microexpansion/doc/api.md

Core API

The core API is composed of several functions to make registering new items, nodes, and recipes for items and nodes more efficient and intuitive. Code for this public API is in ./api.lua. This documentation is divided up per function.

register_recipe(output, def)

Usage: microexpansion.register_recipe(<output (string)>, <recipe (table)>)

Though this may seem rather complex to understand, this is a very useful timesaving function when registering recipes. It allows registering multiple recipes at once in one table. The output must always remain the same as is specified as the first parameter, while the second parameter should be a table structured like one of the tables below.

Single Recipe:

microexpansion.register_recipe("default:steelblock", {
  "single",
  { 1,
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
  },
})

The above registers a single recipe for the item specified. The 1 specifies the output quantity.

Multiple Recipes:

microexpansion.register_recipe("default:steelblock", {
  "multiple",
  { 1,
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
  },
  { 1,
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
    { "default:steel_ingot", "default:steel_ingot" },
  }
})

The above registers multiple recipes for the item specified. The 1 specifies the output quantity.

register_item(itemstring, def)

Usage: microexpansion.register_item(<itemstring (string)>, <item definition (table)>

This API function accepts the same parameters in the definition table as does minetest.register_craftitem, however, it makes several modifications to the parameters before passing them on. A new parameter, usedfor, is introduced, which if provided is appened on a new line in grey to the item description, a good way to specify what the item does or include more information about it. The inventory_image parameter is modified to enforce the naming style adding microexpansion_ to the beginning of the specified path, and .png to the end. If not inventory_image is provided, the itemstring is used and then undergoes the above modification. This allows shortening and even removing the inventory_image code, while passing everything else (aside from usedfor) on to minetest.register_craftitem.

register_node(itemstring, def)

Usage: microexpansion.register_node(<itemstring (string)>, <item definition (table)>

This API function accepts the same parameters in the definition table as does minetest.register_craftitem, however, it makes several modifications to the parameters before passing them on. A new parameter, usedfor, is introduced, which if provided is appened on a new line in grey to the item description, a good way to specify what the item does or include more information about it. The tiles table is modified so as to simplify the definition when registering the node. Each texture in the tiles table has microexpansion_ added to the beginning and .png to the end. This means that rather than specifying something like microexpansion_chest_top.png, only chest_top is required. Note: the texture path "autocomplete" functionality can be disabled by settings auto_complete to false in the definition (useful if using textures from another mod).