NPC range check/Place NPC

[greggiles]

question 1

Let's say I have a NPC on a looping TimeOut(). What is the code to check to see if a player is near by? I think it would go SOMETHING like this.

PHP Code:

funtion onTimeOut()
{
 if (player.x <= this.x +10)
  {
    if (this.x < player.x -10)
     {
       //what ever i want it to do//
       setTimer(1); 


That's not right but i suck at math

Question 2

I am a little confused on the placeNpc function.
How do I place a NPC that joins a certain class?