Can you create a scripting zone from within a script?

[alto_saxophone]

I would like to create over a hundred scripting zones at regular intervals. I don't want to use the zone creation tool to tediously place the zones, get the GUID and enter these into my script. Rather, I would rather have my script run a for-loop and create the zones and store them in a table.

Is it possible to create zones from within a script?

[jolly]

You can spawn in scripting zones with the spawn object function

https://api.tabletopsimulator.com/base/#spawnobject

the type is "ScriptingTrigger"

https://api.tabletopsimulator.com/built-in-object/

[alto_saxophone]

I can create the zone, but when I call getObjects(), it doesn't find any (even though I put one in). I also tried to print .guid on the zone, but I get only blank. It doesn't seem to work the same as a zone you create using the zone tool. What am I missing?

[alto_saxophone]

Here is a related question. Let's say in the Global onLoad() function, I call a function to spawn a bunch of scripting zones and store references to each zone in a table. Now suppose the players save the game. When they later load the game, will the spawned scripting zones from the previous session be there? Then, when the Global onLoad is called, it will spawn new scripting zones in the same position and store references to each zone in a table... again. Will the scripting zones from the saved game eventually go away with garbage collection? If I keep saving the game and relaunching it, will I end up with hundreds of scripting zones in the same position thus bogging down the system?

[latens]

Haven't tried it out, but I think the scripting zones will persist through a save and load. To prevent creating multiple zones in the same positions you could just save the table with references. The example on https://api.tabletopsimulator.com/event/#onload pretty much describes how you'd go about saving the table.

[marcpawl]

Did you get it to work? Can you post demo code?

[latens]

Yeah, I did get it to work. Some demo code below.

    positions = { -- a table containing positions to spawn scripting zones
        [1] = {26.22,1.2,-4.54},
        [2] = {26.22,1.2,-1.298},
        -- .. etc.
    }
    
    zones = {} -- a table containing a list of zone guids
    function onSave()
        local data_to_save = settings
        saved_data = JSON.encode(data_to_save)
        return saved_data
    end
    
    function onLoad(saved_data)
        if saved_data ~= "" then
            local loaded_data = JSON.decode(saved_data)
            if(#loaded_data > 0) then
                zones = loaded_data -- save existing zones
            else
                spawnZones() -- spawn zones when no zones exist yet
            end
        else
            spawnZones() -- spawn zones if there is no save data
        end
    end
    
    function spawnZones()
        for _,pos in pairs(positions) do
            spawnObject({
                type              = 'ScriptingTrigger', -- ScriptingTrigger is a scripting zone
                position          = pos,
                scale             = {1,1,1}, -- or whatever you want
                callback_function = function(obj)
                    obj.setPosition(pos)
                    zones[#zones + 1] = obj.getGUID()
                end,
                sound             = false,
                snap_to_grid      = false,
            })
        end
    end