Editing v0.34:Container

{{av}} {{buggy}}
{{Quality|Exceptional|06:09, 29 July 2010 (UTC)}}

{{furniture|name=Container
|tile=Æ
|wood=y
|stone=y
|metal=y
|glass=y
}}

Types of containers the game knows are '''chests''', '''coffers''', '''boxes''', '''cabinets''', '''bags''', '''[[barrel]]s''', '''[[large pot]]s''' and '''[[bin]]s'''.  All containers are used to hold items, from personal possessions to [[gem]]s, [[alcohol]], [[quarry bush]] leaves, and even living [[creature]]s, but their use is context-sensitive, so you cannot use your barrels for storing [[coin]]s, but you ''can'' {{key|b}}uild a bag as a dwarf's personal container, analogous to a chest.

Chests, coffers, boxes and bags are subsumed under ''boxes and bags'' in the [[status]] stocks screen, and these can be built as "containers" from the {{key|b}}uilding menu to satisfy the "Needs: X Chests" requirement for nobles. Each other container type has its own entry.

To examine a container's contents when the container is in a stockpile, select the object location with the {{key|k}} key.  Then, use {{key|+}} and {{key|-}} until the container is highlighted, then press {{key|enter}}.  Press {{key|enter}} again to select the contents, if any. The i{{key|t}}ems command can be used to see items that are stored in a built container.  See also, [[stocks]].

== Barrels, bins, bags, pots ==

[[Barrel]]s are [[wood]]en or [[metal]] containers that are useful for storing items in a [[Stockpile#food|food stockpile]] and are used to store [[alcohol]], [[plant]]s, [[seed]] bags, [[meat]], [[fish]], [[dwarven syrup]], [[quarry bush]] leaf bags, [[flour]] bags and [[dye]] bags, cooked food, [[fat]] and [[tallow]], and all [[prepared organs]].  They are made at a [[Carpenter's workshop]] with 1 log or at a [[Forge]] with 3 bars of metal. Barrels can be disabled in a stockpile to prevent haulers from running off with everything else inside to pick up a stray seed.

[[Pot]]s, the larger equivalent of barrels, can be made of wood, stone, clay, glass, or metal.  Pots can also be used to store alcohol and other related liquids, though clay pots (earthenware) must be [[glaze]]d to hold liquids.  Pots hold twice as much as barrels (60 total units of food) and weigh one fourth as much as a barrel of equivalent material. Except for a few barrel-specific requirements, pots are generally a superior replacement.

[[Bin]]s are containers, again made from wood or metal, used for most non-food items. They are sent to all the other stockpiles (with the exclusion of the [[refuse]], [[stone]] and [[graveyard]] piles) and will hold much larger stacks of items, making organizing those endless piles of +giant cave spider silk socks+ and trade goods much easier to manage.  They are made at a [[Carpenter's workshop]] with  1 log or at a [[Forge]] with 3 bars of metal. Bars and blocks will stack into a bin, but not into any other container, so a stockpile with bar/block enabled will default to requesting bins.

Bags are used to store [[seed]]s, [[quarry bush]] leaves, [[mill]] products ([[flour]], [[sugar]], [[dye]]) and [[sand]] ("[[powder]]s"). They are made from [[plant fiber]] (or [[silk]]) [[cloth]], [[leather]], or [[adamantine]]. Bags are used to gather and transport powders the same way [[bucket]]s are used to carry [[water]]. Bags can be placed inside other containers, such as barrels. Bags can be placed as [[furniture]] and then function as [[coffer]]s (see below).  They are made at a [[Clothier's shop]] with 1 cloth or at a [[Leather works]] with 1 leather.

Empty barrels, bins and bags can all be stored in a [[furniture]] [[stockpile]].

== Cabinets and "chests" ==

These two containers are both furniture items only.  They must be built in rooms assigned to dwarves in order to fulfill the dwarves' room requirements.  Cabinets are used to store clothing, and chests are used to store everything else.

Also, the [[hospital]] needs containers for its supply-storage.

A [[stone]] chest is called a '''coffer''', and a [[glass]] chest is called a '''box''', but they are used for the same purpose.  Bags can also be built as chests.

