Sorter Container Whitelist/Blacklist

The logic for the whitelist and blacklist functionalities in sorters can be summarized as follows:

Whitelist: This setting allows the sorter to either drain or send items (individually) only to containers specified in the whitelist.

Blacklist: This setting allows the sorter to either drain or send items (individually) only to containers not listed in the blacklist.

Understanding Container Whitelist/Blacklist for Sorters:

Consider the following setup:

[Container 1] > [Container 2] > [Container 3] > [Sorter 1] > [Container 4] > [Container 1]

You can configure the sorter with whitelist or blacklist options for both draining and sending items.

• Drain Whitelist: If set to whitelist Container 1, 2, and 3, the sorter will only drain items from these containers.
• Drain Blacklist: If set to blacklist Container 1, 2, and 3, the sorter will drain items from any container except these.
• Send Whitelist: If set to whitelist Container 4, the sorter will send items only to Container 4, excluding Containers 1, 2, and 3.
• Send Blacklist: If set to blacklist Container 4, the sorter will send items to any container except Container 4.

The whitelist and blacklist settings determine the source and destination of items, but do not stop the flow of items through the system. If Container 2 is set to blacklist for draining, items can still be drained from Container 1 unless a sorter with different rules blocks it. Similarly, to fully block a path, you need an additional sorter with specific rules to manage item flow.

This configuration allows for flexible management of item movement without interrupting the overall flow, respecting the rules of all sorters in the path.

Implementing these options could facilitate the creation of more complex systems without causing infinite loops. Here’s an example scenario to illustrate:

Scenario:

• Assembler:
• Output: Sorter set to drain all sending items to the General Container.
• Input: Receiving items from the Component Container.
• General Container:
• Output: Sorter set to drain all + whitelist components sending components to the Component Container.
• Input: Receiving items from the Assembler.
• Component Container:
• Output: Sending items to the Assembler.
• Input: Sorter set to drain all + whitelist components receiving components from the General Container.

Issue:

In this setup, the sorter at the Assembler’s output will drain all components from the Assembler, then drain all components from the Component Container, potentially causing an infinite loop.

Current Solutions:

There are several ways to fix this issue, but none allow you to get specific components from the Component Container through the Assembler without disabling the drain all function on the sorter. For instance, while you can prevent the infinite loop, it would mean losing the ability to pull components from the Component Container if the sorter is set to drain all.

Proposed Solution:

Using a whitelist would enable the sorter to drain items only from the Assembler and avoid loops, thus maintaining the functionality of retrieving specific components from the Component Container.

This is just one example of how the whitelist and blacklist functionalities could be applied. I’m currently experiencing difficulties with this system, but I believe there are many other potential applications!