popcron / referencer

A way to grab an asset by its name in build/editor

Referencer

This is a simple utility that lets you get an asset in the project by its name without setting anything up, both in editor and runtime.

Requirements

• Git

Installation

If using 2018.3.x, you can add a new entry to the manifest.json file in your Packages folder:

"com.popcron.referencer": "https://github.com/popcron/referencer.git"

Example

//load using the full path
Sprite playerSprite = Refs.Get<Sprite>("Art/Sprites/Player.psd/Player_0");

//or load using just the name
playerSprite = Refs.Get<Sprite>("Player_0");

//load using just the name, if there are duplicates it will find the first one
GameObject playerPrefab = Refs.Get<GameObject>("Player");

//returns all scriptable objects of type Gun
List<Gun> allGuns = Refs.GetAll<Gun>();

//gets the original path of the sprite asset
string path = Refs.GetPath(gunSprite);

//returns a random gun
Gun randomGun = Refs.GetRandom<Gun>();

//for loops through every asset loaded
foreach (Reference reference in Refs.Assets)
{
    Debug.Log($"loaded in {reference.Object} at path {reference.Path}");
}

Types of assets

This utility will load all assets of these types in:

• AudioClips
• Fonts
• Materials
• GameObjects (Prefabs)
• Meshes
• ScriptableObjects
• Sprite and Sprite sub assets
• Textures
• Shaders
• TextAsset

Assets with IDs Included is the ScriptableObject loader, which will load all found types into the references. It will also check if the type has an ID property or id field. This gives the reference an extra piece of information for the loaded object, which will allow you to load the asset using its ID:

//get a gun scriptable object asset that has an ID of 12
int id = 12;
Gun gun = Refs.Get<Gun>(id);

Git ignore

So the references database is stored at Assets/References.asset, and this should be ignored in source control because this asset is always regenerated.

FAQ

• What namespace? Popcron.Referencer
• It loads everything? Yes
• Is it optimized? For speed, yes