Inexor Flex is platform for managing Inexor Core instances and the Inexor Tree API and provides a scripting environment for servers and clients. Inexor Flex also makes multiple user interfaces using web technologies available.
The reference documentation can be found at GitHub pages Further introduction and overview: https://github.com/inexorgame/inexor-core/wiki/Inexor-Flex
- we wanted to create a way in which we can easily configure and extend our game
- that's why we created the
tree
. It means that all the settings (variables) in the game can be edited in real-time in a tree structure - but this tree was hard to access. It's sent over the wire in a compressed format, that's hard to work with for "casual users"
- next: we created
inexor-flex
. It makes this tree available via a web service (and webviewer). On your local computer. - not only can you edit the game in real time with
inexor-flex
, it also does a bunch of things for you- read configuration. e.g for maps, or servers
- read the server list
- only your imagination is the limit (...)
- you need to have
Node.js
installed from nodejs.org. The latest stable release is recommended. - install the Yarn package manager
If you don't want to contribute to Flex itself, you can install it via
yarn global add @inexorgame/inexor-flex
- now you can start Flex via
inexor-flex
NOTE: If you're curious what the graphical installer does. No suprise. Exactly the same.
If you are considering to contribute to Flex:
- clone this repository
- open a terminal/shell within the Flex repository directory
- install Flex via
yarn install
- you can start Flex via
yarn start
Since nowadays, all configuration is done via inexor-flex
, we have introduced a system called instances
.
Each Inexor client or server is an instance. You can have multiple clients (or servers), with different configurations, even running different versions of the game.
If you want to be little bit more of a power user, we also ship a graphical interface for flex. Right there. When you download it.
Just go to http://localhost:31416/api/v1/interfaces/ui-flex
And even more fancy. You can see the Inexor Tree
at http://localhost:31416/api/v1/interfaces/ui-flex/#/instances/31417
inexor-flex
brings a verbose command line that can easily be accessed with it's name.
Just call inexor-flex
from your command line (shell, prompt, terminal), and you can have a lot of options to configure flex
from the command line.
Flex is structure in two main folders:
src
is where the utilities of Flex resideserver
is where the actualFlex server
resides. The web server is started here, and all run-time functionality (such as paths) are determined here.
All of the above components are wired together using the Application Context module.
After the "wire" individual components, such as the package manager are started.
The API is exposed as a RESTfull API.
Inexor Flex was initially born to serve the tree of Inexor Core and this is how it works nowadays.
- we create a mother Inexor root node using the
@inexorgame/tree
module - each instance of Inexor Core has a
src/instances/Connector
attached - this Connector will create a tree at
/instance/INSTANCEID
- other modules can be hooked in other namespaces than
/instances
. e.g for the ReleaseManager, the namespace is/releases
Interfaces are graphical user interfaces for Inexor Flex and Inexor Core. An interfaces is basically just HTML5/CSS/JavaScript folders, which will be made available via the REST API.
Below is a list of the default interfaces shipped with Flex:
- ui-flex is used to manage the flex server itself
- ui-console is an interactive console for the game
- ui-client-hud is a HUD system for the game
- ui-client-interface are the menu(s) for the game
An interface should follow the below directory structure:
- Your interface must expose a
dist
folder with all it's assets package.json
dist
img
js
css
index.html
- (...)
- Your dependencies will be served from
http(s)://flex_url/static
- Your interface will be served from
http(s)://flex_url/api/v1/interfaces/NAME
You can then use the interfaces
command line to add your newly written.
We use JSDoc for documentation. All modules from src
and server
are automatically added to the documentation, when following the standards.
We endorse the eslint:recommended
rule set, combined with some custom rules.
You can make sure your module matches our standard by running yarn run lint
in the main directory.
When writting a module, please keep the following in mind
- if you write a larger block of code or seperate functionality, consider creating a new module
- by default unit tests with mocha are done for any file that matches
*_test.js
, though it is highly recommended to add atest
folder to your module - if necessary (for important or big modules), we urge that you add a separate
README.md
to the respective module
We also try to apply the changes detected by the [security/recommended
] standard.
The REST API (v1
) is wired together in server/api/v1/index.js
.
Essentially to write your very first own module, you should go like this
- create a new directory
src/YOURMODULE
- execute
yarn init
within your module directory, which will ask you a bunch of questions - the name of your module has to be
@inexorgame/YOURMODULE
- your module should export a
index.js
file with it's functionality - YOU HAVE TO add your new module to the
fileDependencies
in the rootpackage.json
- after this execute
yarn install
again within the root directory
Later on your module can be used via
const yourmodule = require('@inexorgame/yourmodule')
You can have a look at the src/types
module, for a very simple and basic module example.
We have specifically designed the module @inexorgame/treeclient
to work with the v1
API.
You can have a look at one of the many command-line tasks in server/commands/cli/
which will give a fine example on how to use the treeclient
library.