[[assets|ASSET]] classes are the basic registerable types in Foundation.

For reference all available [[assets|ASSET]] classes can be found in [[api#assets_classes|this]] section of the API.

===== Creating & Using a Custom ASSET Object =====
==== Step 1: Defining an ASSET Object using a Lua Table ====
To create a custom [[assets|ASSET]] object we will need to make use of the ''mod:registerClass(AssetTable)'' function providing it with an associated Lua Table.

Here you decide what properties your custom [[assets|ASSET]] object will contain. 
<code lua>
local MY_ASSET_OBJECT = {
    TypeName = "MY_ASSET_OBJECT",
    DataType = "ASSET",
    Properties = {
        { Name = "Property1", Type = "string", Default = "SomeString" },
        { Name = "Property2", Type = "list<RESOURCE_QUANTITY_PAIR>" },
        { Name = "Property3", Type = "integer", Default = 1 }
    }
}

mod:registerClass(MY_ASSET_OBJECT)
</code>
Note that [[assets|ASSET]]s unlike [[api#data_classes|DATA]] do not need the ''SAVE_GAME'' flag as their properties are read from their registration on load!

Also remember that you can define properties based on the basic [[data-types|data types]] (i.e. string, integer, float, etc.) or based on any of the existing [[api#data_classes|DATA]] or [[assets|ASSET]] objects, as well as ''list''s therof!

==== Step 2: Registering an Instance of an ASSET Object ====
Note: This also aplies to using vanilla ASSET objects!

In your mod's lua code you when you want to register an instance of your new [[assets|ASSET]] object you will have to use the ''mod:registerAsset(AssetTable)'' method as follows.
<code lua>
mod:registerAsset({
    DataType = "MY_ASSET_OBJECT",
    Id = "MY_ASSET_OBJECT_INSTANCE",
    Property1 = "SomeOtherString",
    Property3 = 5
})
</code>
Remember, each unique [[assets|ASSET]] instance requires an Id that identifies it from other [[assets|ASSET]]s of the same class.

In case you omit any properties you don't yet need to explicitly set they will use their default values. As we have done with ''Property2'' above.

==== Step 3: Using an Instance of an ASSET Object ====
When you want to use your new ASSET instance be it in a [[api/component|COMPONENT]] property, [[api/building_function|BUILDING_FUNCTION]], or other [[assets|ASSET]]/[[api#data_classes|DATA]] class you can use the string Id to reference it by name.

For example here we are using our custom [[assets|ASSET]] instance as the default value in a [[api/component|COMPONENT]]
<code lua>
local COMP_EXAMPLE = {
	TypeName = "COMP_EXAMPLE ",
	ParentType = "COMPONENT",
	Properties = {
        { Name = "Property1", Type = "MY_ASSET_OBJECT", Default = "MY_ASSET_OBJECT_INSTANCE" }
    }
}
</code>