TypedNetworkChannel

What is it for?

ArcanumLib.Network.TypedNetworkChannel wraps a Vintage Story IClientNetworkChannel or IServerNetworkChannel to reduce the boilerplate of registering message types, sending packets, and handling them.

When to use it

• You need a server-to-client or client-to-server channel and want to avoid manual packet serialization setup.
• You want strongly-typed message handlers instead of raw byte arrays.
• You are sending small POCO messages that have a public parameterless constructor.

Quick example

using ArcanumLib.Network;

public class MyMessage { public string Value; }

public override void StartServerSide(ICoreServerAPI sapi)
{
    var ch = new TypedNetworkChannel(sapi, "mymod:mychannel")
        .OnServer<MyMessage>((player, msg) => sapi.Logger.Notification("Got {0} from {1}", msg.Value, player.PlayerName));

    // Broadcast
    ch.Send(new MyMessage { Value = "hello" });

    // Targeted
    ch.SendToPlayer(new MyMessage { Value = "hello you" }, player);

    // To a filtered list
    ch.SendToPlayers(new MyMessage { Value = "hello group" }, onlinePlayers.Where(p => p.HasPrivilege("special")));

    // To everyone except the sender
    ch.SendToAllExcept(new MyMessage { Value = "not you" }, player);
}

public override void StartClientSide(ICoreClientAPI capi)
{
    var ch = new TypedNetworkChannel(capi, "mymod:mychannel")
        .On<MyMessage>(msg => capi.ShowChatMessage($"Server says: {msg.Value}"));

    ch.Send(new MyMessage { Value = "hi" });
}

API overview

TypedNetworkChannel automatically detects whether the passed ICoreAPI is a client or server API and creates the correct underlying channel.

Method	Side	Description
On<T>(Action<T> handler)	Client	Register a handler for incoming messages of type T.
OnServer<T>(Action<IServerPlayer, T> handler)	Server	Register a handler for incoming messages of type T from a player.
Send<T>(T message)	Both	Send a message over the channel. On the server, broadcasts to all connected players.
SendToPlayer<T>(T message, IServerPlayer player)	Server	Send a message to one specific player.
SendToPlayers<T>(T message, IEnumerable<IServerPlayer> players)	Server	Send a message to a collection of players.
SendToAllExcept<T>(T message, IServerPlayer? exceptPlayer)	Server	Broadcast to all online players except the given one.

Notes

• OnServer<T> requires Action<IServerPlayer, T>.
• On<T> is client-side and requires Action<T>.
• SendToPlayer<T>, SendToPlayers<T>, and SendToAllExcept<T> only work on a server channel.
• Send<T> on the server is broadcast; use SendToPlayer or SendToPlayers for targeted delivery.
• Message types must have a public parameterless constructor.