Hi all,
Recently, I wanted to add parameters to these combat encounter scenes I created. I want to edit values in the editor for spawn timer, encounter duration, etc. So the encounter scene has a child node that handles the details of setting up/finalizing the encounter, and I just want to make sure I am passing data from the parent to the child node correctly.
I thought I was seeing weird behavior, which lead to me reading a lot about node lifetime cycles. I realized I was trying a setget in the parent before checking if the child node was in the scene. More technical details here.
So I want to do a one-time transfer of simple data values from parent to child. Is there anything wrong with just using the _ready function on the parent node, like this?
extends Node3D
@export var enemy_spawn_markers: Array[Marker3D]
@export var spawn_delay: float
@export var encounter_duration: float
func _ready():
$EncounterHandler.enemy_spawn_markers = enemy_spawn_markers
$EncounterHandler.spawn_delay = spawn_delay
$EncounterHandler.encounter_duration = encounter_duration
If I can clarify anything please let me know, and thanks for any insight you can provide!
I have a couple more questions, if you don’t mind, because I have done some more tinkering.
I really only need to use the $ symbol once, because that gets a reference to the node. So why use $ for get_node() several times if you don’t need to, right?
Also, since these values correspond to setting child node values, I have to keep in mind that child nodes are created and added to the tree first. So I figured I would set it up like this instead. Any thoughts?
extends Node3D
@onready var encounter_handler: EncounterHandler = $EncounterHandler
@export var enemy_spawn_markers: Array[Marker3D]
@export var spawn_delay: float
@export var encounter_duration: float
func _ready():
encounter_handler.spawn_delay = spawn_delay
encounter_handler.encounter_duration = encounter_duration
encounter_handler.enemy_spawn_markers = enemy_spawn_markers
encounter_handler.configure_encounter()
My main concern is that I want to make sure I understand the order in which nodes are added to the scene.
I really only need to use the $ symbol once, because that gets a reference to the node. So why use $ for get_node() several times if you don’t need to, right?
Yeah it’s sugar and might have performance benefits(it’s a reference, fast access), I would have to look at the C++.
Calling a method once and caching the value is basically what you are doing.
I use C# a lot and I have some different design patterns, so I pre-cache GetNode() once in _Ready().
This is where code is elegant, there are many ways to paint a picture depending on how the whole setup works. Keeping it consistent is the main part.
Also, since these values correspond to setting child node values, I have to keep in mind that child nodes are created and added to the tree first. So I figured I would set it up like this instead. Any thoughts?
It works, as I said I use _Ready() as sort of a IOC constructor to keep my own “notes” of my design, others wouldn’t do this. But it’s just a couple calls to cache the references to the nodes, nothing burger IMO.
My main concern is that I want to make sure I understand the order in which nodes are added to the scene.
This is kind of why I do what I do in C#, for myself it encapsulates everything in one place, again it’s all about how you design your flow.
