ActorTree

Hierarchical container that manages a collection of Actor nodes. It provides depth-first traversal, pattern-based lookups (including glob and path syntax), and lifecycle management (add, remove, destroy). Actor itself extends ActorTree, so every actor doubles as a sub-tree for its own children.

import { ActorTree } from "@jolly-pixel/engine";

const tree = new ActorTree();

// Iterate over root actors
for (const actor of tree.getRootActors()) {
  console.log(actor.name);
}

// Find a single actor by name
const player = tree.getActor("Player");

// Find a nested actor by path
const weapon = tree.getActor("Player/RightHand/Weapon");

// Find actors by glob pattern
for (const enemy of tree.getActors("Enemy_*")) {
  console.log(enemy.name);
}

// Deep glob — all descendants matching the pattern
for (const mesh of tree.getActors("Player/**/Mesh_*")) {
  console.log(mesh.name);
}

// Walk the full tree depth-first
for (const { actor, parent } of tree.walk()) {
  console.log(actor.name, "parent:", parent?.name ?? "root");
}

Constructor

new ActorTree(options?)

type ActorTreeNode = {
  actor: Actor;
  parent?: Actor;
};

interface ActorTreeOptions {
  addCallback?: (actor: Actor) => void;
  removeCallback?: (actor: Actor) => void;
}

new ActorTree(options?: ActorTreeOptions);

Creates a new tree. Optional callbacks are invoked whenever an actor is added to or removed from this tree's direct children list.

The children: Actor[] property holds the list of direct child actors managed by this tree.

add(actor)

Appends actor to the children list and fires the addCallback (if provided).

remove(actor)

Removes actor from the children list and fires the removeCallback (if provided). No-op if the actor is not a direct child.

getActor(name): Actor | null

Returns the first actor whose name matches exactly. Supports path syntax with / separators to reach nested children (e.g. "Player/RightHand/Weapon"). Returns null if no match is found. Actors pending for destruction are excluded.

getActors(pattern): IterableIterator<Actor>

Returns an iterator of all actors matching a glob pattern (powered by picomatch). Supports:

• Simple globs — "Enemy_*", "Mesh_??".
• Path globs — "Player/*/Mesh", "**/Light_*".
• Double-star ** — matches any depth of descendants.

Actors pending for destruction are excluded.

getRootActors(): IterableIterator<Actor>

Yields the direct children, skipping any that are pending for destruction.

getAllActors(): IterableIterator<Actor>

Yields every actor in the tree via a depth-first walk (including actors pending for destruction).

destroyActor(actor)

Marks actor as pending for destruction. The actual cleanup is handled by the game systems on the next frame.

destroyAllActors()

Marks every actor in the tree as pending for destruction.

walk(): IterableIterator<ActorTreeNode>

Performs a depth-first traversal of the entire tree, yielding { actor, parent } pairs starting from each root child.

walkFromNode(rootNode): IterableIterator<ActorTreeNode>

Performs a depth-first traversal starting from rootNode's children, yielding { actor, parent } pairs.

[Symbol.iterator](): IterableIterator<Actor>

Makes the tree iterable with for...of. Yields direct children, skipping any that are pending for destruction.

for (const actor of tree) {
  console.log(actor.name);
}

NOTE

This is equivalent to getRootActors()