## Summary
Hardens the **Advanced Search** engine (`Projects/UOContent/Engines/Advanced Search/`) — the GM entity finder that fans searches across background worker threads. A code review surfaced 14 defects (A–N), including a shard-crasher reachable from a single admin typo and a path that silently disables autosave for the rest of the shard's uptime. Each behavioral fix ships with a test.
Full `UOContent.Tests` suite: **530/530 green** (21 new AdvancedSearch tests).
## Fixes
### Crash / data-loss
- **A — Shard crash on a malformed Property Test.** `AdvancedSearchThreadWorker.Execute` had no `try/catch` and the worker `Thread` is foreground, so a parse throw (`Hits>abc`, `Layer=onehanded` — `Enum.Parse` was case-sensitive, `Hits>1@` — empty sub-expression indexing) terminated the process. Now: `ParseValue`/`CompareValues` use `TryParse`/`Enum.TryParse(ignoreCase)` and return no-match instead of throwing; the per-entity filter is wrapped in `try/catch` (logs + skips); empty expressions are guarded.
- **C — Overlapping searches corrupt state + brick autosave.** `_threadWorkers`/`_threadId` were `static` but `DoSearch` is an instance method; a second search (double-click / two admins) stomped shared worker state and could leave a drain waiting forever on the shared `AutoResetEvent`, so `AutoSave.SavesEnabled` was never restored. Now: an `Interlocked` re-entrancy guard rejects concurrent searches.
- **G — Autosave restore not guaranteed.** The restore lived only in the success callback. Now it's in a `finally` (plus an outer `catch` covering the synchronous setup and a `catch` on the drain body), so autosave + the guard are always released.
### Wrong results
- **D — `@`/`|` operator precedence.** `a@b|c` evaluated as `a && (b || c)` instead of `(a && b) || c`. OR now binds looser than AND (`AdvancedSearchUtilities.EvaluateBoolean`, unit-tested).
- **E — Descending sort, partial last page rendered blank** (the index decreased in descending mode and the `break` early-out killed the loop). Now a bounded `VisibleCount`-driven loop renders the last page in both directions.
- **F — Deleted entities** were not skipped (ghost rows). Now `DoEntitySearch` skips `entity.Deleted`.
- **N — Reference-type comparisons** threw (`Comparer<T>.Default.Compare` on non-`IComparable`) and compared references to a string. Now equality is by value and ordering is guarded to `IComparable` (no throw).
### Worker perf / hardening
- **H** busy-spin → `Thread.Yield()` in the drain; **I** `GetProperties()` cached per `Type`; **J** `HandleValidInternal` moved behind the cheap map/range/region filters; **K** worker threads are `IsBackground` + `Exit()` tolerates an already-terminated worker; **L** `_filter == null` guard; **M** consistent `Volatile` access on `_pause`/`_exit`.
### Documented
- **B** — the residual worker/event-loop read race is documented on `AdvancedSearchThreadWorker`: workers read live entity state concurrently with the loop, so value-type reads may be stale-but-safe and getter exceptions are swallowed; fully eliminating it would require snapshotting entity fields on the main thread (deferred).
## Notes
- New test-only seams (`TryBeginSearch`/`EndSearch`/`IsSearchInProgress`/`VisibleCount`/`TryParseValue`/`EvaluateBoolean`) are `internal` via the existing `InternalsVisibleTo("UOContent.Tests")`.
- Dead `public ParseValue<T>` removed.
- `ConcurrentDictionary` for the reflection cache is intentional — these workers are genuinely parallel.
### Summary
- Fixes `[AdvancedSearch` being accessible by players 😱
- Adds `[GenCommands` to generate the same commands html page on https://muo.gg/commands.
- Fixes `[helpinfo` so all commands properly show up!
> [!WARNING]
> ### Developer Warning:
> Commands must now be registered in the `Configure` bootup phase.
> If a command is not registered early enough, it may not be available to systems like [helpinfo
> that cache their information.
> [!NOTE]
> ### Developer Note:
> Various commands related to generating content have been changed to _Developer_ and above access level.
### Screenshots
<img width="673" alt="image" src="https://github.com/modernuo/ModernUO/assets/3953314/b105b5c9-5eb4-4ace-93ff-1bfb31e7132f">
<img width="547" alt="image" src="https://github.com/modernuo/ModernUO/assets/3953314/e97487e8-47a5-4aa7-89cc-9fe3deda584d">
### Changes/Fixes:
* Adds timer pooling.
