ConditionalWeakTables and you

[ErroneousCreationist]

Storing data on something can be an issue in your rain world mod, as you cannot just directly add variables to something. However, there is a solution... ConditionalWeakTables, or CWTs.

What are they?

A ConditionalWeakTable is a table that, like a dictionary, has a key and value. However, it uses weak references, which means it will not keep memory allocated and prevents leaks and other bad stuff. (This definition is off the top of my head, feel free to think of something better lol)

Getting started

To make a CWT, you need to be using System.Runtime.CompilerServices, put that at the top of your cs file. Then, you can create one, like this: public static ConditionalWeakTable<KEY, VALUE> MyCWT= new ConditionalWeakTable<KEY, VALUE>();
The key and value are very important. Lets say you are doing the most common thing, and storing data on your custom slugcat. In that case, you can use Player as your key, and a struct that has your data in it.

How to use

To use your CWT you need to add your player to it when they are created, and use data from the CWT to do stuff you need. You can hook to the players ctor and add to it like this:

MyCWT.Add(self, new MyDataStruct(...));

Then, you can use TryGetValue to retrieve your struct (put it in an if statement for security, in case it doesn't exist or something, since this returns false if it cant find your key):

MyCWT.TryGetValue(self, out MyDataStruct data);

Lets say you want to change a value in your CWT. That is a bit harder than a normal dictionary because of some reason (i dunno) but you can do it like this:

MyCWT.TryGetValue(self, out MyDataStruct data);
data.something = something_else;
MyCWT.Remove(self); //remove the player from the cwt so you can replace it
MyCWT.Add(self, data);

Conclusion

I dunno what to write here. Good coding!