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Unity enable/disable component script from component on same gameObject

Preamble
I am currently making a game where a player can go from third person view, walking around to transition into a vehicle.
I have thought about using a transmitter/receiver type set up, but I think my way of simplifying it isn't correct.
I am using assets from third parties for controllers that use inputs. My plan was to enable/disable the appropriate script and camera from the object I want to control. I've gotten as far as being able to disable the previous controller and enable the next, though I can't go back to enabling since the script obviously doesn't run anymore.
Question/Request
I'd like to be able to reference the pawn's input component script in a different component script on the same gameobject to then be able to enable/disable the aformentioned component, though the issue is that the input controllers have variable names (Different names depending on the third party on each pawn).
Here's how I have it set up:
I have a PlayerTransmitter that handles the basics of turning things on and off. I tried making this where all of the inputs are being handled, but I don't want to have to change the original controller scripts to look at this script. This is on an empty game object and handles the 'state' of the player, (walking or in which vehicle).
on each pawn gameobject (The walking pawn CleanerPawn and the vehicle TractorPawn), I've added a script called InputReceiver. This was originally intended to pass the inputs from the PlayerTransmitter to the actual controller on the object itself.
Right now, the walking pawn has a component called AdvancedWalkerController (You may know the one I'm talking about) that controls the player walking movement and the vehicle has a component called VehicleController which controls how the vehicle moves and handles.
CleanerPawn
TractorPawn
The two images above show that I am using the same InputReceiver component on both pawns. My plan was to pass in each pawn's input controller (temporarily named CleanerController) and then enable/disable that input controller depending on the PlayerTransmitter 'state'.
The InputReceiver currently looks like this:
public bool isEnabled;
public Component CleanerController;
public void TurnOffControls()
{
isEnabled = false;
}
public void TurnOnControls()
{
isEnabled = true;
}
In each pawn's input controller, I added a line to the Update() function:
enabled = gameObject.GetComponent<InputReceiver>().isEnabled;. Two problems with this; 1. I don't want to change any code in the input scripts (I hope this is possible) and 2. Once it's disabled, it won't read an update to enable itself again.
I was hoping I could just use the reference to the component CleanerController to say CleanerController.enabled = true; or false with that reference being just that one component, though I'm missing something here.
My final thought which I am going to try is to allow/disallow the input controls within each input script depending on my isEnabled boolean. Though again, I would have to change the original scripts to accommodate this.

What speaks against
public Behaviour CleanerController;
and then
CleanerController.enabled = false; // or true accordingly
See
Behaviour
Behaviours are Components that can be enabled or disabled.
Behaviour.enabled
Enabled Behaviours are Updated, disabled Behaviours are not.
or in other words: If a Behaviour is set to enabled = false then it's Update (and similar event methods) is not called anymore.

I would recommend you to have a Controller Script. This named "CameraController" for example and has a Method to switch between the Modes. This would also make it possible to have even more Options. For Example you could use an Enum to define which modes exist:
enum CameraMode {
Player,
Car
}
public SwitchMode(CameraMode mode) {
switch(mode) {
case CameraMode.Player:
TurnOnControls();
break;
case CameraMode.Car:
TurnOffControls();
break;
default:
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
}
You could even go further and create an Interface/Abstract which allows all of this and just has an execute method doing different stuff. In the end you just need that controller which allowes to swtich between the modes and handles the key input.

What do people mean when they talk about serialization in Unity?

I hear people talking about serializing variables among things in their unity projects and quite don't understand it. I see them using
[SerializeField]
and don't know why or what it does.

I looked up the definition of data serialization: Serialization is the process of converting the state information of an object into a form that can be stored or transmitted.
During serialization, objects write their current state to temporary or persistent storage. Later, the object can be recreated by reading or deserializing the state of the object from the store.
Objects are created as the program runs, and then reclaimed when unreachable, with a short lifespan. But what if we want to store the contents of the object permanently?
Convert it into a sequence of bytes and save it on a storage medium. Then serialization is required. [SerializeField] is to force Unity to serialize a private field. This is an internal Unity serialization function. Sometimes we need to Serialize a private or protected attribute. In this case, the [SerializeField] attribute can be used.
The above is some information I found, I hope it is correct and can bring you some help

