Components

A story is not only about its flowchart. It is highly likely that your story contains various story objects. Depending on its genre and theme, your story may include some of the following objects:

• Characters
• Locations
• Items
• Clues
• Weapons
• Magical spells
• Emotions
• Weather conditions
• Memories
• Time periods
• All sorts of stats

To represent any of the above story objects, Arcweave provides components. Components are very flexible and you can use them according to your project's needs, storing any information in their attributes.

You can find and manage your project's components and their folders on the upper part of Arcweave's sidebar, under the Components tab.

Component folders

To organize your components efficiently, Arcweave lets you create your own structure of component folders within your project.

Components section

Once inside a project, you can view and manage your components and folders in the Components section, located in the upper half of Arcweave's left sidebar, under the Components tab.

Create components or folders

At section top

To create a new component or folder at the top of the Components section:

• Go to the header of the Components section.
• Click Create component (+ icon) or Create folder (folder icon).

At section bottom

To create a new component or folder at the bottom of the Components section:

• Right-click on an empty area of the Components section.
• Select Create component or Create folder from the menu.

Above existing component

To create a new component or folder above an existing component in the Components section:

• Right-click on the existing component's name.
• Select Create component or Create folder from the menu.

Or:

• Hover the mouse cursor over the existing component's name.
• Click on the (+) icon that appears.
• Select Create component or Create folder from the menu.

Inside existing folder

To create a new component or folder inside an existing folder:

• Right-click on the existing folder's name.
• Select Create component or Create folder from the menu.

Or:

• Hover the mouse cursor over the existing folder's name.
• Click on the (+) icon that appears.
• Select Create component or Create folder from the menu.

Delete components or folders

To delete a component or folder:

• Right-click on its name, on the Components section.
• Select Delete.

⚠️ Deleting a component folder will also delete all its contents. You can undo the action.

ℹ️ When deleting a component, all mentions and references of this component will be removed as well.

Rename components or folders

To rename a component or folder:

• Right-click on its name on the Components section.
• Select Rename from the menu.

You can also rename a component while editing it.

Duplicate components or folders

To duplicate a component or folder:

• Right-click on its name on the Components section.
• Select Duplicate.

Duplicating a folder also duplicates all the components and folders it contains.

Copy a component link

Select Copy link from any of these menus:

• Right-click the component in the sidebar's Components section.
• Open the component and click the three-dot (•••) menu in its header.
• Right-click a component reference attached to an element or included in a Component List attribute.

Opening the link opens the component's dialog in the language active when you copied it. A reference's link opens the referenced component. Component folders and unsaved components do not have this action.

See Share an item or board position for access requirements. People with read-only board access can also copy component links.

Mention components

You can create links to your components while editing rich text in elements, notes, attributes, and labels. This kind of link is called a mention and you initiate it by typing the character @ followed by a component name.

ℹ️ You can also mention boards.

Edit components

To open a component for editing, find it in the list of your components and click on its name or thumbnail.

Each component consists of a name, a custom ID, a cover image, and a set of attributes.

In the screenshot of the above example, we see how a spell can be stored as a component, with its stats (level, range, description, etc.) stored as attributes.

Name

To rename a component, click on its name field, or choose Rename from the three-dot (•••) header menu to select the field for editing.

You can also rename a component from the Components section.

Custom ID

Every component has a custom ID, generated from its name. This ID scopes the component's variables. For example, an attribute with custom ID health on a component with custom ID hero is available in Arcscript as hero.health.

Select the custom ID beneath the component name to edit it, or choose Edit Custom ID from the three-dot (•••) header menu to select the field. It cannot be removed, must be unique across all components and boards, and must follow the variable naming rules. Renaming it updates existing Arcscript references automatically.

Cover

To change a component's cover image:

1. Hover the mouse cursor over the image.
2. Click on Change cover.
3. Select an image from the My Assets tab, or an icon from the Icon Library tab. You can also generate a cover in the Generate tab; see Image Generator.

Alternatively, you can drag and drop an image asset from the sidebar into the component cover area.

✅ An asset will also be created and attached to a component as cover when dropping an image file from your drive or browser at the top area of the component (while in component edit mode).

⚠️ Video assets cannot be used as component covers.

Component attributes

Like boards, components can hold the following attribute types:

• String Field
• Boolean
• Integer
• Float
• Rich Text Field
• Component List
• Asset List

Component folders cannot contain attributes.

String Field, Boolean, Integer, and Float attributes are component variables. See Attributes for more details about attributes that do not act as variables.

Component properties

To access a component's properties:

1. Right-click the component in the Components section.
2. Select Properties.

The component Properties panel displays the following information:

Component ID

Each component has a unique identifier in the form of:

81a30674-aa09-4eb8-8484-59298d37f984 (version 4 UUID)

Click the clipboard icon to copy the component ID.

Component IDs are useful when working with the project's JSON or integrating Arcweave with external tools and game engines.

The UUID is different from the component's editable custom ID, which is used as an Arcscript variable scope.

Words and characters

The component properties panel displays the component's word and character counts.

These counts include the component name and the values of its String Field and Rich Text Field attributes.

Component references

Arcweave provides easy access to a component's references: the elements it is attached to, the Component List attributes that include it, and the element content, labels, notes, and attributes that mention it.

To access a component's references:

1. Right-click the component in the Components section.
2. Select References.

In the modal that opens, you will see all references of the component in elements, components, connection labels, and notes.

To visit any of the referenced elements or components, click on the reference.

✅ Use the modal's left sidebar to view all references or to filter the ones in elements, components, labels, or notes.

Attach to elements

You can also attach components to elements. To do this:

1. Go to your Components section on the sidebar.
2. Drag the component of your choice and drop it inside the element of your choice.

Use this feature to create a visual reference to the component during a plot point or dialogue beat and to easily access the component—just click on the attachment and the component will open.

To share the attached component, right-click its reference on the board and select Copy link. See Copy a component link.

ℹ️ The attached components of an element also render on Play Mode.

Drag and drop attached components to reorder them inside an element or to move them from one element to another.

To remove an attached component, drag and drop it from the element to an empty area of the board.

ℹ️ Removing a component from an element simply removes the reference and does not delete the component.