FlatRedBall
  • 🖥️Downloading FlatRedBall
  • 🏗️Building FlatRedBall From Source
    • Linking Games to FlatRedBall Engine Source
    • Linking FNA
  • ❓Need Help?
  • ✨FlatRedBall Features
  • 🎓Tutorials
    • Introduction To FlatRedBall
    • Quick Start Guide
    • Beefball - A Full FlatRedBall Tutorial Project
      • Creating a FlatRedBall Project
      • Creating an Entity
      • Creating a Screen
      • Controlling an Entity
      • Creating the Screen Collision
      • Advanced PlayerBall Controls
      • Creating the Puck Entity
      • Adding Multiple Players
      • Scoring and Restarting Rounds
      • Scoring Hud
      • Scoring Hud Logic
      • Adding Dashing
    • Platformer Tutorials
      • Platformer Basics
        • Creating an Entity
        • Controlling a Platformer Entity
        • Movement Values
        • Double Jump
      • Checkpoint and Level End
      • Climbing Ladders
      • Doors
      • GroundCollidedAgainst and Movement Values
      • Moving Platforms
      • Multiple Players
      • NPC Dialog
      • Breaking Blocks
        • New Project Setup
        • Creating Level1 Map
        • Creating the Block Entity
        • Block Removal
      • Dealing Damage
        • New Project Setup
        • Enemy Entity
        • Shooting Bullets
        • Damaging the Enemy
      • Enemy Movement
        • New Project Setup
        • Enemy Entity
        • Enemy Input Logic
        • Detecting Platform Edges
      • Ground Type and Water Movement
        • New Project Setup
        • Creating Level1 Map
        • Adding Ice and Water
        • Platformer Movement Values
      • Animation and Platformer Values
        • New Project Setup
        • Creating AnimationLayers
        • Modifying Platformer Values
      • Wall Sliding and Jumping
    • Damage Dealing
      • Setup
      • Team Index
      • Damage Events
      • IDamageArea Removal
      • Melee Damage
    • Entity Variants Using Inheritance
    • FlatRedBall.Forms
      • Getting Started with FlatRedBall.Forms
        • Setup
        • Working with Common Controls
        • Forms vs Gum in Code
      • Forms and Xbox360GamePad
      • Data Binding (BindingContext)
        • BindingContext Property
        • Binding FlatRedBall.Forms
        • Parent and Children Binding using BindingContext
        • ListBox Templates
      • Styling Forms
      • Defining New Forms Types
        • Adding New Types to FlatRedBall.Forms Library
      • Accessing Forms Events in Gum Runtimes
    • Top Down Games
      • Top Down Basics
        • Setup
        • Input Device
        • CurrentMovement
      • Enemy Movement
        • Enemy Pathfinding
        • Direct Enemy Control
      • GroundVelocity
      • Animation
      • Sorting
    • Post Processing
    • Rock Blaster - A Full FlatRedBall Tutorial Project
      • Introduction
      • Setup
      • Game Skeleton
      • Player Entity
      • Player Behavior
      • Rock Entity
      • Collision
      • Rock States
      • HUD
      • Multiple Players
      • Health
      • Health Part 2
      • Destroying Entities
      • Cleaning Up
    • Code-Only Projects (No Editor)
      • Creating a FlatRedBall Project
      • Adding a Circle
      • Loading Textures and Using Sprites
    • Code Tutorials
      • 3D Camera Setup
      • Adding FlatRedBall to a MonoGame/FNA Project
      • Adding WPF to an Existing Game
      • async and await
      • CLR Profiler
      • Collision Jitter
      • Culling
      • Customizing Cursor Visuals
        • Windows Desktop
        • windows-rt
      • Depth Buffer Z Fighting
      • Dictionaries and Enum Keys
      • FlatRedBall XNA in Windows Form
      • Improving Performance
        • CustomActivity Performance
        • Identifying Screen Creation Performance Issues
        • Rendering Performance
        • Manually Updated Objects
          • Introduction
          • Measuring Automatic Updates
          • Measuring Sprite Automatic Updates
          • Manual Particle Systems
      • Object Sorting
      • Pix
      • Rendering Sprites with Shaders
      • Tile-Based Movement
      • Velocity
    • Distribution
      • App Icon
      • Emptying bin Folder Using Probing Path
      • itch.io
      • Release Build
      • Steam
    • FlatRedBall and Velcro Physics
      • Using Velcro Physics with the FlatRedBall Editor
      • Code-Only Velcro Projects
    • FlatRedBall Editor Plugins
      • Introduction to FlatRedBall Plugins
      • Creating a Plugin Project
      • Creating a Plugin Class
      • Adding UI to FlatRedBall
      • Using MVVM
      • Creating a NamedObjectSave-Editing Plugin
      • Adding File Format Support
      • Adding Code Files to a Game Project
      • Errors
      • Exporting a Plugin
    • Additional FlatRedBall Editor Tutorials
      • How to Create a First Person Camera
      • How to Play Sounds