Say, you have a field _speed and you want to set it using inspector. It means we want it to be serialized - stored somewhere in a human-readable and flexible format(e.g. xml), not directly in code. So when you edit fields in inspector, you edit the serialized data. During compilation, it's being deserialized and assigned to a field. This is how serialization/desearialization works. It is used to store non-static or just big amounts of data. In case of Unity it is used to show you everything in inspector. Transform has position and scale variables serialized and you can edit them.
In Unity there are two common ways to make fields assignable in inspector: using public fields or using [SerializedField] attribute for private ones.
Making fields public just to edit them with inspector is bad practice. If you can edit field in inspector, it means every other component can too, which is insecure. There is no good architecture that allows such things. If you want other components to edit the field, make it a property or make a set method. If you just need to assign fields by hand, don't use public fields. Avoid them.
When you use the [SerializeField] attribute, you create a private field that is accessible to this component only and you can assign it in inspector at the same time. If you need other components to read it, you can make a public property without set (public float Speed => _speed;).
This all is not an obligatory usage. Just good practice.

Any values set in the Unity inspector for any public fields or private/protected fields that use the attribute [SerializeField] are saved with the current scene file.
If you open up a Unity.scene file you will find a hierarchy of data that matches the scene hierarchy along with lists of what script or component classes are attached to that game object and what the field values of those classes/components should be.
When loading a level in Unity, the scene file is deserialized meaning that a program walks the data structure creating game objects. It then creates component and script class instances attached to those components and initializes them with the serialized data in the scene file. After that you end up with a level more or less the same as it was when saved in the unity editor.
In addition to your own Monobehaviour scripts having this ability, all the default unity components work this way. Transform uses serialized Vector3s for position, rotation and scale. MeshFilter components serialize a reference to a mesh asset and the MeshRenderer component references Materials that are used by the GPU to draw the mesh etc etc.
In short, serialisation is a process by which computers transform data so that it can be written to a file (or sent across a network via a protocol stream) and then later transformed back into the original set of objects it was to begin with (or as close as matters).

Unity Photon - How to sync player stats/info

I'm trying to create a co-operative first person multiplayer game and I think I've misunderstood how Photon and RPC is supposed to work.
I have a working first person multiplayer project where player avatars can see each other and move around as the player avatars have a photon view photon transform view.
As part of the player controller script (handles player movement only for local player), which is attached to the player avatar prefab, I have an attribute:
public PlayerCharacterInfo myCharacter;
which contains all of the player's info and stats including name, level, currentHP, maxHP, etc which is added to the player avatar's PlayerController as it the player enters the room and their avatar is instantiated.
When I join a multiplayer room, each player can only see their own stats. For example, in the editor when running the game, only the values of the local editor player avatar are shown on the Player Controller myCharacter.
I can see that the other player avatars have an instantiated myCharacter on them but no values are shown.
At this point, I figure I just need to have an RPC function like this in my player controller that just reassigns the myCharacter to itself so it can be broadcasted to all:
[PunRPC]
void RPC_AddCharacter(PlayerCharacterInfo paramCharacter)
{
myCharacter = paramCharacter;
}
in void Start():
if(PV.IsMine)
{
PV.RPC("RPC_AddCharacter", RpcTarget.All, myCharacter);
}
But this does not let me see the myCharacter values for non-local player avatars.
My goal is to first show the name of the player avatar that you're looking at via a raycast, but I cannot even get this data to sync.
Have I got the right idea here, but I'm executing it wrong?
Or is this just not how Photon works?
Do I need to instead have each player's PlayerCharacterInfo stored in the room controller for each player or something like that?

You want to use Custom Properties.
Photon's Custom Properties consist of a key-values Hashtable which you
can fill on demand. The values are synced and cached on the clients,
so you don't have to fetch them before use. Changes are pushed to the
others by SetCustomProperties().
How is this useful? Typically, rooms and players have some attributes
that are not related to a GameObject: The current map or the color of
a player's character (think: 2d jump and run). Those can be sent via
Object Synchronization or RPC, but it is often more convenient to use
Custom Properties.

