Structure and UUID Management

[WaffIe_Cake]

I am currently using a UUID system as pointers in a structure system I am working on. I am using raycasts to determine the inputs and outputs of the specified structure and need a way to access the hit structure’s UUID. The current and easiest way I can think of is to put a stringValue instance in the model which can be used to reference the structure it is associated with.

The problem I am having is determining whether this system would be secure or not. I don’t want hackers to use the UUID to maliciously mess with other structures by making false requests to the server to access said structure’s data. Is the usage of a string value the best way to handle this? Would there be a better solution for structures to get another structures UUID?

[SubtotalAnt8185]

It depends. If you’re communicating the UUID to or from the client, it isn’t secure anyways.

A better option is to use a table stored on the server with indexes of the UUIDs.

[Prototrode (Vernumerator)]

@SubtotalAnt8185

A better option is to use a table stored on the server with indexes of the UUIDs.

To elaborate, you should have two hashmaps (dictionaries); one is UUID → Instance, and the other is Instance → UUID. This allows you to easily convert between strings and the instance they represent.

Here’s some pseudocode example:

local toInstance: {[string]: Instance} = {}
local toUUID: {[Instance]: string} = {}

local function registerInstance(i: Instance): string
  local UUID: string = newUUID()
  toInstance[UUID] = i
  toUUID[i] = UUID
  
  --  To prevent memory leaks, make sure to deregister the instance when it's
  --  destroyed or it will stay on memory forever!
  i.AncestryChanged:Connect(function()
    if not i:IsDescendantOf(game) then
      toInstance[UUID] = nil
      toUUID[i] = nil
    end
  end)

  return UUID
end

local part = workspace:WaitForChild('Part')
local id = registerInstance(part)
--  To convert between UUID and instance, simply index the corresponding hashmap.
--  It will automatically default to nil if missing
print('the ID of the part is', toUUID[part])
print('the owner of the ID is', toInstance[id])