-- // VARIABLES // --
local Utilities = {}
Utilities.DELETED_MARKER = {}

-- | Obfuscation Constants | --
local OBFUSCATED_KEY_CHARS = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789"
local OBFUSCATED_KEY_LENGTH = 24


-- // FUNCTIONS // --
function Utilities.GetOrCreateRemote(parent: Instance, className: string, name: string): RemoteEvent | RemoteFunction | Folder
	local existing = parent:FindFirstChild(name)
	if existing and existing:IsA(className) then
		return existing
	end

	if existing then
		existing:Destroy()
	end

	local newInstance: RemoteEvent | RemoteFunction | Folder
	if className == "RemoteEvent" then
		newInstance = Instance.new("RemoteEvent")
	elseif className == "RemoteFunction" then
		newInstance = Instance.new("RemoteFunction")
	elseif className == "Folder" then
		newInstance = Instance.new("Folder")
	else
		error(`[DataReplicator | Utilities] Invalid className '{className}' passed to GetOrCreateRemote`)
	end
	newInstance.Name = name
	newInstance.Parent = parent

	return newInstance
end

function Utilities.GenerateObfuscatedKey(): string
	local key = {}
	local numChars = #OBFUSCATED_KEY_CHARS

	for _ = 1, OBFUSCATED_KEY_LENGTH do
		local randomIndex = math.random(numChars)
		key[#key + 1] = string.sub(OBFUSCATED_KEY_CHARS, randomIndex, randomIndex)
	end

	return table.concat(key)
end

return table.freeze(Utilities)