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Getting Started#

Starting with Volt is straightforward, easy, and user-friendly.

Installation#

  1. Get the Roblox Volt model here.
  2. Use the Toolbox to place it under ReplicatedStorage.
  3. That's it!
  1. Download the ZIP from the latest release here.
  2. Unzip it and drag Volt into your Rojo project's src directory.
  3. Make sure to add Volt's $path under ReplicatedStorage in your default.project.json

Configuration#

Volt's config is compact and doesn't have anything that needs touching. Insure that VoltPath is set to the path of your Volt module. You can mess with the root key if you would like your imports to begin somewhere else. For example, you may have a folder within ReplicatedStorage called Modules. If you wanted your import strings to start from within there you would set root to game:GetService('ReplicatedStorage').Modules.

Note

Assume the root path remains unchanged from its default ReplicatedStorage value in the rest of the documentation examples.

Imports#

Volt provides users a useful import function. There's no longer a need to use Roblox's global require() function. Import is specifically tailored to meet the needs of Volt and you should prefer it whenever possible (which is almost always).

Basic Importing#

local Volt = require(game.ReplicatedStorage.Volt)
local SomeModule = Volt.import('MyModule')
You can also provide a directory to start you import in rather than Volt using the root directory. 
local SomeModule = Volt.import('MyModule', script.Parent.Parent)

Volt Directory System#

Volt uses a powerful and intuitive directory system. This system strays away from Roblox's dot notation and chained :FindFirstChild() methods which can be repetitive, tedious to type, and very very long. Rather, Volt uses a directory system similar to your computer's file system.

Have a module deep within your root path and need to import it? Let's compare using Volt versus using the raw Roblox API.

Volt.import('Some/Directory/MyModule')

require(game:GetService('ReplicatedStorage'):FindFirstChild('Some'):FindFirstChild('Directory'):FindFirstChild('MyModule'))

There's a pretty major difference here in terms of length and readability. On top of this imports have a priority system.

Priority Order#

When importing something Volt prioritizes files in certain directories first.

  1. Import's optional 2nd argument
  2. Root directory
  3. Volt

Special Import Properties#

When Volt attempts to import a module it checks for a few things. First it will determine if the module is returning a table. If all the module returns is a value or a function or something that isn't a table then Volt will directly return that. Otherwise if the module is a table then Volt will check for an importable key in the returned table. If this is set to false Volt will spit out an error stating that the module is not importable. This is primarily used internally. Finally, Volt will check for an OnImport function in the returned table. If one exists it will call the function. This is useful if you want your modules to have some special behavior when imported. Here's an example of a module using these special properties. 

local MyModule = { importable = true }

function MyModule.OnImport()
    print('Imported!')
end

return MyModule

Note

These special properties are all entirely optional and are simply meant to add an extra layer of functionality to modules.