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### 3.1.14 Script Import Directive

Imports are a feature introduced to remove ambiguity from script dependencies. When using scripts that inherit from each other but which are defined in separate files sometimes errors occur because the scripts are loaded in incorrect order. Using imports removes this issue. The script which is inheriting another can explicitly import its parent's definition which will ensure that no errors occur because the parent's definition was not found.

    import * from "parent.material"
    material Child : Parent
    {
    }

The material "Parent" is defined in parent.material and the import ensures that those definitions are found properly. You can also import specific targets from within a file.

    import Parent from "parent.material"

If there were other definitions in the parent.material file, they would not be imported.

Note, however that importing does not actually cause objects in the imported script to be fully parsed & created, it just makes the definitions available for inheritence. This has a specific ramification for vertex / fragment program definitions, which must be loaded before any parameters can be specified. You should continue to put common program definitions in .program files to ensure they are fully parsed before being referenced in multiple .material files. The 'import' command just makes sure you can resolve dependencies between equivalent script definitions (e.g. material to material).

This document was generated by Steve Streeting on December 27 2009 using texi2html