      • How to Share Reference Data Between Screens and Entities
    • Math Tutorials
      • Circle Collision
      • Determining required magnitude for trajectory
      • Introduction to Collision
      • Power of Two
      • Rectangle Collision
      • rotation
      • statistics
      • trigonometry
      • vector
      • matrix
      • interpolation
    • Overworld Tutorials
      • Spinning Mode 7
        • New Project Setup
        • Adding Camera Code
        • Fading In and Out
  • 🎞️Videos
  • 📐FlatRedBall Editor
    • Display Settings
    • Entities
      • BaseEntity
      • Constructor
      • ConvertToManuallyUpdated
      • CreatedByOtherEntities
      • CustomActivity
      • CustomDestroy
      • CustomInitialize
      • Destroying Entities
      • Entity Performance
      • Export Entity
      • Implements IClickable
      • Implements ICollidable
      • Implements IDamageArea
      • Implements IDrawableBatch
      • Implements IGumCollidable
      • Implements IVisible
      • Implements IWindow
        • SlideOnClick
      • Import Entity
      • Inheriting from FlatRedBall Types
      • LayerProvidedByContainer
      • MoveToLayer
      • PooledByFactory
      • Top Down Movement
        • TopDownSpeedMultiplier
      • Use Global Content
    • Events
      • ResolutionRrOrientationChanged
    • Factories
      • CreateNew
      • EntitySpawned
      • Initialize
      • SortAxis
    • Files
      • File Types
        • Animation Chain List (.achx)
        • Comma Separated Values (.csv)
          • Combining .csvs With Entities
          • CreatesDictionary
          • Cross Referencing CSVs
          • Instantiating Custom Types
          • OrderedList
          • SetCreatedClass
            • generate-data-class
          • uniformrowtype
        • Effect (.fx, .fxb)
        • Font (.fnt)
        • JSON (.json)
        • Model (.fbx)
        • MP3
        • Node Network (.nntx)
        • OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods)
        • ShapeCollections (.shcx)
        • SplineList (.splx)
        • Texture2D (.png)
        • Wave (.wav)
      • Accessing Files in Code
      • Adding File Objects to Managers
      • Destroy on Unload
      • File Build Tool
      • Folders
      • Global Content Files
      • IsDatabaseForLocalizing
      • IsManuallyUpdated
      • IncludeDirectoryRelativeToContainer
      • LoadedAtRuntime
      • LoadedOnlyWhenReferenced
      • Name
      • Platform Inclusions
      • Project Specific Files
      • RuntimeType
      • SourceFile
      • UseContentPipeline
      • Wildcard Files
    • FileVersion (.gluj)
    • Generated Code
    • Global Content Files
      • LoadAsynchronously
      • Reload
      • Setting Files At Runtime
    • Live Edit
      • Render Targets
    • Menu
      • Content
        • Additional Content
          • Using Runtime Types as Objects
          • creating-runtime-objects
          • runtime-object-charateristics
          • simple-line-of-text-tutorial
        • Introduction
        • pipeline-settings
      • File
        • New Project
      • Edit
        • Find File References
      • Plugins
        • Install Plugin
        • Manage Plugins
      • Project
        • View Projects
      • Settings
        • Camera Settings
        • File Associations
        • File Build Tools
        • Performance Settings
      • Update
        • Introduction
        • glue-reference-menu-frbdk
        • glue-reference-menu-libraries
    • Multi-Platform
      • Synced Projects
      • Changing Main Project Type
      • Android
        • Distribution
        • Setup
      • iOS
        • Certificates and Profiles
        • Copying Projects to Mac
        • Using Xamarin Build Host
      • Switch (Nintendo)
      • Web
    • Objects
      • Object Types
        • AxisAlignedRectangle
        • Camera
        • CameraControllingEntity
        • Circle
        • CollisionRelationship
        • Layer
          • DestinationRectangle
          • Is2D
        • Polygon
        • PositionedObjectList
        • RenderTarget2D
        • ShapeCollection
        • SoundEffectInstance
        • Sprite
        • Text
        • TileNodeNetwork
      • AddToManagers
      • AttachToCamera
      • AttachToContainer
      • CallActivity
      • Collidable Objects
      • EntireFile
      • ExposedInDerived
      • HasPublicProperty
      • IgnoresPausing
      • IncludeInIClickable
      • IncludeInICollidable
      • IsContainer
      • LayerOn
      • Map
      • SetByDerived
      • SourceFile
      • SourceType
    • Plugins
      • glue-gluevault-component-pages-rendertargetrenderer
      • glue-gluevault-component-pages-simple-command-console
      • glue-gluevault-component-pages-squid-gui-integration
      • kalldrexx-interactive-debugging-console
    • Profiling
    • Screens
