Register any Rust Type and its Methods

Free Typing

Rhai works seamlessly with any Rust type. The type can be anything; it does not have any prerequisites other than being Clone. It does not need to implement any other trait or use any custom #[derive].

This allows Rhai to be integrated into an existing Rust code base with as little plumbing as possible, usually silently and seamlessly. External types that are not defined within the same crate (and thus cannot implement special Rhai traits or use special #[derive]) can also be used easily with Rhai.

The reason why it is termed a custom type throughout this documentation is that Rhai natively supports a number of data types with fast, internal treatment (see the list of standard types). Any type outside of this list is considered custom.

Any type not supported natively by Rhai is stored as a Rust trait object, with no restrictions other than being Clone (plus Send + Sync under the sync feature). It runs slightly slower than natively-supported types as it does not have built-in, optimized implementations for commonly-used functions, but for all other purposes has no difference.

Support for custom types can be turned off via the no_object feature.

Register a Custom Type and its Methods

Any custom type must implement the Clone trait as this allows the Engine to pass by value.

If the sync feature is used, it must also be Send + Sync.

Notice that the custom type needs to be registered using Engine::register_type or Engine::register_type_with_name.

To use native methods on custom types in Rhai scripts, it is common to register an API for the type using one of the Engine::register_XXX functions.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
use rhai::{Engine, EvalAltResult};
use rhai::RegisterFn;                   // remember 'RegisterFn' is needed

#[derive(Clone)]
struct TestStruct {
    field: i64
}

impl TestStruct {
    fn new() -> Self {
        Self { field: 1 }
    }

    fn update(&mut self, x: i64) {      // methods take &mut as first parameter
        self.field += x;
    }
}

let mut engine = Engine::new();

// Most Engine API's can be chained up.
engine
    .register_type::<TestStruct>()      // register custom type
    .register_fn("new_ts", TestStruct::new)
    .register_fn("update", TestStruct::update);

// Cast result back to custom type.
let result = engine.eval::<TestStruct>(
    r"
        let x = new_ts();               // calls 'TestStruct::new'
        x.update(41);                   // calls 'TestStruct::update'
        x                               // 'x' holds a 'TestStruct'
    "
)?;

println!("result: {}", result.field);   // prints 42
}

Rhai follows the convention that methods of custom types take a &mut first parameter to that type, so that invoking methods can always update it.

All other parameters in Rhai are passed by value (i.e. clones).

IMPORTANT: Rhai does NOT support normal references (i.e. &T) as parameters.

Method-Call Style vs. Function-Call Style

Any function with a first argument that is a &mut reference can be used as method calls because internally they are the same thing: methods on a type is implemented as a functions taking a &mut first argument.

This design is similar to Rust.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
impl TestStruct {
    fn foo(&mut self) -> i64 {
        self.field
    }
}

engine.register_fn("foo", TestStruct::foo);

let result = engine.eval::<i64>(
    r"
        let x = new_ts();
        foo(x);                         // normal call to 'foo'
        x.foo()                         // 'foo' can also be called like a method on 'x'
    "
)?;

println!("result: {}", result);         // prints 1
}

Under no_object, however, the method style of function calls (i.e. calling a function as an object-method) is no longer supported.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// Below is a syntax error under 'no_object'.
let result = engine.eval("let x = [1, 2, 3]; x.clear();")?;
                                            // ^ cannot call in method style under 'no_object'
}

type_of() a Custom Type

type_of() works fine with custom types and returns the name of the type.

If Engine::register_type_with_name is used to register the custom type with a special “pretty-print” name, type_of() will return that name instead.

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
engine
    .register_type::<TestStruct1>()
    .register_fn("new_ts1", TestStruct1::new)
    .register_type_with_name::<TestStruct2>("TestStruct")
    .register_fn("new_ts2", TestStruct2::new);

let ts1_type = engine.eval::<String>(r#"let x = new_ts1(); x.type_of()"#)?;
let ts2_type = engine.eval::<String>(r#"let x = new_ts2(); x.type_of()"#)?;

println!("{}", ts1_type);               // prints 'path::to::TestStruct'
println!("{}", ts1_type);               // prints 'TestStruct'
}

Use the Custom Type With Arrays

The push, insert, pad functions, as well as the += operator, for arrays are only defined for standard built-in types. For custom types, type-specific versions must be registered:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
engine
    .register_fn("push", |list: &mut Array, item: TestStruct| {
        list.push(Dynamic::from(item));
    }).register_fn("+=", |list: &mut Array, item: TestStruct| {
        list.push(Dynamic::from(item));
    }).register_fn("insert", |list: &mut Array, position: i64, item: TestStruct| {
        if position <= 0 {
            list.insert(0, Dynamic::from(item));
        } else if (position as usize) >= list.len() - 1 {
            list.push(item);
        } else {
            list.insert(position as usize, Dynamic::from(item));
        }
    }).register_fn("pad", |list: &mut Array, len: i64, item: TestStruct| {
        if len as usize > list.len() {
            list.resize(len as usize, item);
        }
    });
}

In particular, in order to use the in operator with a custom type for an array, the == operator must be registered for the custom type:

#![allow(unused)]
fn main() {
// Assume 'TestStruct' implements `PartialEq`
engine.register_fn("==",
    |item1: &mut TestStruct, item2: TestStruct| item1 == &item2
);

// Then this works in Rhai:
let item = new_ts();        // construct a new 'TestStruct'
item in array;              // 'in' operator uses '=='
}

Working With Enums

It is quite easy to use Rust enums with Rhai. See this chapter for more details.