Get Component to the Script vs Instance of the Script itself - c#

In order to get variable(s), function(s) in another class, I have known 2 ways of doing this. First, is to use Get Component to the Script that we want to get the variable(s), function(s) into. Second, is to use Instance of the Script itself.
So I have made the following code:
First case: Get Component to the Script itself
public class Manager : MonoBehaviour
{
private AnotherManager _anotherManager;
private void Awake()
{
_anotherManager = GameObject.Find("Managers").GetComponent<AnotherManager>();
}
private void Start()
{
_anotherManager.myIntVariable = 10;
_anotherManager.MyFunction();
}
}
public class AnotherManager : MonoBehaviour
{
public int myIntVariable;
public void MyFunction()
{
}
}
Second case: Use Instance of the Script itself
public class Manager : MonoBehaviour
{
private void Start()
{
AnotherManager.instance.myIntVariable = 10;
AnotherManager.instance.MyFunction();
}
}
public class AnotherManager : MonoBehaviour
{
public static AnotherManager instance;
public int myIntVariable;
private void Awake()
{
instance = this;
}
public void MyFunction()
{
}
}
My question is: Is there any difference between those cases? In terms of good practice of coding for programmer or performance or it is just a matter of programmer's perspective or whatever else?
Thanks

The second example is the what is known as the Singleton Pattern and should be used very sparingly.
I try to never use the first approach either where you find the gameobject and hope it exists.
You can expose a field for the Unity Inspector so that you can wire it up the same as you can expose any other variable
public AnotherManager AnotherManager;
Alternatively, if you hate using public all over the place like that, like me, you can also indicate to Unity that you wish to expose this variable in the inspector with the SerializeField attribute
[SerializeField]
private AnotherManager anotherManager;
With both of these methods, you can then drag an an object that has the AnotherManager component attached into the field in the inspector.
If instantiated objects need access to this, you will need to wire it up when it is instantiated.
If you need help attaching it in unity I can attach some screenshots.

Related

Unity c#: Code-structure or how to access a method/variable from another class/script?