      • AsyncLoadingState
      • BaseScreen
      • Constructor
      • Creating a New Screen
      • CustomDestroy
      • CustomInitialize
      • DefaultLayer
      • GameScreen
      • IsActivityFinished
      • IsLoadingScreen
      • LoadStaticContent
      • MoveToScreen
      • PauseAdjustedCurrentTime
      • Set as StartUp Screen
      • UnloadsContentManagerWhenDestroyed
    • States
      • InterpolateToState
      • InterpolateToState vs InterpolateBetween
      • State Categories
      • State Classes
      • States and Inheritance
      • Tunneling Category Variables
    • Variables
      • CreatesEvent
      • HasAccompanyingVelocityProperty
      • IsShared
      • Proper Variable Naming
      • SetByDerived
      • Type
      • Variable Order
    • Visual Studio Project (.csproj)
  • 🏃Animation Editor
    • Frame Time
    • Animation Shapes and Collision
  • Tiled
    • Tiled Basics
      • Introduction
      • Creating a GameScreen
      • Adding Collision
      • Colliding Entities Against TileShapeCollections
      • Working with Multiple Levels
      • Creating Entities from Tiles
      • Creating Entities from Object Layers
      • Accessing Tiled Properties
      • Working with Tiled Shapes
    • Tiled Files in Entities
    • TileEntityInstantiator
    • Using TiledObjects.Generated.xml
    • LayeredTileMap
      • Collisions
      • Destroy
      • FromTiledMapSave
      • Z
    • MapDrawableBatch
      • AddTile
      • CoordinateAdjustment
      • GetBottomLeftWorldCoordinateForOrderedTile
      • MergeOntoThis
      • NamedTileOrderedIndexes
      • PaintTile
      • PaintTileTextureCoordinates
      • ParallaxX
      • Paste
      • Properties
      • RemoveQuads
      • RenderingScale
      • SortAxis
    • TiledMapSave
    • TileShapeCollection
      • AddCollisionAtWorld
      • AddCollisionFrom
      • AddCollisionFromTilesWithProperty
      • AddMergedCollisionFromLayer
      • AddMergedCollisionFromTilesWithProperty
      • AdjustRepositionDirectionsOnAddAndRemove
      • CollideAgainst
      • CollideAgainstClosest
      • GetRectangleAtPosition
      • InsertCollidables
      • LastCollisionAxisAlignedRectangles
      • Rectangles
      • RemoveFromManagers
      • RemoveSurroundedCollision
  • 🟩Gum
    • Tutorials
      • Introduction and Setup
      • Screens in Gum
      • Gum Objects in Code
      • Events on Gum Objects
      • Events on Gum Objects Part 2
      • Exposed Variables
      • States
      • Adding Code to Gum Objects
    • Accessing Gum Screens in Code
    • Adding Components to Layers
    • Adding Gum Screens to FlatRedBall
    • Animations in Code
    • Components in FlatRedBall Entities
    • Converting Gum Coordinates
    • Creating Components in Code
    • GraphicalUiElement as IWindow
    • Gum Resolution
    • Gum Properties Tab
    • Gum Animations
      • How to Play Gum Screen Animations
      • Named Events
      • Setting Gum Animationchain Achx in Code
  • 🦴Spine
    • Setup
    • Atlas
    • Changing Spine Textures at Runtime
    • SpineDrawableBatch
      • Event
      • PlayAnimation
      • SetCollision
      • Skeleton
  • ⏸️Aseprite
    • AnimationChainList
  • 🏫API Documentation
    • FlatRedBall Engine
      • AI
        • LineOfSight
          • VisibilityGrid
        • Pathfinding
          • PositionedNode
          • Link
            • Cost
            • NodeLinkingTo
          • NodeNetwork
            • GetPath
            • UpdateShapes
            • Visible
          • TileNodeNetwork
            • AddAndLinkTiledNode
            • AddAndLinkTiledNodeWorld
            • OccupyTileWorld
            • SetCosts
      • Audio
        • AudioManager
          • AreSoundEffectsEnabled
          • CurrentlyPlayingSong
          • MasterSongVolume
          • MasterSoundVolume
          • Play
          • PlaySong
          • PlaySongs
          • StopSong
        • PositionedSound
        • Sound
      • Camera
        • AbsoluteRightXEdge
        • AbsoluteRightXEdgeAt
        • AddLayer
        • AddSpriteToBillboard
        • AspectRatio
        • AttachTo
        • BackgroundColor
        • CameraCullMode
        • ClearMinimumsAndMaximums
        • ClearsDepthBuffer
        • DestinationRectangle
        • DrawsShapes
        • DrawsToScreen
        • DrawsWorld
        • FarClipPlane
        • FieldOfView
        • FixAspectRatioYConstant
        • ForceUpdateDependencies
        • GetViewport
        • IsSpriteInView
        • KeepSpriteInScreen
        • Layer
        • Layers
        • Main
        • MaximumX
        • Orthogonal
        • OrthogonalHeight
        • OrthogonalWidth
        • PixelsPerUnitAt
        • Position
        • PositionRandomlyInView
        • RelativeXEdgeAt
        • RemoveLayer
        • RotationMatrix
        • SetBordersAtZ
        • SetLookAtRotationMatrix
