Reply to 'random' clock timing on Invalid Date

davidhoare — Invalid Date

I'm trying to create some 'bot' players in my game (controlled server-side) that act at 'random' times.
My concept was to fire a clock.setTimeout() with a random time, that calls the 'botActions' function, and at the end of that function calls itself again using another setTimeout with a different 'random' time.
However, within the first this.clock.setTimeout, I can't seem to access this.clock.setTimeout... "this" is undefined...
Scope issue, I assume...? Is there a more 'proper' way to accomplish this?
Thanks!
David

without random time

botUpdate(data){
        console.log("bot clock tick:", data);
        this.clock.setTimeout(this.botUpdate, 1000, {botID : data.botID});
}

this.clock.setTimeout(this.botUpdate, 1000, {botID : data.botID});
TypeError: Cannot read property 'setTimeout' of undefined

Reply to 'random' clock timing on Thu, 20 Dec 2018 20:00:43 GMT

endel — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 20:00:43 GMT

Hi @davidhoare, welcome!

This is the classical mistake regarding the this scope in JavaScript, no worries, everyone's been there! Here's a related discussion in the forum.

To preserve the this scope in JavaScript, you can either use this.botUpdate.bind(this), or create an arrow function.

Examples:

// using Function.prototype.bind
this.clock.setTimeout(this.botUpdate.bind(this), 1000, {botID : data.botID});

// using arrow functions (block)
this.clock.setTimeout(() => {
    this.botUpdate();
}, 1000, {botID : data.botID});

// using arrow functions (single line; shorthand)
this.clock.setTimeout(() => this.botUpdate(), 1000, {botID : data.botID});

Hope this helps! Happy holidays!