I have two classes: Menu_Buttons, in which there are definitions for methods executed on clicking different buttons in the menu, and PauseMenu, which defines what happens when the Menu key is pressed during the game.
Menu_Buttons:
public class Menu_Buttons : MonoBehaviour
{
public void Menu_NewGameClick()
{
SceneManager.LoadScene(1);
}
public void Menu_ContinueClick()
{
Debug.Log("This will continue the game from the last save");
}
public void Menu_LoadGameClick()
{
SceneManager.LoadScene(1);
Debug.Log("Another menu will show to choose which save to load");
}
public void Menu_SaveGameClick()
{
SaveItem();
Debug.Log("This will save the game");
}
public void Menu_OptionsClick()
{
Debug.Log("This will show the game options");
}
public void Menu_QuitClick()
{
Application.Quit();
Debug.Log("The Game should quit now");
}
}
PauseMenu:
public class PauseMenu : MonoBehaviour
{
//private bool isPauseMenuOpened = false;
public GameObject pauseMenu;
void Update()
{
if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.B))
{
if (pauseMenu.activeSelf) { ClosePauseMenu(); }
else { OpenPauseMenu(); }
}
}
public void OpenPauseMenu()
{
pauseMenu.SetActive(true);
Cursor.visible = true;
Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.Confined;
//isPauseMenuOpened = true;
Time.timeScale = 0f;
}
public void ClosePauseMenu()
{
pauseMenu.SetActive(false);
Cursor.visible = false;
Cursor.lockState = CursorLockMode.Locked;
//isPauseMenuOpened = false;
Time.timeScale = 1f;
}
}
I wanted to add another method called Menu_ResumeClick, which would resume the game from the Pause Menu. Of course, I could just create this method in the PauseMenu script and then everything is fine. It looks like this:
public void Menu_ResumeClick()
{
ClosePauseMenu();
}
But since I would like to keep things organised, I thought it would be better to put this method in the Menu_Buttons script along with all the other similar methods. So I tried this:
public void Menu_ResumeClick()
{
PauseMenu.ClosePauseMenu();
}
And then problems begin... I get an error: an object reference is required for the non-static field method or property. Then if I change any of those classes to static, I get errors saying: cannot declare instance members in a static class. Not to mention that static classes canot inherit from MonoBehaviour. Maybe I would be able to solve those problems somehow, but the thing is I don't want to change the whole code just because I would rather have a method in another class. It's just for keeping things organised, nothing more.
I have to admit that I'm a bit frustrated by how these things work. I can easily put the Menu_ResumeClick() method in the PauseMenu class, but in the future it may be difficult to keep track of things if I have various methods scattered around different scripts. The most reasonable solution is to put every menu button in the Menu_Buttons class and then access them from there, but it poses problems that I described. Actually this is not the first time when I'm having problems with accessing methods or variables from other classes - there always seem to be some difficulties. It seems the best way to write code would be to just have a single class for the whole game because then I would be able to access absolutely anything easily - but again the problem would be with keeping things organised.
So, the question is: can I easily use methods (or variables) from other classes, without changing the whole code for this purpose? In other words can I somehow just call a method from another class like this: className.MethodName(); or set a variable from another class like this: className.varName = 2; without making everything static, etc.?
And a bonus question: If it's not possible, then how should I structure my code? Should I try to squeeze as many things as possible into a single class to be able to access them easily, should I make classes static, whenever it's possible, etc.?
In PauseMenu, you can add a field for the Menu_Buttons, which Unity can serialize, so you can pull the GameObject (what contains the Menu_Buttons) in the inspector, and you can call its public methods (and access its public members) from PauseMenu.
public Menu_Buttons MenuButtons;
// or (I much more like this version, keeping things as encapsulated as possible)
[SerializeField] private Menu_Buttons _menuButtons;
private void Resume() => _menuButtons.Menu_ResumeClick();
Edit based on comments:
Both script can have references to each other. As both logically related, I wouldn't separate them, because with the references, we couple them anyway.
Example:
public class Menu_Buttons : MonoBehaviour
{
[SerializeField] private PauseMenu _pauseMenu;
public void Menu_ResumeClick() => _pauseMenu.ClosePauseMenu();
// ...
}
public class PauseMenu : MonoBehaviour
{
[SerializeField] private Menu_Buttons _menuButtons;
// ...
public void ClosePauseMenu()
{
// ...
}
}

Use variable from another script or define it?

I have a Manager class and it has lots of variables so I can reference it when I need it.
Will this reduce the performance ? or should I define it
public class Controller: MonoBehaviour
{
public GameObject Manager;
}
public class GetController : MonoBehaviour
{
public GameObject Controller ;
void dosomthing(){
var Ma = Controller.Getcomponent<Controller>().Managet
}
}
TLDR; Getcomponent() calls are expensive. It is OK if used once/rarely, but starts to have an effect when called continiously.
Store a reference (define) to it:
public class GetController : MonoBehaviour
{
// Will show up in unity's inspector.
// Drag-and-Drop the gameObject with the 'Controller' component attached to it.
[SerializeField]
private Controller yourController ;
void Dosomthing(){
var Ma = yourController.Manager
}
}
Also, most things in Unity can be exposed to the Inspector as long as it is serializable.
You can expose a Controller field to the inspector, and drag-drop the same GameObject.This lets you skip a GetComponent call and another define.
I suggest using a singleton pattern for managers.
public class GameManager : MonoBehaviour
{
public static GameManager singleton; // define variable as singleton
public int score = 2; // for example...
private void Start() => singleton = this; // setup single user class instance
}
And in the player class or any other class, call it without redefining it.
public class Player : MonoBehaviour
{
public void AddScore() => GameManager.singleton.score += 1; // add score to manager
}

