IPacket interface defines the essential methods for creating and managing network packets. It serves as a blueprint for packet implementations, facilitating communication between the server and clients in a networked environment.

The IPacket interface is fundamental for ensuring standardized communication across the networked game environment, enabling easy creation, validation, and transmission of data packets.

class IPacket {
        using Message = std::vector<uint8_t>;
        using Arguments = std::vector<uint8_t>;

      public:
        virtual ~IPacket() = default;

        
        virtual bool isValid() const = 0;
  
        virtual uint8_t getOpcode() const = 0;
       
        virtual Arguments getArguments() const = 0;

       
        virtual Message toMessage() const = 0;

      protected:

using Message = std::vector<uint8_t>;

Represents the complete message of the packet, which includes the operation code and any associated arguments.

using Arguments = std::vector<uint8_t>;

Represents the arguments contained within the packet, stored as a vector of bytes.

Virtual Methods

• virtual ~IPacket() = default;

  Virtual destructor to ensure proper cleanup of derived classes.

• virtual bool isValid() const = 0;

  Checks if the packet is valid and ready to be sent.

  • Returns:
    • true if the packet is valid;
    • false otherwise.

• virtual uint8_t getOpcode() const = 0;

  Retrieves the operation code of the packet.

  • Returns:
    • A uint8_t representing a valid operation code (from protocol::Operations::*), or
    • 1 if the operation code is invalid.

• virtual Arguments getArguments() const = 0;

  Gets the arguments of the packet.

  • Returns:
    • An Arguments object (i.e., std::vector<uint8_t>), which is always at least an empty vector.

• virtual Message toMessage() const = 0;

  Translates the packet into a complete message suitable for UDP sockets.

  • Returns:
    • A Message object (i.e., std::vector<uint8_t>) containing the operation code concatenated with the arguments.