        • SetSplitScreenViewport
        • UpdateViewProjectionMatrix
        • UpVector
        • UsePixelCoordinates
        • UsePixelCoordinates3D
        • View
      • Content
        • ContentLoadBatch
        • AnimationChain
          • AnimationChainListSave
        • ContentManager
          • AddUnloadMethod
          • FileAliases
          • IsAssetLoadedByName
          • Load
          • LoadFromGlobalIfExists
          • Multiple Content Managers
        • Math
          • Geometry
            • ShapeCollectionSave
        • Polygon
          • PolygonSave
        • Scene
          • CameraSave
          • SceneSave
        • SpriteEditorScene
          • Camera
      • Debugging
        • Debugger
          • CommandLineWrite
          • GetFullPerformanceInformation
          • TextBlue
          • WriteAutomaticallyUpdatedObjectInformation
      • Entities
        • CameraControllingEntity
        • IDamageable
        • IDamageArea
      • FlatRedBallServices
        • AddDisposable
        • AddManager
        • CornerGrabbingResize
        • Draw
        • ForceClientSizeUpdates
        • Game
        • GetManagerInformation
        • GlobalContentManager
        • GraphicsOptions
        • Initialize
        • IsLoaded
        • Load
        • Owner
        • Random
        • RenderAll
        • Unload
        • Update
        • WindowHandle
      • Graphics
        • Animation
          • AnimationChain
            • Clone
            • FrameToFrame
            • TotalLength
          • AnimationChainList
          • AnimationController
          • AnimationFrame
            • RelativeX
            • ShapeCollectionSave
            • Texture
          • IAnimationChainAnimatable
            • Animate
            • Animation and Timing
            • AnimationChains
            • AnimationSpeed
            • CurrentChainName
            • CurrentFrameIndex
            • JustChangedFrame
            • JustCycled
            • UseAnimationRelativePosition
        • BitmapFont
          • BMFC File
          • BitmapCharacterInfo
          • FNT File
          • Glyphs
          • LineHeightInPixels
          • RenderToTexture2D
        • BlendOperation
        • ColorOperation
          • Add
          • Color
          • ColorTextureAlpha
          • InterpolateColor
          • Modulate
          • Texture
        • GraphicsOptions
          • Filtering
          • IsFullScreen
          • ResolutionHeight
          • SetFullScreen
          • SetResolution
          • SizeOrOrientationChanged
          • TextureFilter
          • TextureLoadingColorKey
          • UseMultisampling
        • IColorable
          • Alpha
          • BlendOperation
          • Blue
          • ColorOperation
        • IDrawableBatch
          • Z
          • RenderState
        • IVisible
          • IgnoresParentVisibility
        • Layer
          • Layer Membership Details
          • LayerCameraSettings
          • Remove
          • RenderTarget
          • SortType
          • Sprites
          • UsePixelCoordinates
        • LayerCameraSettings
          • OrthogonalWidth
          • TopDestination
        • Particle
          • EmissionSettings
            • Drag
            • PixelSize
            • ScaleX
          • Emitter
        • PostProcessing
          • SwapChain
        • RenderBreak
        • Renderer
          • Draw
          • LastFrameRenderBreakList
          • RenderBreaksAllocatedThisFrame
        • Text
          • AdjustPositionForPixelPerfectDrawing
          • ColorOperation
          • DisplayText
          • GetWidth
          • Font
          • HorizontalAlignment
          • InsertNewLines
          • MaxWidth
          • MaxWidthBehavior
          • NewLineDistance
          • NumberOfLines
          • ScaleX
          • SetColor
          • SetPixelPerfectScale
          • VerticalAlignment
          • Width
        • TextManager
          • AddManuallyUpdated
          • AddText
          • AddToLayer
          • FilterTexts
          • RemoveText
        • Texture
          • RenderTargetSprite
          • ImageData
            • ApplyColorOperation
            • Fill
            • FromTexture2D
      • Gui
        • Cursor
          • Camera
          • ClickNoSlideThreshold
          • CustomUpdate
          • GetRay
          • IngnoreInputThisFrame
          • IsInWindow
          • IsOn
          • IsOn3d
          • PrimaryClick
          • PrimaryClickNoSlide
          • PrimaryPushTime
          • ScreenX
          • SecondaryClick
          • SetControllingGamepad
          • SetJoystickControl
          • TransformationMatrix
          • WindowOver
          • WidowPushed
          • WorldPosition
          • WorldX
          • WorldXAt
          • WorldYAt
          • XForUi
        • GuiManager
          • AddDominantWindow
