Phaser API Documentation

Description:

Adds an Animation JSON Data file, or array of Animation JSON files, to the current load queue.

You can call this method from within your Scene's preload, along with any other files you wish to load:

function preload ()
{
    this.load.animation('baddieAnims', 'files/BaddieAnims.json');
}

The file is not loaded right away. It is added to a queue ready to be loaded either when the loader starts, or if it's already running, when the next free load slot becomes available. This happens automatically if you are calling this from within the Scene's preload method, or a related callback. Because the file is queued it means you cannot use the file immediately after calling this method, but must wait for the file to complete. The typical flow for a Phaser Scene is that you load assets in the Scene's preload method and then when the Scene's create method is called you are guaranteed that all of those assets are ready for use and have been loaded.

If you call this from outside of preload then you are responsible for starting the Loader afterwards and monitoring its events to know when it's safe to use the asset. Please see the Phaser.Loader.LoaderPlugin class for more details.

The key must be a unique String. It is used to add the file to the global JSON Cache upon a successful load. The key should be unique both in terms of files being loaded and files already present in the JSON Cache. Loading a file using a key that is already taken will result in a warning. If you wish to replace an existing file then remove it from the JSON Cache first, before loading a new one.

Instead of passing arguments you can pass a configuration object, such as:

this.load.animation({
    key: 'baddieAnims',
    url: 'files/BaddieAnims.json'
});

See the documentation for Phaser.Types.Loader.FileTypes.JSONFileConfig for more details.

Once the file has finished loading it will automatically be passed to the global Animation Managers fromJSON method. This will parse all of the JSON data and create animation data from it. This process happens at the very end of the Loader, once every other file in the load queue has finished. The reason for this is to allow you to load both animation data and the images it relies upon in the same load call.

Once the animation data has been parsed you will be able to play animations using that data. Please see the Animation Manager fromJSON method for more details about the format and playback.

You can also access the raw animation data from its Cache using its key:

this.load.animation('baddieAnims', 'files/BaddieAnims.json');
// and later in your game ...
var data = this.cache.json.get('baddieAnims');

If you have specified a prefix in the loader, via Loader.setPrefix then this value will be prepended to this files key. For example, if the prefix was LEVEL1. and the key was Waves the final key will be LEVEL1.Waves and this is what you would use to retrieve the text from the JSON Cache.

The URL can be relative or absolute. If the URL is relative the Loader.baseURL and Loader.path values will be prepended to it.

If the URL isn't specified the Loader will take the key and create a filename from that. For example if the key is "data" and no URL is given then the Loader will set the URL to be "data.json". It will always add .json as the extension, although this can be overridden if using an object instead of method arguments. If you do not desire this action then provide a URL.

You can also optionally provide a dataKey to use. This allows you to extract only a part of the JSON and store it in the Cache, rather than the whole file. For example, if your JSON data had a structure like this:

{
    "level1": {
        "baddies": {
            "aliens": {},
            "boss": {}
        }
    },
    "level2": {},
    "level3": {}
}

And if you only wanted to create animations from the boss data, then you could pass level1.baddies.bossas the dataKey.

Note: The ability to load this type of file will only be available if the JSON File type has been built into Phaser. It is available in the default build but can be excluded from custom builds.