditor.AssetDatabase.DeleteAsset. Otherwise, it uses Directory.Delete() to remove the folder and all its contents.

public static void DeleteSave(string filename)

• filename: The name of the save folder to delete.

If the game is running in the Unity Editor, the folder will be deleted using UnityEditor.AssetDatabase.DeleteAsset. Otherwise, it will use Directory.Delete().

Save

Updates the value in memory for the specified file and ID. If the new value contains a subdelimiter, the method will update the value while keeping the tag unchanged. Note that this method does not persist changes to the file until CommitSave() is called.

public static void Save(string filename, int id, string newValue)

• filename: The path to the file in memory.
• id: The ID corresponding to the data to be updated.
• newValue: The new value to save.

CommitSave

Writes the modified data from memory to the specified file in the current save folder. This method should be called after any changes have been made using the Save() method. If there are no changes to commit or the necessary data is not available, the operation will be aborted.

public static void CommitSave(string filename)

• filename: The name of the file to write the save data to.

GetPlainSaveObject

Retrieves a PlainSaveData object from memory based on the specified filename and ID. This method checks if the data has been loaded successfully and if the specified ID is valid.

public static PlainSaveData GetPlainSaveObject(string filename, int id)

• filename: The name of the file from which to retrieve the data.
• id: The ID corresponding to the desired PlainSaveData object.

Returns: A PlainSaveData object if found; otherwise, returns null. If the data is not found, a warning is logged to indicate the issue.

GetSaveDataByID

Retrieves a single data value from memory based on the specified filename and ID. This method is best used when needing to retrieve only one value. An exact ID is required; otherwise, it will return an error.

public static string GetSaveDataByID(string filename, int id)

• filename: The name of the file from which to retrieve the data.
• id: The ID of the data value to retrieve.

Returns: The data value associated with the given filename and ID. If the data is not found or an error occurs, this method returns null.

GetSaveDataByIDs

Gets multiple data values from memory based on filename and IDs. Best when needing to retrieve multiple values quickly. Note that an exact ID is needed, otherwise this will return an error.

public static List<string> GetSaveDataByIDs(string filename, List<int> ids)

• filename: The name of the file from which to retrieve the data.
• ids: A list of IDs representing the data values to retrieve.

Returns: A list of strings containing the data values from the given file based on the provided IDs.

GetSaveDataByTag

Gets all data values from a file that are associated with a specific tag.

public static List<string> GetSaveDataByTag(string filename, string tag)

• filename: The name of the file from which to retrieve the data.
• tag: The tag used to filter the data values.

Returns: A list of data values associated with the specified tag. If no values are found, an empty list is returned.

GetSaveDataByTags

Retrieves all data values from a file that correspond to multiple specified tags. This method is best for gathering multiple values associated with various tags.

public static List<string> GetSaveDataByTags(string filename, List<string> tags)

• filename: The name of the file from which to retrieve the data.
• tags: A list of tags used to filter the data values.

Returns: A list of string values associated with the provided tags. If no values are found, an empty list is returned.

GetSaveFileFromMemory

Retrieves all data from memory for the specified filename. Note that this method returns data from memory, not from a file.

public static List<PlainSaveData> GetSaveFileFromMemory(string filename)

• filename: The name of the file whose data is to be retrieved from memory.

Returns: A list of PlainSaveData containing the data values stored in memory for the specified filename. If no data is found, an empty list is returned.

ReadFileWithoutLoading

Reads data directly from a specified file without loading it into memory. This method is particularly useful for one-time reads, such as loading settings during the game startup. It returns a list of PlainSaveData objects containing the data read from the file. If the file does not exist, validation fails, or no data is found, it returns an empty list.

public static List<PlainSaveData> ReadFileWithoutLoading(string filepath)

• filepath: The absolute path to the file from which data is to be read.
• Returns: A list of PlainSaveData containing the data read from the specified file. Returns an empty list if the file does not exist, validation fails, or if no data is found.

ListSaveFiles

Retrieves a list of all available save files within the save data folder. This is useful for displaying save options in menus, such as load or save game screens.

public static List<string> ListSaveFiles()

• Returns: A list of save folder names available in the save data directory. If the directory does not exist, an empty list is returned.

DirectoryCheck

Checks the existence of required directories for the PlainSave system and logs warnings if any are missing or empty.

private static void DirectoryCheck()

Returns: This method does not return a value. It logs warnings based on the directory checks.

Notes:

• Checks for the existence of the main directory, default folder, and save data folder.
• Logs warnings if directories are missing or if the default folder is empty.
• Includes a conditional compilation directive to check for the ScriptableObjects folder only in the Unity Editor.

IsDirectoryEmpty

Checks whether a directory is empty by confirming that it contains no files or subdirectories.

private static bool IsDirectoryEmpty(string path)

• path: The directory path to check.

Returns: A bool value. Returns true if the directory is empty, false otherwise.

InitScriptableObject

Ensures the PlainSave system has access to the required ScriptableObject containing file name settings. If the asset is missing, it logs a warning and provides instructions on how to fix the issue.

private static void InitScriptableObject()

GetFinalFileName

Retrieves the appropriate save file name based on the default file name. It ensures consistency with names set in the PlainSaveSettings ScriptableObject.

private static string GetFinalFileName(string defaultFileName)

ValidateAllFileContent

Validates the content of all files within a folder. It checks each file's format and structure to ensure that they conform to the expected save file standards. This method can be used for batch validation of files in either the default folder or the save data folder.

internal static void ValidateAllFileContent(VALIDATIONFOLDER folder)

• folder: An enum value of type VALIDATIONFOLDER that specifies the folder to validate. Options are:
  • DEFAULTFOLDER: The folder containing the default save files.
  • SAVEFOLDER: The folder containing the saved game data.

Sets: Updates internal flags (defaultValidationSuccess or saveValidationSuccess) to indicate validation status for the default or save folder, respectively.

ValidateFileContent

Validates the contents of a file against specified criteria including:

• Ensuring the file is not empty.
• Checking for a correct header format.
• Verifying that there is at least one data row.
• Ensuring each line has a valid ID, Tag, and value format.
• Confirming IDs are sequential starting from 0.
• Checking for consistent value counts for each tag.
• Validating the presence of a sub-delimiter for specific value types.
• Ensuring that values are correctly quoted and not empty.

This method logs warnings for any validation failures and returns true if the file is valid; otherwise, false.

internal static bool ValidateFile(string[] lines)

• lines: The lines of the file to validate.

Returns: true if the file format is valid; otherwise, false.