Once built as furniture, their contents can be viewed with the {{k|t}} menu.

== Quick Reference ==
{|  border = 1 cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Container || Stockpile || Furniture || Solid Capacity (in [[size|cm<sup>3</sup>]]) || Liquid Capacity || Stores
            || Stone || Wood || Glass || Metal || Cloth || Leather || Ceramic
|-
|[[Barrel]] || Furniture > Type > Barrels        ||  No ||  3000 || 3000 || Food, Alcohol<sup>4</sup>, Extracts<sup>4</sup>, Milk, Lye, Bags  
            || No || Yes || No || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Bin]]    || Furniture > Type > Bins           ||  No ||  3000 ||        || Items, Jugs, Flasks
            || No || Yes || No || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Bucket]] || Furniture > Type > Buckets        ||  No ||       || 600 || Milk, Lye, Water<sup>2</sup>
            || No || Yes || No || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Flask]]<br />Vial<br />Waterskin
            || Finished Goods > Type > Flasks    ||  No ||       || 180 || Alcohol, Water<br />Vials: Extracts<sup>4</sup>
            || No || No || Vial || Flask || No || Waterskin || No
|-
|[[Equipment#Backpacks|Backpack]]
            || Finished Goods > Type > Backpacks ||  No ||  3000 ||        || Food
            || No || No || No || No || Adamantine<sup>3</sup> || Yes || No
|-
|[[Equipment#Quiver|Quiver]]
            || Finished Goods > Type > Quivers   ||  No || 1200 ||        || Ammunition
            || No || No || No || No || Adamantine<sup>3</sup> || Yes || No
|-   
|  Bag<br />Chest<br />Coffer<br />Box
            || Furniture > Type > Boxes and Bags || Special || 3000 ||        || Bags: Seeds, Leaves, Powders<br />Other: Owned items
            || Coffer || Chest || Box || Chest || Bag || Bag || No
|-   
|[[Cabinet]]
            || Furniture > Type > Cabinets       || Yes ||  3000 ||      || Owned clothing
            || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Jug]]    || Finished Goods > Type > Tools     ||  No ||       || 1000 || Royal Jelly, Honey, Rock Nut Oil
            || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes || Yes || No || No || Yes
|-
|[[Large pot]]
            || Finished Goods > Type > Tools     || No ||  6000 ||  6000 || Food, Alcohol, Bags
            || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes || Yes || No || No || Yes
|-
|[[Nest box]]
            || Finished Goods > Type > Tools     || Yes ||   200 ||       || Eggs
            || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Hive]]   || Finished Goods > Type > Tools     || Yes ||   500 ||  500 || Honey Bees, Royal Jelly, Honeycomb{{verify}}
            || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes<sup>5</sup> || Yes || Yes || No || No || Yes
|-
|[[Wheelbarrow]]
            || Furniture > Type > Wheelbarrows   ||  No || 10000 ||       || hauled items
            || No || Yes || No || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Minecart]]
            || Furniture > Type > Minecarts      ||  No<sup>6</sup> || 50000 || 50000 || hauled items;<br />[[Minecart#Loading_liquids|scooped]], but not loaded: Water, Magma
            || No || Yes || No || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Cage]]<br />Terrarium<br />Aquarium
            || Animals                           || Yes & No || 6000 || 6000 || Creatures, Vermin<br />Aquarium: Water
            || No || Cage || Terrarium<br />Aquarium || Cage || No || No || No
|-
|[[Animal trap]]
            || Animals                           || Yes & No || 3000 || || Vermin, Bait
            || No || Yes || No || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Coffin]]<br />Casket<br />Sarcophagus
            || Furniture > Type > Coffins        || Yes || 6000 || || Creature/Vermin Corpses/Remains
            || Coffin || Casket || Coffin || Sarcophagus || No || No || No
|-
|[[Weapon rack]]
            || Furniture > Type > Weapon Racks   || Yes || 6000 || || Weapons
            || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || No || No
|-
|[[Armor stand]]
            || Furniture > Type > Armor Stands   || Yes || 6000 || || Armor
            || Yes || Yes || Yes || Yes || No || No || No
|}
:<sup>1</sup> - Large Pots can be made from any hard material, including wood and metal
:<sup>2</sup> - Used to carry water, can store Milk and Lye but will be emptied into Barrels
:<sup>3</sup> - Backpacks and quivers can only be made from Adamantine cloth, though ones made from other cloth can be purchased from caravans
:<sup>4</sup> - Brewing and extracting can store any amount of liquid within a barrel or flask
:<sup>5</sup> - Rock and Wood versions of these items are made in [[Craftsdwarf's workshop]] rather than [[Carpenter's workshop]] or [[Mason's workshop]] as usual.
:<sup>6</sup> - A [[minecart]] can be placed where you need it and used for storage, but technically it's not built furniture

