Problem with OOP

In other versions of Blitz, I experienced some limtations with types and started using banks for all my structures.

For example, if I have a field in a type that needs to be able to reference multiple types of objects, it isn't possible:

Type thing
Field target.otherthing

If "target" is a .terrain, I can't reference it, unless I use Handle() to store the object integer handle. Then when I am using the target value, I have to do this mess:

If Object.terrain(thing\target)<>Null
If Object.mesh(thing\target)<>Null
If Object.texture(thing\target)<>Null

If I use banks, I can just do this:

target=PeekInt(thing,THING_TARGET)
class=PeekInt(target,OBJECT_CLASS)

Also, types don't work well if you are controlling the application with a script, or (theoretically) compiling it to a dll.

Has anything changed in BlitzMax that makes this different? Am I overlooking anything important?

Yes, make terrain and other shared objects a extended type of a base resource. That way you can do common type check functions and usage functions. No need to know what type it is, just call obj.update() or whatever.

What about the handles? Is there a way to store aan object as an integer, and then convert it back into an object without a lot of hassle?

No. But like DonnieDarko just said, you don't need to.

You do if you want the program to be able to interact with anything external.

Here's a dodgy example:

Type mytype Extends Object
  Field blah
End Type
Type myothertype Extends Object
  Field jugglies
End Type
type1:mytype=New mytype
type2:myothertype=New myothertype

Function stuff(whatever:Object)
  If mytype(whatever) then Print "mytype was passed!"
  If Int(whatever) then Print "Integer was passed!"
End Function

stuff("passing a string will do nothing in this example")
stuff(type1)

Anyway I think that's how it works, I can't remember exactly off the top of my head and can't find any quick documentation (suprise surprise) to back it up :)

Cool, I will read up on the new OOP stuff.