          • BringsClickedWindowsToFront
          • BringToFront
          • GamepadsForUiControl
          • MakeRegularWindow
          • RemoveWindow
          • SortZAndLayerBased
          • Windows
        • IClickable
        • IInputReceiver
          • IWindow
            • CallClick
            • Enabled
          • ReceiveInput
      • Input
        • AnalogButton
        • AnalogStick
          • IsMaxPositionNormalized
        • DelegateBased1DInput
        • DelegateBased2DInput
        • DelegateBasedPressableInput
        • I1DInput
        • I2DInput
        • IMouseOver
        • InputDeviceBase
        • InputManager
          • ClearAllInput
          • InputReceiver
        • IPressableInput
        • Keyboard
          • Clear
          • ControlPositionedObject
          • Get2DInput
          • GetKey
          • GetStringTyped
          • IgnoreKeyForOneFrame
          • KeyDown
          • KeyPushed
        • Mouse
          • GrabbedPositionedObject
          • IsOn3D
          • ModifyMouseState
          • Restricting Mouse to Screen Bounds
          • SetScreenPosition
        • TouchScreen
          • LastFrameGestures
          • ReadsGestures
        • Windows
          • WindowsInputEventManager
        • Xbox360GamePad
          • ButtonDown
          • ButtonMap
          • ButtonPosition vs Button
          • ButtonPushed
          • ControlPositionedObject
          • CreateDefaultButtonMap
          • Deadzone
          • DeadzoneType
          • FakeIsConnected
          • GamepadLayout
          • IgnoreButtonForOneFrame
      • Instructions
        • DelegateInstruction
        • IInstructable
          • Call
          • Cnstructions
          • Set
        • Instruction
        • InstructionList
          • ExecuteAndRemoveOrCyclePassedInstructions
        • InstructionManager
          • Add
          • AddSafe
          • Instructions
          • MoveThrough
          • MoveTo
          • MoveToAccurate
          • ObjectsIgnoringPausing
          • PauseEngine
          • Pulse
          • RotateToAccurate
        • Reflection
          • LateBinder
          • PropertyCollection
        • MethodInstruction
        • StaticMethodInstruction
      • IO
        • Csv
          • CsvHeader
          • CsvFilemanager
            • Cells with Multiple Lines
            • Color
            • CsvDeserializelist
            • Rows with Lists
          • RuntimeCsvRepresentation
            • FromList
            • GenerateCsvString
        • FileManager
          • BinarySerialize
          • CloneObject
          • FromFileText
          • GetAllFilesInDirectory
          • GetUserFolder
          • InitializeUserFolder
          • RelativeDirectory
          • SaveEmbeddedResource
          • SaveText
          • Standardize
          • UserApplicationDataForThisApplication
          • XmlDeserialize
          • XmlSerialize
      • Localization
        • LocalizationManager
      • Managers
        • IManager
      • Math
        • IAttachableRemovable
        • AttachableList
          • FindByName
          • MakeOneWay
        • Collision
          • CollisionManager
            • Relationships
            • Update
        • Geometry
          • AxisAlignedCube
            • CollideAgainstBounce
          • AxisAlignedRectangle
            • Axis Alignment And Rotation
            • CollideAgainstMoveSoft
            • Color
            • GetRandomPositionInThis
            • KeepThisInsideOf
            • LastMoveCollisionReposition
            • Left
            • RepositionDirections
          • Capsule2D
          • Circle
            • CollideAgainst
            • CollideAgainstBounce
            • CollideAgainstMove
            • IsPointInside
            • LastCollisionTangent
            • LastMoveCollisionReposition
            • ProjectParentVelocityOnLastMoveCollisionTangent
            • Visible
            • Z
          • Colliding a List of Shapes Against Itself
          • FloatRectangle
          • ICollidable
          • IScalable
            • Scale
          • Line
            • Color
            • LastCollisionPoint
            • RelativePoint1
            • SetFromAbsoluteEndpoints
          • Point
          • Polygon
            • AbsolutePointPosition
            • Clone
            • CollideAgainstBounce
            • CollideAgainstMove and Attachments
            • CollideAgainstMove
            • Color
            • CreateEquilateral
            • CreateRectangle
            • ForceUpdateDependencies
            • IsPointInside
            • LastMoveCollisionReposition
            • OptimizeRadius
            • Points
            • Position
            • ProjectParentVelocityOnLastMoveCollisionTangent
            • ScaleBy
            • Thin Polygon Problem
            • VectorFrom