*[[Tools]] have capacity set in units 10 times smaller; liquids take container capacity 60 per 1 unit, i.e. capacity 180 = 3 units of water, 50000 = 833 units, etc.
*Large Pots are like Barrels but with different capacities.
*Bins are like Barrels but store different stuff.
*Buckets are used for temporary storage of Milk, Lye, and Water.
*Jugs are mini containers for honey and royal jelly and can be stored inside Bins, in this sense they are like Bags.
*Bags are mini containers for powders and can be stored inside Barrels/Large Pots if holding food items.
*Bags are like Chests/Coffers/Boxes made of cloth or leather, can be placed as furniture in the same fashion.
*Flasks/Waterskins/Vials are different names for the same containers depending on the material it's made from.
*Chests/Coffers/Boxes are different names for the same piece of furniture depending on the material it's made from.
*A terrarium can be designated as an Aquarium. A dwarf will use a bucket to fill it with water. If deconstructed it'll stay filled with Water[10] and can even be sold with the water inside. The water costs 1☼ each, so you get 10☼ for the water.
*A hive won't be destroyed if you don't have a stockpile for its products. You could use {{key|t}} on the hive and dump the item to use it.

== Spilling ==
A container item that moves fast and collides with an obstacle spills its contents. If the obstacle permits (i.e. [[fortification]]), these continue to move in the same direction with some scattering, otherwise displaced 1 tile above and retain velocity. This was introduced for [[minecart]]s, but applies at least to [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=109460.msg3315406#msg3315406 other tools] and [http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=109460.msg3340230#msg3340230 cages]. If the tile above also contains an obstacle and the spilled item is a container, the process repeats on the next tick, until it runs out of either nested containers or wall height (see the first link above).

== Bugs ==
* Hauling containers ties up all the items in the containers until the hauling is complete. This often results in cancellation spam and work delays.{{bug|5992}} With heavy containers, hauling them around is also inefficient.{{bug|5964}} One workaround is creating a "feeder stockpile" with containers disabled.
* Stockpiles with containers enabled and wheelbarrows assigned perform poorly.{{bug|5964}}
* Container size works in mysterious ways. Items only have "SIZE" determining the volume of their material and thus [[weight]], but ''no separate external volume''. For containers, CAPACITY is ''not'' added to it, i.e. they all are treated like soft bags: you can put 30 other bags inside a bag, and you can load a minecart with minecarts. At the same time, containers are assumed to ''not'' be soft bags - while weight of contents adds to the container's, the ambiguous SIZE is constant. Together, these facts make containers nest-able ''indefinitely'', as long as CAPACITY>SIZE (which normally is the case) and potentially act like bags of holding - have the same stated volume whether empty or holding an arbitrary total amount of items via nested containers. The only nesting that normally happens in Fortress mode is minecart > barrel > bag, but this still makes a minor [[exploit]].
* Stacks made by a single job tend to ignore capacity. For one, dwarves picking up items may stuff a [[Exploit#Quantum_stockpiles|quantum stockpile]] worth of items into one container.{{bug|6063}} Same goes for brewing and extracting. Some of related bugs{{bug|3986}} are fixed, so the details may need re-checking{{verify}}.
* Conversely, a freshly produced stack, no matter how small, will be put into a new container and not added into the old ones. Which may be justified with ''brewing'', but also happens to production of items/substances without quality modifiers.
* Metal chests cannot be melted; attempting to do so will leave the chest untouched but cause the furnace operator to gain experience and use fuel (at non-magma smelters) {{bug|2493}}
{{Buildings}}