Module user_data

Customizable user-data wrappers.

NativeClass and user-data

In Godot Engine, scripted behavior is attached to base objects through “script instances”: objects that store script state, and allow dynamic dispatch of overridden methods. GDNative exposes this to native languages as a void * pointer, known as “user-data”, that may point to anything defined by the native library in question.

Godot is written in C++, and unlike Rust, it doesn’t have the same strict reference aliasing constraints. This user-data pointer can be aliased mutably, and called freely from different threads by the engine or other scripts. Thus, to maintain safety, wrapper types are to be used to make sure that the Rust rules for references are always held for the self argument, and no UB can occur because we freed owner or put another script on it.

Choosing a wrapper type

The default user data wrapper used by derive macro, when no user_data attribute is present, is defined as the type alias DefaultUserData<T>. Currently, it is LocalCellData<T>. This may change in the future, and changes to it will not be considered breaking changes.

To choose another wrapper type, put the #[user_data] attribute on your NativeScript type if you are using the derive macro:

#[derive(NativeClass)]
#[inherit(gdnative::api::Node)]
#[user_data(gdnative::export::user_data::MutexData<HelloWorld>)]
struct HelloWorld;

…or, if you are implementing NativeScript manually, set the UserData associated type to the type you choose.

Which wrapper to use?

Use a MutexData<T> when:

• You don’t want to handle locks explicitly.
• Your NativeClass type is only Send, but not Sync.

Use a RwLockData<T> when:

• You don’t want to handle locks explicitly.
• Some of your exported methods take &self, and you don’t need them to be exclusive.
• Your NativeClass type is Send + Sync.

Use a ArcData<T> when:

• You want safety for your methods, but can’t tolerate lock overhead on each method call.
• You want fine grained lock control for parallelism.
• All your exported methods take &self.
• Your NativeClass type is Send + Sync.

Use a LocalCellData<T> when:

• Your NativeClass type is not Send, and you will only ever use it from the thread where it’s originally created.

Use Aether<T> when:

• Your NativeClass type is a zero-sized type (ZST) that is Copy + Default.
• You don’t need to do anything special in Drop.

Structs

Aether

Special user-data wrapper intended for zero-sized types, that does not perform any allocation or synchronization at runtime. Does not implement MapMut.

ArcData

User-data wrapper encapsulating a Arc<T>. Does not implement MapMut.

DefaultLockPolicy

Default lock policy that may change in future versions.

LocalCellData

User-data wrapper analogous to a Arc<RefCell<T>>, that is restricted to the thread where it was originally created. The destructor of T is not guaranteed to be run if this is actually shared across multiple threads.

MutexData

User-data wrapper encapsulating a Arc<Mutex<T>>.

Once

Special user-data wrapper intended for objects that can only be used once. Only implements MapOwned.

RwLockData

User-data wrapper encapsulating a Arc<RwLock<T>>.

ValueTaken

Enums

DeadlockPolicy

Policies to deal with potential deadlocks

Infallible

Error type indicating that an operation can’t fail.

LocalCellError

Error indicating that a borrow has failed.

LockFailed

Error indicating that a lock wasn’t obtained.

Traits

LockOptions

Trait defining associated constants for locking wrapper options

Map

Trait for wrappers that can be mapped immutably.

MapMut

Trait for wrappers that can be mapped mutably.

MapOwned

Trait for wrappers that can be mapped once.

UserData

Trait for customizable user-data wrappers.

Type Aliases

DefaultUserData

The default user data wrapper used by derive macro, when no user_data attribute is present. This may change in the future.