Nrthugu

Im working on a level editor in monogame for my engine.

I want to make a class where i can call a simple function and it will draw a sprite.

This is the function i want to call - and as you may know you have to be able to load and unload content and use the draw method.

Question: How would I make this be able to use those so that all I have to do is call this function and it works?

Here is the function:

public static void DrawSprite(Texture2D Texture, string Path, Vector2 Position, Color Color)

{



}

If you are going to leave the drawing to a single static method then you would be restricting what you are able to draw. I suggest creating an interface and do some abstraction.

Interface

public interface IGameObject

{

    void Update(GameTime gameTime);

    void Draw();

}

Utility Class

public sealed class GameUtility

{

    private static GameUtility instance = null;

    private static readonly object _lock = new object();



    public ContentManager ContentManager { get; private set; }



    public SpriteBatch SpriteBatch { get; private set; }



    public static GameUtility Instance

    {

        get

        {

            lock (_lock)

            {

                if (instance == null)

                {

                    instance = new GameUtility();

                }



                return instance;

            }

        }

    }



    public void SetContentManager(ContentManager contentManager)

    {

        this.ContentManager = contentManager;

    }



    public void SetSpriteBatch(SpriteBatch spriteBatch)

    {

        this.SpriteBatch = spriteBatch;

    }



    public GameUtility(ContentManager contentManager, SpriteBatch spriteBatch)

    {

        this.contentManager = contentManager;

        this.spriteBatch = spriteBatch;

    }

}

Game Objects

public class Hero : IGameObject

{

    private Texture2D texture;

    private Vector2 position;

    private Color color;



    public Hero(string path)

    {

        texture = GameUtility.Instance.ContentManager.Load<Texture2D>(path);

    }



    public void Update(GameTime gameTime)

    {

        // Do game update logic

    }



    public void Draw()

    {

        GameUtility.Instance.SpriteBatch.Begin();



        GameUtility.Instance.SpriteBatch.Draw(texture, position, color);



        GameUtility.Instance.SpriteBatch.End();

    }

}

Game Class

Initialize the GameUtility

GameUtility.Instance.SetContentManager(contentManager);

GameUtility.Instance.SetSpriteBatch(spriteBatch);

Create the game objects

gameObects = new List<IGameObject>();



gameObjects.Add(new Hero("some path"));

Utilize the interface

protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime)

{

    graphics.GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);



    foreach (IGameObject gameObject in gameObjects)

    {

        gameObject.Draw();

    }



    base.Draw(gameTime);

}

The beauty of this approach is you can perform different drawings based on your needs. For example, you could use a Rectangle instead of Vector2 based on different scenarios. You can also draw a sprite font or something else.

For unloading content, there is only one option which is

GameUtility.Instance.ContentManager.Unload();

You better unload content during your transition to the next level as calling ContentManager.Unload() will dispose all resources. As to why it disposes everything in one go, I don't really understand but that is the design.

Hope this answer give you some insight. I would not suggest creating this public static void DrawSprite.