Editing CountLinkedRefChain - ObjectReference

[[Category:Scripting]]
[[Category:Papyrus]]
'''Member of:''' [[ObjectReference Script]]

This function counts the number of linked refs that are in a linked Ref chain (example: A is linked to B is linked to C - this function will return 3)

== Syntax ==
<syntaxhighlight lang="papyrus">
int Function countLinkedRefChain(keyword apKeyword = None, int maxExpectedLinkedRefs = 100)
	ObjectReference CurrentLink = self
	ObjectReference NewLink
	int NumLinkedRefs = 0
 	while(currentLink) && NumLinkedRefs <= maxExpectedLinkedRefs 
		NewLink = currentLink.getLinkedRef(apKeyword)
		if NewLink != self
			currentLink = NewLink
			NumLinkedRefs = NumLinkedRefs + 1
		Else
			currentLink = None
		EndIf
	endWhile
	if NumLinkedRefs >= maxExpectedLinkedRefs
	EndIf
	return NumLinkedRefs
endFunction	
</syntaxhighlight>

== Parameters ==
*apKeyword: Keyword to check ref link against (see [[GetLinkedRef - ObjectReference|GetLinkedRef]].)
*maxExpectedLinkedRefs: Maximum number of expected links. The function stops checking after it finds this many or finishes finding all of them. This is used as a safety precaution to premature bail out of a while loop in cases where something in the linked ref chain links back to something in the chain previously, which would result in an infinite loop.

== Return Value ==
The total number of linked refs chained together or maxExpectedLinkedRefs, whichever is less.

== Examples ==
<syntaxhighlight lang="papyrus">
; Count the number of refs in a linked ref chain to us
int numLinkedRefs = countLinkedRefChain()
</syntaxhighlight>

== See Also ==
*[[ObjectReference Script]]
*[[GetLinkedRef - ObjectReference]]
*[[GetNthLinkedRef - ObjectReference]]