Understanding Javascript

Well. We're not here to teach you how to code in Javascript. This is something that you need to do on your own time. However, we'll at the very least link a few videos for you to check out to help you get a better understanding of Javascript.

JavaScript in 5 Minutes

JavaScript in 1 Hour

NodeJS in 1 Hour

It is highly recommended that you physically follow along with these videos.

Understanding VSCode

Now inside of VSCode you should see your entire file library on the left-hand side and should see two different startup.js files. We'll be working mainly in the server file as this controls what happens to a player.

Using Intellisense

Open server/startup.js and take a look at the code block you wrote earlier in this tutorial.

/// <reference types="@altv/types-server" />
import * as alt from 'alt-server';

alt.log('Hello from server');

Start by typing alt.on anywhere below the imports.

You should see an auto-completion box with information

As you can see you will see a handful of icons, text, and information. However, if you are a new developer none of this will make any sense to you. I'd like you to refer to the image below to help you understand what is going on a bit better.

Functions

If you are new to development and you do not know what a function is. They are very simple and easy to understand. Functions are what we call to execute a block of code. Functions may also take what we call parameters.

function sayHello() {
    alt.log('I am saying hello');
}

sayHello(); // This executes the above function.

function sayMyName(someName, someAge, someHairColor) {
    alt.log(someName);
    alt.log(someAge);
    alt.log(`Hair Color is: ${someHairColor}`); // String Interpolation
}

sayMyName('stuyk', 27, 'Brown');

Properties

Properties are single variables that can have their values read or set. However, this is dependent on the property.

alt.log(alt.globalDimension); // This is reading the alt.globalDimension prop.

alt.globalDimension = 5; // This is setting the alt.globalDimension prop.

Classes

A class almost always starts with new. Classes are basically an object with a bunch of functions and properties that are accessible from within the class. A Player, Vehicle, ColShape, etc. are all classes.

const vehicle = new alt.Vehicle('infernus', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);

Enums

Enums are mostly unique to TypeScript but we can leverage those types in Javascript by extracting values from there. When you type something like alt.ExplosionType.Barrel you can hover over it to get the value that it's meant to be. In this case it's 27.

Written by Stuyk & Alexa