La-Fabrik/docs/technical/editor.md

Editor Technical Notes

This document describes the map editor that exists in the current codebase.

Purpose

The editor is a React route used to inspect and adjust the public/map.json scene data from inside the La-Fabrik app. It shares the same MapNode data format as the game scene and uses React Three Fiber for rendering.

Routing

• / renders the playable La-Fabrik scene.
• /editor renders the map editor.
• src/App.tsx mounts TanStack Router through RouterProvider.
• src/router.tsx defines the /editor route and imports EditorPage from src/pages/editor/EditorPage.tsx.

File Structure

src/
├── pages/
│   └── editor/
│       └── EditorPage.tsx
├── features/
│   └── editor/
│       ├── components/
│       │   └── EditorControls.tsx
│       ├── controls/
│       │   └── FlyController.tsx
│       ├── hooks/
│       │   ├── useEditorHistory.ts
│       │   └── useEditorSceneData.ts
│       ├── scene/
│       │   ├── EditorMap.tsx
│       │   └── EditorScene.tsx
├── types/
│   └── editor.ts
└── utils/
    ├── editor/
    │   └── loadEditorScene.ts
    └── loadMapSceneData.ts

Responsibilities

src/pages/editor/EditorPage.tsx is the route-level composition component. It owns route-specific state such as selected object, hovered object, transform mode, and player-mode toggle.

src/features/editor/hooks/useEditorSceneData.ts loads the default map data and handles folder uploads.

src/features/editor/hooks/useEditorHistory.ts owns editor undo and redo history.

src/features/editor/scene/EditorScene.tsx composes the editor canvas scene, camera controls, lights, keyboard shortcuts, and EditorMap.

src/features/editor/scene/EditorMap.tsx renders map nodes, fallback cubes, selection highlighting, and transform controls.

src/features/editor/components/EditorControls.tsx renders the HTML control panel outside the canvas.

src/features/editor/controls/FlyController.tsx provides editor movement controls for player-style navigation.

src/utils/loadMapSceneData.ts is shared by the game map and editor. It loads /map.json and resolves available public/models/{name}/model.gltf files.

src/utils/editor/loadEditorScene.ts contains editor-only upload handling for user-selected folders.

Data Format

The shared editor type lives in src/types/editor.ts.

interface MapNode {
  name: string;
  type: string;
  position: [number, number, number];
  rotation: [number, number, number];
  scale: [number, number, number];
}

public/map.json is expected to be a MapNode[].

[
  {
    "name": "pylone",
    "type": "Mesh",
    "position": [0, 5, 0],
    "rotation": [0, 1.57, 0],
    "scale": [1, 1, 1]
  }
]

Each node name maps to a model folder:

public/
├── map.json
└── models/
    └── pylone/
        └── model.gltf

If a model is missing, the editor renders a fallback cube so the node can still be selected and transformed.

Editor Flow

1. EditorPage mounts on /editor.
2. useEditorSceneData calls loadMapSceneData().
3. loadMapSceneData() loads /map.json and available model URLs.
4. If /map.json is missing, the page displays a folder-upload flow.
5. EditorScene renders the grid, lights, camera controls, and map nodes.
6. EditorControls exposes transform mode, history actions, export, save, and selection info.

Controls

• Click: select a node.
• Esc: clear selection.
• T: translate mode.
• R: rotate mode.
• S: scale mode.
• Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z: undo.
• Ctrl+Y or Cmd+Y: redo.
• WASD, ZQSD, or arrow keys: move in player-controller mode.
• Space: move upward in player-controller mode.
• Shift: move downward in player-controller mode.

Saving And Exporting

The editor supports two output paths:

• Export JSON downloads the current MapNode[] as map.json.
• Save to Server posts the current MapNode[] to /api/save-map.

The dev-only /api/save-map endpoint is implemented by the Vite plugin in vite.config.ts. It writes to public/map.json and enforces a maximum payload size.

Styling

Editor styles are in src/index.css under the /* Editor page */ section. Classes are prefixed with editor- to avoid collisions with the game UI.

Known Limitations

• Uploaded model object URLs are not currently revoked after replacement or unmount.
• Large map.json files may need virtualization, culling, or LOD support later.
• There is no snap-to-grid, duplication, material editing, or object creation workflow yet.
• Save to Server is a Vite dev-server helper, not a production backend API.