Trying to change BattleState globally

Hi I'm a completely new to coding and am trying to create a card game. I've watched some tutorials and tried to take things into my own hands but cant seem to figure out something. I currently have a BattleState set up;
public enum BattleState { START, PLAYERMAINPHASE, PLAYERBATTLEPHASE, PLAYERENCORESTEP, ENEMYTURN, WON, LOST }
and would like it so when i change the BattleState with a script, it changes it for every other script that references this BattleState. Sorry for the bad wording. Coding is rough :/
You can use interfaces, create an interface such as IBattleStateChanger and have a method on it
interface IBattleStateChanger{
void ChangeBattleState(YourClass.BattleState state);
}
Then on every script you want the value to change implement this interface as
ClassExample : IBattleStateChanger {}
This will then force you to create a method in the script to change the state
After that, whenever you want to change the value globally on the scripts where you implemented this interface, you can do a foreach loop finding each type of this interface such as
BattleState newState = BattleState.START;
foreach (var obj in FindObjectsOfType<IBattleStateChanger>){
obj.SetBattleState(newState);
}
You could use a static event and attach listeners/callbacks to it like e.g.
public enum BattleState
{
START, PLAYERMAINPHASE, PLAYERBATTLEPHASE, PLAYERENCORESTEP, ENEMYTURN, WON, LOST
}
public static class BattleStateMgr
{
private static BattleState _state;
public static BattleState State => _state;
public static event System.Action<BattleState> OnStateChange;
public static ChangeState(BattleState s)
{
_state = s;
OnStateChange?.Invoke(_state);
}
}
public class OtherScript : MonoBehaviour
{
private void Awake()
{
BattleStateMgr.OnStateChagne += OnBattleStateChange;
}
private void OnDestroy()
{
BattleStateMgr.OnStateChagne -= OnBattleStateChange;
}
private void OnBattleStateChange(BatlleState newState)
{
Debug.Log($"Changed Battle State to{newState}", this);
}
}
I believe you are confused about the scope of your variable. Each script you place an instance of the enum Battlestate, is a local version of that enum. If you want the reference to be global, you will need to have a central point where all scripts can grab this reference.
public class BattleManager : MonoBehaviour
{
private BattleState battleState;
// setter / getters
public BattleState GetBattleState(){return battleState; }
public void SetBattleState(BattleState state){ battleState = state; }
}
You are going to want to make a single script that holds the only reference to your enum Battlestate, then have your other scripts reference the variable.
public class OtherScript : MonoBehaviour
{
// assign this reference in the inspector
[SerializeField] private BattleManager bm = null;
private void YourFunction()
{
if(bm.GetBattleState() == BattleState.randomStateHere)
{
// run logic here
}
}
}
There are a number of ways to go about doing this, but the easiest would most likely be by declaring the variable static.
public class BattleManager : MonoBehaviour
{
private static BattleState battleState;
// setter / getters
public static BattleState GetBattleState(){return battleState; }
public static void SetBattleState(BattleState state){ battleState = state; }
}
public class OtherScript : MonoBehaviour
{
private void YourFunction()
{
if(BattleManager.GetBattleState() == BattleState.randomStateHere)
{
// run logic here
}
}
}
I do not know how many scripts you need to access this variable, but if it is only a handful, I would instead assign references to the script that holds the enum to each of the scripts that need it. I would avoid simply using static as it is the easy approach but creates what is called a code smell. The reason for this is OOP (object-oriented programming) by design should generally not have mutable global variables.
If you have a single instance of an object that manages all of your battle activity and a lot of scripts need to access it, you can look into the Singleton pattern. As you are new to programming, I would not implement this pattern until you understand the time and place to properly use it. You can also completely avoid using it by properly assigning the references you need in the inspector or by using a Object.FindObjectOfType in either Start or Awake.

When I'm trying to set a value for a base class from a child class (inheritance) it does not work (Unity C#)