            • Visible
            • Z
          • Segment
            • ClosestPointTo
          • Shape
          • ShapeCollection
            • AttachTo
            • AxisAlignedRectangles
            • CollideAgainst
            • CollideAgainstBounceWithoutSnag
            • CollideAgainstMove
            • CollideAgainstMoveWithoutSnag
            • LastCollisionAxisAlignedRectangles
            • SortAscending
            • Visible
          • ShapeManager
            • AddToLayer
            • Remove
            • ShapeDrawingOrder
          • ShapeMerger
          • Shapes and 2D Collision
          • Sphere
        • IAttachable
          • Attachment Updates in the Engine
          • Detach
          • ParentRotationChangesPosition
          • ParentRotationChangesRotation
          • TopParent
        • IRotatable
          • RotationMatrix
        • MathFunctions
          • AbsoluteToWindow
          • AngleToAngle
          • AngleToVector
          • GetPointInCircle
          • GetPositionAfterTime
          • RegulatAngle
          • RotatePointAroundPoint
          • RoundFloat
          • RoundToInt
          • WidowToAbsolute
        • Paths
          • Path
        • PositionedObjectList
          • Add
          • AttachTo
          • Clear
          • GetFirstAfter
          • GetFirstAfterPosition
          • SortXInsertionAscending
        • Splines
          • Spline
            • GetPositionAtLengthAlongSpline
      • Performance
        • Measurement
          • Section
            • GetAndStartContextAndTime
            • Save
            • ToStringVerbose
      • PositionedObject
        • Acceleration
        • AttachTo
        • Children
        • Clone
        • Drag
        • ForceUpdatedependencies
        • ForceUpdatedependenciesDeep
        • Initialize
        • KeepTrackOfReal
        • LastPosition
        • Mirrored properties
        • ParentRotationChangesPosition
        • ParentRotationChangesRotation
        • Position
        • RelativePosition
        • RelativeRotationZ
        • RelativeVelocity
        • RemoveSelfFromListsBelongingTo
        • RotationZ
        • SetRelativeFromAbsolute
        • TimedActivity
        • TopParent
        • UpdateDependencies
        • Velocity
        • Z
      • Screens
        • Screen
          • ContentManagerName
          • CustomDestroy
          • IsActivityFinished
          • MoveToScreen
          • PauseThisScreen
        • ScreenManager
          • Activity
          • CurrentScreen
          • Start
      • Sprite
        • Alpha
        • AnimateSelf
        • AnimationChains
        • AnimationSpeed
        • Bottom
        • BottomTextureCoordinate
        • Changing a Sprite's Origin
        • ColorOperation
        • CurrentChainName
        • CurrentFrameIndex
        • IgnoreAnimationChainTextureFlip
        • Inheriting from the Sprite Class
        • JustCycled
        • LeftTextureCoordinate
        • PixelSize
        • Position
        • RightTextureCoordinate
        • SetAnimationChain
        • SetScaleXRatioToY
        • Sorting and Overlapping
        • Sprite vs Texture2d
        • Texture Coordinates
        • Texture
        • TextureAddressMode
        • TextureCoordinate
        • TextureFilter
        • TextureScale
        • TimeIntoAnimation
        • TopTextureCoordinate
        • UseAnimationRelativePosition
        • Vertices
        • VerticesForDrawing
        • Visible
      • SpriteList
      • SpriteManager
        • AddDrawableBatch
        • AddManagedInvisibleSprite
        • AddManualSprite
        • AddParticleSprite
        • AddPositionedObject
        • AddSprite
        • AddToLayer
        • AddZBufferedDrawableBatch
        • AddZBufferedSprite
        • AutomaticallyUpdatedSprites
        • Camera
        • ConvertToAutomaticallyUpdated
        • ConvertToManagedInvisible
        • ConvertToManuallyUpdated
        • ConvertToZBufferedSprite
        • DrawableBatches
        • ManagedPositionedObjects
        • ManualUpdate
        • MaxParticleCount
        • MoveToBack
        • OrderedSortType
          • Z
        • OrderedSprites
        • RemoveDrawableBatch
        • RemoveLayer
        • RemovePositionedObject
        • RemoveSprite
        • RemoveSpriteOneWay
        • SortTexturesSecondary
        • SortYSpritesSecondary
        • UnderAllDrawnLayer
      • TimeManager
        • Accumulating Time
        • CurrentScreenSecondsSince
        • CurrentTime
        • Profiling
        • SecondDifference
        • SecondsSince
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On this page
  • Introduction
  • Content Manager and the FlatRedBallEditor
  • What is "caching"?
  • What is a Content Manager?
  • Using Content Managers
  • Content Manager Code Sample
  • Which content manager should I use?
  • Additional Information