Solved somewhat! I removed my RPC call that was trying to to sync my custom PlayerCharacterInfo object and instead made a call and new string 'myCharacterName' in PlayerController to hold just the player's name.
The new RPC call takes the local player's myCharacter.characterName (from PlayerCharacterInfo) and sets the myCharacterName and syncs to all.
This works and my editor player can see the myCharacterName of other players! However I was no closer to syncing my entire myCharacter class.
Now that I had the right idea about how this works, I was able to research a bit more and found that Photon can't sync custom classes normally, but you could serialize your class to be able to send it:
https://doc.photonengine.com/en-us/realtime/current/reference/serialization-in-photon
However reading this made me realize that I probably don't need to sync my entire player data (it contains not only health and status, but inventory, equipment, quest, etc info) and that I'm probably better off just syncing separate data types in separate calls.
This thread helped too:
https://forum.photonengine.com/discussion/880/custom-class-object-sent-over-rpc

TrailRenderer.colorGradient "Print current specs in order to replicate in code"

After reading the API info here:
https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/TrailRenderer-colorGradient.html
I am wondering if I can "tune in" my trail renderer in the normal unity interface, print those complicated code parameters, then use that code in my script to change color on triggers, etc.
To clarify, how do I get the information here presented in code:
[]
I guess I am approaching this from a CSS background. Is there a Unity colorgradient version of this website:
https://www.colorzilla.com/gradient-editor/
Can I make the script print the characteristics of the trail renderer (for the purpose of replicating it elsewhere in my code)?
1
Much appreciate the help!

I'm still not 100% sure if I understood the question but I'll give it a shot.
As I understand you want to have a component on every trigger object where you can define different gradient settings for each.
And I assume by Unity interface you mean the Inspector.
So something like e.g.
public class GradientSetter : MonoBehaviour
{
public GradientColorKey[] colorKeys;
public GradientAlphaKey[] alphaKeys;
}
Put this on the trigger object(s) and adjust the settings via the Inspector. At beginning they should be empty arrays so to add elements just enter the wanted element count in the size property of both arrays.
And wherever you have the Collision implemented on your TrailRenderer object
void OnTriggerEnter(Collider other)
{
var gradientSetter = other.GetComponent<GradientSetter>();
if(!gradientSetter) return;
gradient.SetKeys(gradientSetter.colorKeys, gradientSetter.alphaKeys);
...
}
I'm assuming GradientColorKey and GradientAlphaKey are Serializable. If you implement this but they don't show up in the Inspector let me know, then you'll have to make a wrapper class for them. (I can't test it right now)
Note: Typed on smartphone so no warranty but I hope the idea gets clear

C# Changing a constant

I have inherited a small windows form based program written in C# that uses a 'constant' (See below), I need to modify this program so 'PROPERTY_NAME' can be "jobs" and "careers".
private const string PROPERTY_NAME = "jobs";
I'm guessing a constant isn't designed to change so should I need to change this. The line above is set once at the top of a class file and then PROPERTY_NAME is used throughout that file.
On the main form I would like to add two radio buttons 1 called 'jobs' and one called 'careers' and then change the PROPERTY_NAME in the class file based on which is selected. Would I need to pass the radio button status to the method in the class file? I recall reading that I can't simply read the radio button value from the class file.
Many thanks for your advice.
Jane

My best (and simplest) guess (I could elaborate into cleaner things but this is just for speed) without seeing any other part of the code would be to remove the const and add readonly so PROPERTY_NAME is just a plain old class member variable that cannot change outside of the constructor.
In the class's constructor, take in a string parameter, and have the code that creates an instance of this class pass in either "jobs" or "careers" (coming from the selected radio button probably) and set the PROPERTY_NAME variable.
EDIT:
Like Sasha says, another way would be using an enum but it depends what exactly is being done with PROPERTY_NAME as to whether this is appropriate for your application.

If the quantity you are representing changes ever throughout the history of the universe then do not make it a constant. Constants are things like the number of eggs in a dozen or the atomic weight of lead. Things like version numbers or the current price of gold change over time and therefore are not constant. Only make actually constant values into constant fields. The compiler will treat constant fields as constant for all time, which can introduce semantic errors if they change.

make an enum (my preferred way) and make it a readonly property. Set this property in the constructor. It isn't changeable after creation and should do what you need.
-sa

You cannot make constant having two values. It looks like that you need to make a field storing current property name and use it allover your form. And you will be able to init such field from the radio button.