How to Define State Dispatcher

This guide explains how to define a state-specific Dispatcher whose Systems are only executed within the context of a defined State.

First of all we required a DispatcherBuilder. The DispatcherBuilder handles the actual creation of the Dispatcher and the assignment of Systems to our Dispatcher.

extern crate amethyst;

use amethyst::{
    ecs::prelude::*,
    prelude::*,
};

let mut dispatcher_builder = DispatcherBuilder::new();

To add Systems to the DispatcherBuilder we use a similar syntax to the one we used to add Systems to GameData.

extern crate amethyst;

use amethyst::{
    ecs::prelude::*,
    prelude::*,
};

struct MoveBallsSystem; struct MovePaddlesSystem;
impl<'a> System<'a> for MoveBallsSystem { type SystemData = (); fn run(&mut self, _: ()) {} }
impl<'a> System<'a> for MovePaddlesSystem { type SystemData = (); fn run(&mut self, _: ()) {} }
let mut dispatcher_builder = DispatcherBuilder::new();

dispatcher_builder.add(MoveBallsSystem, "move_balls_system", &[]);
dispatcher_builder.add(MovePaddlesSystem, "move_paddles_system", &[]);

Alternatively we can add Bundles of Systems to our DispatcherBuilder directly.

extern crate amethyst;

use amethyst::{
    core::bundle::SystemBundle,
    ecs::{DispatcherBuilder, World, WorldExt},
    prelude::*,
};
#[derive(Default)] struct PongSystemsBundle;
impl<'a, 'b> SystemBundle<'a, 'b> for PongSystemsBundle {
    fn build(self, _: &mut World, _: &mut DispatcherBuilder<'a, 'b>) -> Result<(), amethyst::Error> {
        Ok(())
    }
}

let mut world = World::new();
let mut dispatcher_builder = DispatcherBuilder::new();

PongSystemsBundle::default()
    .build(&mut world, &mut dispatcher_builder)
    .expect("Failed to register PongSystemsBundle");

The DispatcherBuilder can be initialized and populated wherever desired, be it inside the State or in an external location. However, the Dispatcher needs to modify the Worlds resources in order to initialize the resources used by its Systems. Therefore, we need to defer building the Dispatcher until we can access the World. This is commonly done in the States on_start method. To showcase how this is done, we'll create a SimpleState with a dispatcher field and a on_start method that builds the Dispatcher.

extern crate amethyst;

use amethyst::{
    ecs::prelude::*,
    prelude::*,
    core::ArcThreadPool,
};

struct MoveBallsSystem; struct MovePaddlesSystem;
impl<'a> System<'a> for MoveBallsSystem { type SystemData = (); fn run(&mut self, _: ()) {} }
impl<'a> System<'a> for MovePaddlesSystem { type SystemData = (); fn run(&mut self, _: ()) {} }

#[derive(Default)]
pub struct CustomState<'a, 'b> {
    /// The `State` specific `Dispatcher`, containing `System`s only relevant for this `State`.
    dispatcher: Option<Dispatcher<'a, 'b>>,
}

impl<'a, 'b> SimpleState for CustomState<'a, 'b> {
    fn on_start(&mut self, mut data: StateData<'_, GameData<'_, '_>>) {
        let world = &mut data.world;
        
        // Create the `DispatcherBuilder` and register some `System`s that should only run for this `State`.
        let mut dispatcher_builder = DispatcherBuilder::new();
        dispatcher_builder.add(MoveBallsSystem, "move_balls_system", &[]);
        dispatcher_builder.add(MovePaddlesSystem, "move_paddles_system", &[]);

        // Build and setup the `Dispatcher`.
        let mut dispatcher = dispatcher_builder
            .with_pool((*world.read_resource::<ArcThreadPool>()).clone())
            .build();
        dispatcher.setup(world);

        self.dispatcher = Some(dispatcher);
    }
}

By default, the dispatcher will create its own pool of worker threads to execute systems in, but Amethyst's main dispatcher already has a thread pool setup and configured. As reusing it is more efficient, we pull the global pool from the world and attach the dispatcher to it with .with_pool().

The CustomState requires two annotations ('a and 'b) to satisfy the lifetimes of the Dispatcher. Now that we have our Dispatcher we need to ensure that it is executed. We do this in the States update method.

extern crate amethyst;

use amethyst::{
    ecs::prelude::*,
    prelude::*,
};

#[derive(Default)]
pub struct CustomState<'a, 'b> {
    /// The `State` specific `Dispatcher`, containing `System`s only relevant for this `State`.
    dispatcher: Option<Dispatcher<'a, 'b>>,
}
struct MoveBallsSystem; struct MovePaddlesSystem;
impl<'a> System<'a> for MoveBallsSystem { type SystemData = (); fn run(&mut self, _: ()) {} }
impl<'a> System<'a> for MovePaddlesSystem { type SystemData = (); fn run(&mut self, _: ()) {} }

impl<'a, 'b> SimpleState for CustomState<'a, 'b> {
    fn on_start(&mut self, mut data: StateData<'_, GameData<'_, '_>>) {
        let world = &mut data.world;
         
        // Create the `DispatcherBuilder` and register some `System`s that should only run for this `State`.
        let mut dispatcher_builder = DispatcherBuilder::new();
        dispatcher_builder.add(MoveBallsSystem, "move_balls_system", &[]);
        dispatcher_builder.add(MovePaddlesSystem, "move_paddles_system", &[]);
 
        // Build and setup the `Dispatcher`.
        let mut dispatcher = dispatcher_builder.build();
        dispatcher.setup(world);
 
        self.dispatcher = Some(dispatcher);
    }
 
    fn update(&mut self, data: &mut StateData<GameData>) -> SimpleTrans {
        if let Some(dispatcher) = self.dispatcher.as_mut() {
            dispatcher.dispatch(&data.world);
        }

        Trans::None
    }
}

Now, any Systems in this State-specific Dispatcher will only run while this State is active and the update method is called.