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I want to implement an interesting concept into my game in which clients can program certain parts of their AI. I will provide them an unchangeable namespace and class formatting and they will code their AI within the class (I.e. OnEnemyInRange(Unit enemy) {}). I want to save this code in a string and run it as C# code in-game.

My problem is that I don't even know where to start. I've heard about reflection but only seen it done for method names. How would I go about running string as code? - conditions, methods, variables, and operations.

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closed as off-topic by gnat, Doc Brown, MainMa, gbjbaanb, GlenH7 Jan 15 at 14:26

  • This question does not appear to be about software development within the scope defined in the help center.
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The technical term for this is eval. Google that and you will find answers. –  Kilian Foth Jan 14 at 7:34
1  
recommended reading: Where to start –  gnat Jan 14 at 8:24
    
Your start at Google, enter "C# running string as code", and find plenty of answers. –  Doc Brown Jan 14 at 8:43
3  
This question appears to be off-topic because such questions belong on stackoverflow, but it would be closed immediately there as a duplicate. –  Doc Brown Jan 14 at 8:44
    
Oh, well thanks for helping and showing me the specific duplicate :p. Obviously I asked because I couldn't find it. Anyways, thanks to David Perfors for giving me some actually helpful input. @Doc: I was using Yahoo search on my friend's computer lol. Okay, I learned my lesson. –  JPtheK9 Jan 14 at 18:25

1 Answer 1

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The build in way for .NET is using the CodeDomProvider, it has all the functionality you need, but as far as I know it is not easy to use.

A better option would be a C# scripting engines like csscript or some other library that gives easy access to the C# compiler and makes it possible to run code. But this also gives you a lot of work.

Probably the easiest and fastest way is to create a plugin interface where you just load an assembly and directly plug it into your game.

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Thanks! I'll make a plugin interface. It'll also help by restricting the users so they can't hack any of the other scripts hehe. –  JPtheK9 Jan 14 at 18:26

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