Reference Types are a designation of types within the FrooxEngine Data Model. They are in contrast to value types in that they exist in one place in memory and are "passed around" by their Reference ID rather than by value, such as through a SyncRef<T>.
All reference types share the following properties:
- Defined with a class, interface, delegate, or record internally.
- Referred to and passed around with Reference IDs, usually through a SyncRef<T> field.
- Implement IWorldElement, meaning they can be casted to and from IWorldElement.
Some examples of reference types include Slots, Users, Components, and Fields. Types defined through a struct are not reference types, such as the Rect type.
In general, the analogue to reference types in ProtoFlux is the object type. This can cause some confusion when using nodes that interact with FrooxEngine (such as a Data Model Store) vs nodes that are contained entirely within protoflux (such as a Local). A slot is an Object Ref in the Data Model, but an Object alone in ProtoFlux contexts. A string is a value in the Data Model, but an Object Field in ProtoFlux contexts.
See Also
- Value Type, for the other type of types within the FrooxEngine and ProtoFlux data model.
- Type:Object, for the type of types that are not value types within ProtoFlux.
- Microsoft documentation on C# Reference Types. Do note that this is not the same exact implementation as FrooxEngine's reference types, as FrooxEngine "nests" their own data model within C#, but the concepts presented in the article apply to FrooxEngine's data model as well.