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  1. API Documentation
  2. FlatRedBall Engine
  3. Content

ContentManager

PreviousAnimationChainListSaveNextAddUnloadMethod

Last updated 10 months ago

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Introduction

Content managers provide functionality for organizing and caching game assets. They can be thought of as a "bucket of assets". When you create an asset through the Content Manager, you give it a name (usually its file name) and decide which Content Manager it goes into. Later if the same name appears, the FlatRedBall Engine will return a reference to that asset instead of loading it from disk. Although MonoGame has a content manager class by the qualified name of Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Content.ContentManager, you do not have to ever explicitly interact with this class when using FlatRedBall. Instead, you simply work with content managers through the class.

Content Manager and the FlatRedBallEditor

If you are using the FlatRedBall Editor, you may not have to directly interact with the ContentManager object. For example, if you add a .png file to the FlatRedBall Editor, it will automatically load the file in generated code using the ContentManager. However, if you would like to work with content in code, or if your game requires advanced handling of content then you may need to work with the ContentManager in custom code.

What is "caching"?

Computer memory can exist in a variety of locations: On the hard disk, in RAM, or even on the hard disks of other computers which you can access through the Internet (as you are currently doing when viewing this page). Not all types of memory can be accessed with the same speeds. Getting data through the Internet is very slow compared to data that is sitting on your local hard disk, and accessing data on the hard disk is much slower than accessing data in RAM. When the same data needs to be accessed multiple times, making a copy of it and moving it to faster memory can help improve performance. Content such as Textures and Models are copied from the hard disk to RAM to speed up future access to this memory - as well as to prevent duplicate memory in RAM.

What is a Content Manager?

Content managers simplify the loading of new assets as well as help organize existing assets. Content managers in FlatRedBall store references to a variety of assets. The most common type of reference held by content managers is of type Texture2D. Any FlatRedBall method which can potentially load a Texture2D works with FlatRedBall's internal content managers. Content managers are also useful for organizing data. Any data which has the same lifespan - such as textures, geometry, and sound files in a given level - should belong to the same content manager. When the level ends, simply removing that content manager unloads all memory associated with the level. Content managers make memory management and game state changes much easier.

Using Content Managers

If you have programed a FlatRedBall application which displays a texture (such as the red ball texture on a ) then you have worked with content managers - although you may not realize it. Any method which takes a string file name for a Texture2D also takes a string for a content manager name. Some methods have overloads which do not require a content manager string argument, but those simply use the default "Global" content manager. You may be familiar with the AddSprite method:

Sprite someSprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp");

This method has an overload which allows the content manager to be specified. Calling the one-argument version is the same as passing "Global" as the second argument:

Sprite someSprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Global");

The Global content manager is used by default by all methods which load Texture2D's when a content manager is not explicitly supplied in the argument list. To specify a different content manager, simply provide the string of the new name - there is no need to instantiate any instances as this is all handled internally. Loading the same asset using the same content manager does not result in multiple copies of the asset in memory and the hard disk is only accessed once. The following code creates only one copy of the redball.bmp texture in memory.

SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp"); // in Global by default
SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Global");
FlatRedBallServices.Load<Texture2D>("redball.bmp", "Global");

While the following creates three separate copies of the redball.bmp texture and also the hard disk is accessed three times:

SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Some Content Manager");
SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Other Content Manager");
SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "other content manager"); // case sensitive!

Or another way to look at it is:

Texture2D firstTexture = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Some Content Manager");
Texture2D secondTexture = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Other Content Manager");
Texture2D thirdTexture = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "other content manager"); // case sensitive!

if(firstTexture == secondTexture)
{
   // This won't get hit
}

if(secondTexture == thirdTexture)
{
   // This also won't get hit.
}

Content Manager Code Sample

The following code simulates the creation and destruction of 3 levels. Levels can be loaded and unloaded by pressing the 1, 2, and 3 keys. The text object which is created displays the loaded content and the Sprites themselves display the loaded Sprites.

