Preserving list indexes when removing items from a list.

Hi,

Suppose I'm creating an inventory system using a list<t>. suppose the inventory system has 6 slots so there are indexes from 0 - 5. suppose I have slots 1 to 4 filled. If I have a method called UseSlotItem(index); which uses an item from the index of that list and after the item has been used, I use RemoveAt(index) to remove that item from the list. Is there a way to keep the items indexs without making them move?
so If I have 1 to 4 slots filled, I use the 3rd item, item of index 4 becomes item of index 3 is there a way to keep that indexes without making them move around.

A good example would be Minecraft's inventory system. There are 9 slots, If i have slots 1 to 5 filled and I drop the item in slot 3, then clicking on slot 3 again wouldn't active what is on slot 4 because the items don't shift, rather they stay the same place, How can I achieve the same thing using lists or any other collection in Unity?

 

Use an array.

Though to make a GOOD inventory system would be to do something like so.

Code (CSharp):

1. public class Slot : System.Object {
2.     protected Item m_item;
3.     protected int m_quantity;
4.  
5.     public Slot(Item item) {
6.         this.m_item = item;
7.     }
8.  
9.     public void SetItem(Item item) {
10.         if(this.m_item != null) {
11.             if(this.m_item.GetType() == item.GetType()) {
12.                 this.m_quantity++;
13.             } else {
14.                 Debug.Log("Item slot taken!");
15.             }
16.         } else {
17.             this.m_item = item;
18.         }
19.     }
20.  
21.     public void Use() {
22.         if(this.m_item != null) {
23.             this.m_item.Consume();
24.         } else {
25.             Debug.Log("No item in slot!");
26.         }
27.     }
28.  
29.     public void Drop() {
30.         if(this.m_item != null) {
31.             this.m_quantity--;
32.  
33.             if(this.m_quantity <= 0) {
34.                 this.m_item.Dropped();
35.                 this.m_item = null;
36.             }
37.         } else {
38.             Debug.Log("No Item to drop!");
39.         }
40.     }
41. }
42.  
43. [System.Serializable]
44. public abstract class Item : System.Object {
45.     public abstract void Consume();
46.     public abstract void Dropped();
47. }
48.  
49. public class Demo : MonoBehaviour {
50.     // Make an inventory with 3 slots empty.
51.     [SerializeField] Slot[] m_inventory = new Slot[] {
52.         new Slot(null),
53.         new Slot(null),
54.         new Slot(null)
55.     };
56. }

 

Thanks for that, since I want to keep it simple, do you mind showing me a simpler example using Arrays? say I have 6 slots, how would I go about doing that?

 

When initializing the array, initialize with 6 slots instead of 3 like I did.

 

Awesome, let you know how it goes