* Allows pool to be configurable in ModernUO.json
* Pool replenishes itself asynchronously if depleted.
* Fixes an issue with barkeeps and town criers
* Fixes an issue with incognito buff icons not being removed
* Fixes an issue with polymorph name mod not being removed
* Fixes several places where timers go on forever even after an object is deleted, keeping a reference (memory leak)
* Eliminates the timer for MiningCart altogether.
* Deletes `AcidSlime` since it is a duplicate of `PoolOfAcid`
* Fixes HonorableExecution and standardizes the code for other Bushido moves.
## Changes to the Timer API:
```cs
public class Timer
{
// Creates a timer that will be returned to the pool once execution stops.
public static void StartTimer(Action callback);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan delay, Action callback);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan delay, TimeSpan interval, Action callback);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan interval, int count, Action callback);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan delay, TimeSpan interval, int count, Action callback);
// Creates a timer and returns a token for more control. Requires manual cancellation in order for the timer to be returned to the pool.
// If the token is dereferenced, the timer will be dereferenced too. While not returning a timer to the pool is not considered hazardous, it does defeat the purpose of pooled timers.
public static void StartTimer(Action callback, out TimerExecutionToken token);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan delay, Action callback, out TimerExecutionToken token);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan delay, TimeSpan interval, Action callback, out TimerExecutionToken token);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan interval, int count, Action callback, out TimerExecutionToken token);
public static void StartTimer(TimeSpan delay, TimeSpan interval, int count, Action callback, out TimerExecutionToken token);
// If you aren't sure how to use the API above, or you don't care about performance, then you can use the old RunUO Timer.DelayCall
public static DelayCallTimer DelayCall(Action callback);
public static DelayCallTimer DelayCall(TimeSpan delay, Action callback);
public static DelayCallTimer DelayCall(TimeSpan delay, TimeSpan interval, Action callback);
public static DelayCallTimer DelayCall(TimeSpan interval, int count, Action callback);
public static DelayCallTimer DelayCall(TimeSpan delay, TimeSpan interval, int count, Action callback);
}
public struct TimerExecutionToken
{
public bool Running { get; }
public int Index { get; }
public int RemainingCount { get; }
public DateTime Next { get; }
}
```
## When to use `TimerExecutionToken`?
Use tokens when you want to gain the performance benefit of using a pooled timer, but you need one of the following:
* Access to the next time the timer will tick:`token.Next`
* Access to which interval, how many intervals there are, or how many are remaining: `token.Index`, `token.Count`, and `token.RemainingCount`
* Stop a timer manually.
* Determine if the timer is running: `timer.Running`
* See notes below about requirements for using tokens!
## Notes about using the TimerExecutionToken:
When you opt-in to receive a token, you must call `Cancel()` to return the timer. This can be done inside of the callback, or outside of the callback at any time.
If this is not called and your timer is an infinite interval, then you will create a potential memory leak, or null pointer exception in your callback.
If the timer ends and is stopped, but cancel is not called, then the timer will never return to the pool and stay referenced until the token is deleted or cancel is called. (Memory leak)
## Is this thread safe?
No. The ModernUO timer system is not thread safe at all. If you require a thread safe timer system, contact me and I'll help adapt this system. Keep in mind that there is a massive performance hit to make this thread safe when there are literally no use cases for it.
If you need to synchronize execution, meaning you want to execute code from another thread on the core thread. Let's say you have a discord bot that is pushing commands to the game server. Then use `EventLoopContext.Post(SendOrPostCallback callback, object state);`.
- [X] Caches DateTime.NowUtc on the game loop (not other threads)
- [X] Replaces all locations where it makes sense
- [X] Adds Min/Max for `IComparable` (TimeSpan, DateTimes, etc)
Closes#261
- [X] Removes some string allocations (e.g. split)
- [X] Optimizes some collections
- [X] Converts insensitive to extension methods of built-ins.
- [X] Adds ordinal (case sensitive) string helpers
- [X] Fixes conditionals for in-game commands so they use Ordinal comparisons.
- [X] Replaces ToLower.Contains with InsensitiveContains
- [X] Adds ValueStringBuilder
- [X] Implements ValueStringBuilder in a few places where it makes sense
- [X] Removes the redundant Wrap function and replaces it with an optimized version
- [X] Fixes list conversions in Utility
Closes#351
Bumps release version
- [X] Fixes several bugs
- [X] Updates more ordinal issues
- [X] Cleans up the code a bit
- [X] Turns classes static that should have been
- [X] Changes TcpServer.Instances to a HashSet
Bumps release version