 // Add this using statement:
 using FlatRedBall.Graphics;

 // in class scope
 Text debugText;

 bool[] mLevelLoaded;
 SpriteList mLevel1Sprites;
 SpriteList mLevel2Sprites;
 SpriteList mLevel3Sprites;

 // replace Initialize with this:
 protected override void Initialize()
 {
     FlatRedBallServices.InitializeFlatRedBall(this, this.graphics);

     base.Initialize();

     debugText = TextManager.AddText("");
     debugText.Y = 13;
     debugText.X = -16;
     debugText.Scale = debugText.Spacing = .5f;

     mLevelLoaded = new bool[3];

     mLevelLoaded[0] = false;
     mLevelLoaded[1] = false;
     mLevelLoaded[2] = false;

     mLevel1Sprites = new SpriteList();
     mLevel2Sprites = new SpriteList();
     mLevel3Sprites = new SpriteList();

 }

 // replace Update with the following:
 protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime)
 {
     FlatRedBallServices.Update(gameTime);

     if(InputManager.Keyboard.KeyPushed(Keys.D1))
     {
         if(mLevelLoaded[0] == false)
         {
             Sprite sprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Level1");
             sprite.X = 5;
             mLevel1Sprites.Add(sprite);
             
             mLevelLoaded[0] = true;
         }
         else
         {
             mLevelLoaded[0] = false;
             FlatRedBallServices.Unload("Level1");
             SpriteManager.RemoveSpriteList(mLevel1Sprites);
         }
     }
     else if(InputManager.Keyboard.KeyPushed(Keys.D2))
     {
         if(mLevelLoaded[1] == false)
         {
             Sprite sprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Level2");
             sprite.X = 1;
             mLevel2Sprites.Add(sprite);

             sprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Level2");
             sprite.Y = 5;
             sprite.X = -2;
             mLevel2Sprites.Add(sprite);
             
             mLevelLoaded[1] = true;
         }
         else
         {
             mLevelLoaded[1] = false;
             FlatRedBallServices.Unload("Level2");
             SpriteManager.RemoveSpriteList(mLevel2Sprites);
         }
     }
     else if(InputManager.Keyboard.KeyPushed(Keys.D3))
     {
         if(mLevelLoaded[2] == false)
         {
             Sprite sprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Level3");
             sprite.X = -3;
             mLevel3Sprites.Add(sprite);
             
             sprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Level3");
             sprite.Y = 2;
             sprite.X = 4;
             mLevel3Sprites.Add(sprite);

             sprite = SpriteManager.AddSprite("redball.bmp", "Level3");
             sprite.Y = 6;
             sprite.X = -4;
             mLevel3Sprites.Add(sprite);

             mLevelLoaded[2] = true;
         }
         else
         {
             mLevelLoaded[2] = false;
             FlatRedBallServices.Unload("Level3");
             SpriteManager.RemoveSpriteList(mLevel3Sprites);
         }
     }

     debugText.DisplayText = FlatRedBallServices.GetContentManagerInformation();

     base.Update(gameTime);
 }

Which content manager should I use?

Even if you understand the concept that content managers can be thought of as a "bucket of asset", you may be wondering which content manager to put assets in. The following lists a few conditions to help you decide.

  • Are you just debugging? If you are writing code that will not ship with the final game, or if you're just testing something out, then it really doesn't matter what you use. Passing any string will create a new content manager to store the asset. Of course, creating content managers without paying attention to their names can create a buildup of assets if content managers are not cleaned up properly.

Additional Information

Is your content going to live forever? You may be creating a game with a particular object (such as a or a second ) that you never want to unload. If this is the case, then you may want to use the global content manager. You can use the FlatRedBallServices.GlobalContentManager property as the value passed to any method that accepts a content manager.

Are you using ? The base class defines a property called ContentManagerName. If the object that you're creating should be destroyed when the is destroyed, then you should use the Screen's ContentManagerName.

Are you creating an object which will be destroyed at some time in the future? If you are not using but still want to perform your own content management (and destruction) then you should place your object in the same content manager as other objects which will be destroyed at the same time. Of course, we encourage the use of as they have been created for this reason and they simplify the management of assets.

- Shows an example of how Content Managers cache content.

- AddDisposable can be used to add IDisposables to Content Managers.

- Discusses the purpose of having multiple content managers.

🏫
FlatRedBallServices
Sprite
SpriteManager's
Texture2D
Camera
Screens
Screen
Screen
Screens
Screens
Texture caching example
FlatRedBall.FlatRedBallServices.AddDisposable
FlatRedBall Content Manager:Multiple Content Managers
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