Factorio Forums

Is there a way to get the current direction of the `cursor_stack`? I want get hold of the direction of the item the player holds in hand. The player has a method to turn the item, but it looks like the direction is not accessible via API? Am I wrong? TIA!

Nope. Cursor stack doesn't have "direction" property in it, it hasn't any connection to the transparent green\red ghost that indicates the possibility of placement. The direction of entity you're building is connected to hardcoded mechanics of the item placement.
You can detect only the orientation of entity when it is built and the on_built_entity event is raised.

You can also, from vague memory, programatically change rotation of an entity when placed - see the Concrete Lamppost mod for example. (I could be completely wrong about this, just remember seeing something about rotation in that mod but haven't fully investigated what it does yet, or why).

Is this information available in v15?

Unfortunately, no.

See my request here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45815