Attributes

In Arcweave, attributes let you store information inside boards, components, and elements. Board and component attributes can also provide scoped variables for your story logic.

The following attribute types are available on boards, components, and elements:

• Rich Text Field
• String Field
• Component List
• Asset List

Boards and components additionally support these variable-compatible attribute types:

• Boolean
• Integer
• Float

Attributes are particularly useful when you integrate your story with other platforms or game engines. Attribute content does not render automatically in Play Mode. However, String Field, Boolean, Integer, and Float board and component attributes can be read and changed through Arcscript, and their values appear in the Debugger.

General structure

All types of attributes follow the same basic structure: a Label-Content pair.

The label is the human-readable name of the attribute. The content is its value, whose data type depends on the attribute type.

String field

Use string fields to store single-line, plain text values, like words, numbers, or short phrases. Example cases of the string field include the following:

Component attributes:

• A character's aliases, e.g. Nickname: Yardbird
• A character's ability scores, e.g. Charisma: 12
• A weapon's damage die, e.g. Damage: 1d4
• A spell's specifications, e.g. Duration: 3 rounds

Element attributes:

• Setting an element as starting (or ending) dialogue, e.g. dialogue: start
• Tagging an element with properties required for a storylet or an event to trigger, e.g. storylet: foo

Boards and components treat String Field attributes as scoped variables. Use the dedicated Integer or Float type when you need a numeric value. Elements do not support numeric attribute types; use a string field for numeric element metadata.

These fields are particularly useful when integrating with other platforms, as they don't contain any HTML tags.

Rich text field

Use rich text attributes when you want to store long, detailed, or formatted content in a board, component, or element attribute. Example cases of the rich text field include the following:

• Descriptions: Write a short description for your character or location.
• Backstory: Keep characters' backstories in their components for easy access.

Rich Text attributes support basic formatting options such as bold, italic, and underline. You can also include mentions to reference components and boards in your project.

⚠️ Do not confuse a rich text attribute of an element with the element's main content. Attributes are for internal use only and do not appear in Play Mode.

Component lists

Use component lists when you need to attach an array of components to a board, component, or element.

✅ Elements include a primary component list, visible in Play Mode, which is created by dragging a component directly into the element. Additional component lists can be added as element attributes; however, these are metadata only and do not render in Play Mode.

You can use this to list items and relations, as in the following examples:

• Character inventory: add the items carried (as components) into a character's component.
• Spellbook: list the spells they know.
• Character relations: list other characters that have important relations to the component character.
• Contents: in a location's component, list the items or characters found there.

Component lists also have a label field, so name each of them according to your needs.

The attached components appear with their thumbnail. Click on the thumbnail to open the attached component.

Asset lists

Use asset lists when you need to attach an array of image, audio, or video assets to a board, component, or element.

✅ Elements already have their unique cover (image or video asset) and their attached audio clips (audio assets), which appear in Play Mode. Still, asset list attributes allow you to add additional image, audio, and video references as metadata, although they are not visible in Play Mode.

The image below shows an element with all 4 types of attributes.

Access attributes

To create, edit, or delete an attribute, first open the item's attributes interface.

Board attributes dialog

To access a board's attributes, right-click a regular board in the Boards section and select Attributes. Boards that already have attributes also display an attributes button next to their name.

Component attributes panel

To access a component's attributes, do the following:

1. Locate the component:
   • Sidebar: In the Components section
   • Current board: In an element where it is attached
2. Click the component to open its attributes panel.

Element attributes panel

To access an element's attributes, do the following:

1. Locate the element on your board.
2. Right-click the element and choose Properties.
3. In the Properties modal, switch to the Attributes tab, to reveal its attributes panel.

Scoped variable attributes

A String Field, Boolean, Integer, or Float attribute on a board or component becomes an Arcscript variable when the attribute and its owner have custom IDs. These are called board variables and component variables.

The Arcscript reference combines two IDs:

• The owning board or component's custom ID is the scope.
• The attribute's custom ID is the variable name.

For example, an integer attribute with custom ID health on the component hero is referenced as hero.health:

hero.health -= 10
show(hero.health)

The attribute label can be more descriptive and does not affect the Arcscript reference. Rich Text Field, Component List, and Asset List attributes remain metadata even if their exported data contains a customId.

Arcweave generates a custom ID when you create a regular board or component. When you name a variable attribute, Arcweave generates its custom ID from its label. To edit an attribute custom ID, open its three-dot menu and select Edit Custom ID. To edit the scope, select the custom ID beneath a board title or component name. Renaming an ID updates existing Arcscript references automatically.

Custom ID rules

See Variable names and custom IDs for the syntax, uniqueness, and reserved-name rules shared by global, board, and component variables.

Create attributes

After opening the relevant attributes interface, do either of the following:

• To add an attribute at the end of the list, click Add attribute below the attributes and select the type you want to create.
• To add an attribute after an existing one:
  1. Hover the mouse cursor over the existing attribute.
  2. Open its three-dot menu and select Add Attribute.
  3. Select the type of attribute you want to create from the menu. The newly created attribute will appear below the clicked one.

On boards and components, variable-compatible types appear in the Variables group of the type menu. Integer and Float are under Number in that group.

Add to list attributes

Component lists

To add a component to a component list, do the following:

1. Open the relevant attributes interface.
2. Locate the component list attribute you want to use.
3. In the Components section of the sidebar, find the component you want to attach.
4. Drag and drop it into the component list.

To share a listed component, right-click its reference and select Copy link. The link opens the referenced component's dialog. See Copy a component link.

You can also reorder components within a list or move them between lists by dragging and dropping.

Asset lists

To add an asset to an asset list, do the following:

1. Open the relevant attributes interface.
2. Locate the asset list attribute you want to use.
3. In the Assets section of the sidebar, find the asset you want to attach.
4. Drag and drop it into the asset list.

You can also reorder assets within a list or move them between lists by dragging and dropping.

Resize attributes

By default, attributes span the full width of their interface, but you can resize an attribute to span only half-width and vice-versa.

To resize an attribute, do the following:

1. Hover the mouse cursor over it.
2. Open the three-dot menu at the top right.
3. Select Resize.

Reorder attributes

To reorder an attribute, do the following:

1. Click and hold it from the dots icon that appears at its top left corner when you hover over it.
2. Drag and release it above or below another attribute.

Delete attributes

To delete an attribute, do the following:

1. Hover the mouse cursor over it.
2. Open the three-dot menu at the top right.
3. Select Delete.