local variables arent working Xna when assigned - variables

Question

Im needing to use local variables but when i use them for a timer (decreases time until conditions are met) it doesnt work
for (int i = 0; i < Weapons.Count; i++)
{
if (Weapons[i].ItemType == 6)
{
if (standard.IsKeyDown(Keys.G))
{
Cannons.Add(new CannonFire(this));
}
}
else if (Weapons[i].ItemType == 7)
{
float Recharge = Weapons[i].Laser.Rate;
Recharge -= (float)gametime.ElapsedGameTime.Seconds;
if (standard.IsKeyDown(Keys.G) && Recharge < 0)
{
laser.Add(new LaserFire(this, new Vector3(Weapons[i].Laser.range, 1, 1) ));
Recharge = Weapons[i].Laser.Rate;
}
}
}
other relevant code is where im getting the rate from
public class LaserItem
{
float Damage;
float Range;
float Last;
float RechargeRate;
public float damage
{
get { return Damage; }
set { Damage = value; }
}
public float Rate
{
get { return RechargeRate; }
set { RechargeRate = value; }
}
public float Life
{
get { return Last; }
set { Last = value; }
}
it works without the timer but i cant have it like that because i dont want 300 lasers to be built every time someone hits the key. as far as i can tell the timer is set to the laser rate every frame so it never reaches 0 (this section it in the update function)
for this piece of code its fine but when i need it in a loop i have to use local variables;

Answer 1

From what I can understand, what you are doing in the code is that you're creating a new local variable with the value set to the recharge rate of the laser every single update, firing it when the time from the last update is longer than the recharge rate - this would occur only on a very slow update.
Taking into account the automatic Update (the main loop one) calling of XNA, what would help you is setting some class variable for the Weapon, e.g. RemainingRecharge and when you fire, set it to the recharge rate and substract the elapsed time every update until it reaches zero or less. The only difference from your code is that the recharge is moved to the class instance and thus preserved between updates.

Answer 2

Recharge isn't a reference or a pointer; it's a copy (as float and double are immutable types). So, assigning a value to Recharge at the end of the if() block does absolutely nothing. (I'd bet that it even gets removed by the compiler).
Try this:
else if (Weapons[i].ItemType == 7)
{
float recharge = Weapons[i].Laser.Rate;
recharge -= (float)gametime.ElapsedGameTime.Seconds;
if (standard.IsKeyDown(Keys.G) && recharge < 0)
{
laser.Add(new LaserFire(this, new Vector3(Weapons[i].Laser.range, 1,1)));
/// changed the the next line:
Weapons[i].Laster.Rate = recharge;
}
}

Answer 3

i figured it out, XNA has a TimeSpan thing you can use its easier to work with and you can tell it if it reaches a number reset and do what you want