How can I implement a debounce in this code - lua

Question

My first thought was to ask on Roblox devforum but since imo they got a really messed up admission system, I might as well ask it here.
I've got a tool that shoots a block (wedge) to wherever the mouse is pointing when clicked. It also casts a ray and the block itself sets the health of any humanoid that makes contact with it to 0. But I have got no idea on how to actually implement a cooldown on the gun so you can't just literally spam blocks that kill anything that touches them arround. I think implementing a debounce here is the best option, but I got stuck with that since day 1 and I have no idea how to write it down correctly
I already tried with most of the things that I thought of after visiting this page Roblox dev page about Debounce, also read through some articles that had similar issues in the dev forum, but I can just spam blocks arround whatever I do.
The tool has just two parts (one being the handle) a localscript to wield the parts together, a localscript to catch the mouse position when clicked, two remote events to pass the info from the localscript to the server script and the following server script
local tool = script.Parent
local clickEvent = tool.ClickEvent
local clickEventConnection
local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local Teams = game:GetService("Teams")
--Function that creates the part with a touched listener that kills any humanoid that comes into contact with said block
local function createPart(location)
local part = Instance.new("WedgePart")
part.CFrame = location
part.Parent = workspace
part.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Black")
part.Touched:connect(function(hit)
if hit.Parent then
local hum = hit.Parent:FindFirstChild("Humanoid")
if hum then
hum.Health = 0
end
end
end)
game:GetService("Debris"):AddItem(part, 2)
end
--With the information on the click position of the localscript, this function creates a ray and a beam that accompanies the block, as well as executing the createpart() function on said location
local function onClick(player, clickLocation, ignore)
createPart(clickLocation)
local ray = Ray.new(
tool.Handle.CFrame.p,
(clickLocation.p - tool.Handle.CFrame.p).unit * 500
)
local hit, position, normal = workspace:FindPartOnRay(ray, player.Character, ignore)
local beam = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
if player.Team == Teams["Blue Team"] then
beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright blue")
elseif player.Team == Teams["Red Team"] then
beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright red")
else
beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Ghost grey")
end
beam.FormFactor = "Custom"
beam.Material = "Neon"
beam.Transparency = 0.25
beam.Anchored = true
beam.Locked = true
beam.CanCollide = false
local distance = (tool.Handle.CFrame.p - position).magnitude
beam.Size = Vector3.new(0.3, 0.3, distance)
beam.CFrame = CFrame.new(tool.Handle.CFrame.p, position) * CFrame.new(0, 0, -distance / 2)
game:GetService("Debris"):AddItem(beam, 1)
end
--subscribing onclick() when equiping the weapon and unsubscribig when unequipping it
local function onEquip()
clickEventConnection = clickEvent.OnServerEvent:connect(onClick)
end
local function onUnequip()
clickEventConnection:disconnect()
end
tool.Equipped:connect(onEquip)
tool.Unequipped:connect(onUnequip)
I just wanted to make a 'cooldown' so a block can be fired each 3 seconds. As is, you can just spam as much as you like to

Answer 1

A simple way to debounce the clicks is to use a variable to decide whether to quickly escape from a function.
You can modify your onClick function so it does not execute if a cooldown is still in place :
-- make a cooldown tracker
local isGunOnCooldown = false
local cooldownTime = 3.0 --seconds
local function onClick(player, clickLocation, ignore)
-- debounce any spammed clicks
if isGunOnCooldown then
return
end
-- put the gun on cooldown
isGunOnCooldown = true
-- fire a bullet
createPart(clickLocation)
local ray = Ray.new(
tool.Handle.CFrame.p,
(clickLocation.p - tool.Handle.CFrame.p).unit * 500)
local hit, position, normal = workspace:FindPartOnRay(ray, player.Character, ignore)
local beam = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
if player.Team == Teams["Blue Team"] then
beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright blue")
elseif player.Team == Teams["Red Team"] then
beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Bright red")
else
beam.BrickColor = BrickColor.new("Ghost grey")
end
beam.FormFactor = "Custom"
beam.Material = "Neon"
beam.Transparency = 0.25
beam.Anchored = true
beam.Locked = true
beam.CanCollide = false
local distance = (tool.Handle.CFrame.p - position).magnitude
beam.Size = Vector3.new(0.3, 0.3, distance)
beam.CFrame = CFrame.new(tool.Handle.CFrame.p, position) * CFrame.new(0, 0, -distance / 2)
game:GetService("Debris"):AddItem(beam, 1)
-- start the gun's cooldown and reset it
spawn(function()
wait(cooldown)
isGunOnCooldown = false
end)
end