Closures
Closures are like lambdas in java, but slightly different.
For beginners
You may know what a method is. A method is a set order of instructions you can call. For example:
def print_numbers(int n) {
for (def i : 0..n) {
log.info(i)
}
}This method prints numbers from 0 to a given number to the log.
print_numbers(5)This will now output
0
1
2
3
4You can call that method as often as you want with any number input.
Now closures are methods, but you can carry them around. Example:
def print_numbers = { int n -> // Most of the time the type is optional, so here it would become `{ n -> ...`
for (def i : 0..n) {
log.info(i)
}
}This closure does the same thing as the method above, but it's a variable instead of a method. Just like any other variable you can pass it to other methods. (See Events). You can invoke this closure the same way you do with a method:
print_numbers(3)Implicit Arguments
Inside a closure you can always refer to the first argument with it.
For example
def closure = {
println(it)
}
closure('Hello World')This will print Hello World since we pass that as an argument to the function. Inside the closure we use it to refer to that argument.
Variable Environments
This is not an official name. Internally they are called delegates. Basically groovy allows you to attach objects to closures. You can then use any property of that object in the closure directly.
For example
def some_var = 1
def closure = { output, input ->
addShaped(output, input) // normally this wouldn't work, but since we add 'crafting' as a variable environment we can use all it's methods
log.info(some_var) // some_var is a owner variable
}
closure.delegate = crafting // crafting is a global variable in GroovyScript
closure.resolveStrategy = Closure.DELEGATE_FIRST // find variables in the delegate first
closure(item('minecraft:diamond'), [[item('minecraft:gold_ingot')]])Valid resolve strategies are OWNER_FIRST, DELEGATE_FIRST, OWNER_ONLY, DELEGATE_ONLY and TO_SELF. Owner refers to the object the closure is defined in. In the example above some_var is an owner variable and addShaped() is a delegate method. TO_SELF will only use the variables and methods which are defined in the closure itself. The other strategies are self-explanatory. The default is OWNER_FIRST.
Sometimes this feature is used in GroovyScript to make scripts look simpler.
Waiting Idly
Nullpinter
brachy84