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2.7. Add camera

In this chapter, we add adding a camera to our test suites.

Our 'add_camera' game

This chapter introduces:

  • the Bevy Camera2dBundle bundle
  • a local closure

2.7.1. First test

Similar to earlier chapters, the test starts with counting the number of cameras:

fn test_empty_app_has_no_cameras() {
    let mut app = App::new();
    app.update();
    assert_eq!(count_n_cameras(&mut app), 0);
}

2.7.2. First fix

Similar to a Text component, we take a look at the Bevy documentation on the Camera2dBundle and look for a field that feels unique. The camera field, of type Camera is enough to make the test pass:

fn count_n_cameras(app: &mut App) -> usize {
    let mut query = app.world_mut().query::<&Camera>();
    return query.iter(app.world()).len();
}

Also here, the assumption is that other Bevy plugins do not add their own Cameras. As long as it is the case that our camera is the only Camera, this implementation is good enough and does not need a marker component.

2.7.3. Second test

Our game will have a camera with a custom scale. Instead of repeating the smaller steps as in the earlier chapters, here we test many new things as one:

fn test_create_app_uses_camera_scale() {
    let initial_camera_scale = 1.2;
    let mut app = create_app(initial_camera_scale);
    assert_eq!(count_n_cameras(&mut app), 1);
    assert_eq!(get_camera_scale(&mut app), initial_camera_scale);
}

In TDD, one should have many small tests and only add one tests that breaks at the same time. However, to save book pages, I've combined the three tests into one.

Similar to the 'Add a player sprite' chapter, we do not need to add app.update() between creating the App and running the tests, as create_app will do so. Also here, when running our game normally, our game will work as expected.

2.7.4. Second fix

To fix all this, we need to:

  • write a create_app function that uses our desired camera scale and add a camera with that scale
  • write a get_camera_scale function that reads the camera's scale

The create_app function is similar to earlier versions:

pub fn create_app(initial_camera_scale: f32) -> App {
    let mut app = App::new();
    let add_camera_fn = move |mut commands: Commands| {
        let mut bundle = Camera2dBundle::default();
        bundle.projection.scale = initial_camera_scale;
        commands.spawn(bundle);
    };
    app.add_systems(Startup, add_camera_fun);
    app
}

One difference is the use of a local closure: instead of writing a new function called -for example- add_camera, the things that it would need to do are written in the closure's body. Using a dedicated add_camera function could be considered better readable and clearer (hence, used more often in this book), it is useful to at least having seen the same approach with a local closure.

Using a

The Bevy Camera2dBundle documentation

Writing the get_camera_scale is also similar to earlier functions:

fn get_camera_scale(app: &mut App) -> f32 {
    let mut query = app.world_mut().query::<&OrthographicProjection>();
    let projection = query.single(app.world());
    projection.scale
}

Here, we query for the same projection field of a Camera2dBundle of data type OrthographicProjection as we've used in the create_app function.

2.7.5. Third tests

We do want to be able to see something. Hence, we'll probably want to add a player with or without a texture. I've picked to add a player in the same way as chapter add_player and re-used the same tests and implementations.

2.7.6. Running main

As our create_app now also adds a camera, the main function simplifies to:

fn main() {
    let initial_camera_scale = 0.2;
    let mut app = create_app(initial_camera_scale);
    app.add_plugins(DefaultPlugins);
    app.run();
}

The camera has zoomed in

2.7.7. Conclusion

We can now create an App with a camera. When running the App, a rectangle is displayed. We have tested everything that the App does!

Full code can be found at https://github.com/richelbilderbeek/bevy_tdd_book_add_camera.