How to use str2var

aimless-skipper

I have a setup like this: A string that changes to the names of different dictionaries based on user input. I want to be able to get a value from the dictionary that the string is currently on. I've tried to use str2var for this as it seemed quite straightforward, but it keeps giving me an error that I cannot get the dictionary value. Am I doing something wrong or is there a better way to do this?

Here is my code:

var type
var component = "shock_rifle"
 var shock_rifle = {
	"damage" : 5,
	"rotation_delay" : 4,
	"firerate" : 0.2,
	"spread" : 0.05,
	"modulate" : 0,
	"projtype" : 0,
	"type" : 1
}
                
 type = str2var(component).type  #<--- Not my actual code, just how I am trying to get the dictionary value

TwistedTwigleg

If you have a dictionary, you should be able to access it directly like this:

var value = dictionary_here["key_name_here"]

Though if you have multiple dictionaries, like multiple weapons, then you probably will want to store them in a dictionary as well if you are wanting to use the component variable as the key. Something like this, for example:

var component = "shock_rifle"
var weapons = {
	"shock_rilfe": {
		"damage": 5,
		"type": 1
	},
	"shock_pistol": {
		"damage":3,
		"type":2
	}
}

func _ready():
	# to access:
	var current_weapon = weapons[component]
	print ("current weapon: ", current_weapon, " | damage: ", current_weapon["damage"])
	# change weapons
	component = "shock_pistol"
	current_weapon = weapons[component]
	print ("current weapon: ", current_weapon, " | damage: ", current_weapon["damage"])
	
	# you can also add to the dictionary in _ready, which can sometimes lead to easier to read code
	weapons["shock_shotgun"] = {
		"damage": 10,
		"type":3
	}

I think the str2var and var2str (assuming it exists) are for serialization to a file, though I have not used either function so I cannot say for sure.