I'm creating an enemy (from EnemyCreator1 class) with both EnemyMove1 and MarkusEnemy scripts (EnemyMove1 is a parent class to MarkusEnemy class). In EnemyCreator1 class I set value mainState of the script EnemyMove1 to "CHASE", but when I'm trying to access it from that class it says that mainState is "IDLE" (Please read my coments below because there are more explanations about what am I trying to achieve)
public class EnemyMove1 : MonoBehaviour
{
public enum mainStates { IDLE, CHASE }
public mainStates mainState;
void Update()
{
Debug.Log(mainState); //mainstate == IDLE, but should be CHASE
}
}
public class EnemyCreator1 : MonoBehaviour
{
[SerializeField] private GameObject enemyPrefab;
public void CreateEnemyAndSetItsStateToChase()
{
GameObject enemy = Instantiate(enemyPrefab);
enemy.GetComponent<EnemyMove1>().mainState = EnemyMove1.mainStates.CHASE;
}
}
public class MarkusEnemy : EnemyMove1
{
void Update()
{
EnemyMove enemyMoveScript = GetComponent<EnemyMove>();
Debug.Log(enemyMoveScript.mainState); //mainstate == CHASE
}
}
From the above code it looks like you are inheriting from a different base class EnemyMove, not EnemyMove1.
Thank you guys for helping me, after searching for the information about base classes I decided that it is impossible to access directly it's variables from another objects' scripts so I just simply call methods with variables as arguments (I put variables in round brackets of the method)

Why am I able to use variables inside a null reference?

I'm not really sure how to describe it exactly so let me show you what is going on.
I have a PlayerControls script which looks like this (note: I stripped everything except for the necessities).
namespace Player.Controls {
internal class PlayerControls: MonoBehaviour {
public bool IsClimbing { get; private set; } = false;
public bool IsGrounded { get; private set; } = false;
}
}
These variables are set in this class depending if the player is climbing/touching the ground. This script resides on the "Player" GameObject in the scene.
I have another script called PlayerControllerwhich looks like this
using Player.Controls;
public class PlayerController: Singleton<PlayerController> {
internal PlayerStats stats = new PlayerStats();
//PlayerStats nested class (see below)
}
The Singleton class only checks if the generic type is null, if it is, it will use FindObjectOfType to get an instance. This script also resides on the "Player" GameObject.
Inside the PlayerController class, I have a nested class called PlayerStats. It looks like this
internal class PlayerStats : PlayerControls {
public new bool IsClimbing { get { return base.IsClimbing; } }
public new bool IsGrounded { get { return base.IsGrounded; } }
}
Notice this nested class in inheriting from PlayerControls.
The idea is that the PlayerControls class in inaccessible to all other classes except for PlayerController, and any information I want to obtain regarding the player can be obtained by getting the player's instance (via the singleton) and accessing the PlayerStats variable.
For example, assuming the variable inside Singleton which holds the instance is called Instance, one could do PlayerController.Instance.stats.IsClimbing; Everything works as expected, except for one thing.
In the Awake method of the PlayerController class, I do this
private void Awake() {
Debug.LogFormat("In PlayerController Awake(). Is PlayerController.stats null? {0}",
(stats.Equals(null) ? "Yes" : "No"));
Debug.LogFormat("IsClimbing : {0}", stats.IsClimbing);
}
In the output window, it prints
In PlayerController Awake(). Is PlayerController.stats null? Yes
IsClimbing : False
If I also put the same IsClimbing debug in the Update() method, the value is correct for when I start climbing.
So, finally, my question, how can I access the variables of the PlayerStats class with the stats variable if stats is null? I thought it may have been somehow calling straight to the PlayerControls properties, so I changed their names, removed the new inside of PlayerStats and even put a debug statement inside one of the properties inside PlayerStats, and it definitely gets called. For example,public bool IsClimbing { get { Debug.Log("Called IsClimbing inside PlayerStats."); return base.Climbing; } }
If it is getting called and working properly, how can it be null? I asked my professor and he doesn't seem to know why either. What is really going on here?
Edit:
As requested, the Singleton class:
public abstract class Singleton<T>: MonoBehaviour where T : MonoBehaviour {
private static T instance;
public static T Instance {
get {
if(instance == null) {
instance = FindObjectOfType<T>();
}
return instance;
}
}
}
Here is an image of the console output.
Digging around on the Unity forums it appears that the Equals method has been overridden (on Object which MonoBehaviour eventually derives from) which is why comparing a MonoBehaviour to null is not giving you what you might expect. The answer I link to suggests code like this is more appropriate:
stats == null || stats.Equals(null)

Categories