Add a reference to Assembly-CSharp in assembly definition file

Hi. How can I add a reference to predefined assemblies when using assembly definition files?

I can't use unity packages when I move my scripts to another assembly using asmdf files.

 

You can't. The predefined assemblies are always the last to compile.

If you need to reference code from Unity packages, and they're not available, those packages probably ship with their own assemblies, and instructions on how to include them. What packages are you struggling with?

 

as far as I understood these assembly definition files you can use them only or not use them at all. So you cannot mix "predefined assemblies" with custom assemblies. Instead you have to put the assembly definition files all over your project including the used third party assets... And do not forget to add asmdf files to all the editor folders with the right compile settings...

All this is designed without thinking about the real world I think... For me they are totally useless and I use my own tool which splits the assembly into several projects (unfortunately I cannot make use of the good parts of the asmdf approach: improving compile times and excluding projects from certain platforms).

Edit: here some additional thoughts: https://forum.unity.com/threads/assemblydefinitionfiles-good-idea-but-not-usable-in-praxis.538739/

 

I was struggling with TextMeshPro. But I finally could fix it. The problem was that when you try to add a reference to assembly definition, the assembly definition files from packages doesn't show up in the pop up window. So I didn't know TextMeshPro had assembly definitions inside.

It definitely needs improvement.
At least we need a button to quickly mark assemblies as "Editor Only".
Another enhancement that I think is really necessary is that Unity should generate Editor Only assembly definitions for all Editor folders with click of a button. Existing projects (and even relatively new ones) might have dozens of Editor folders. It's such a pain to create asmdf files for each one of them by hand ( Which is what I did :| ).

 

That's just simply not true.

Code under assembly definition folders work like the plugins folder in the old system. Your default assembly can reference them, but not the other way around. The only difference is that the different assemblies can reference each other in the same fashion, which gives a more granular approach if that's neccessary.

Assembly definitions isn't special. Any non-unity .NET project in the world can do exactly the same thing by splitting code into different assemblies. Most other languages do too.[/QUOTE]

 

That's fine unless you're trying to create a test assembly which references the main codebase but isn't deployed with a build...

 

Yep, ran into the same wall here. My test assembly (even the editor test assembly) has no way to access the actual game code I want to use for the testing...

 

So if understand it correctly (and I probably do not), then you can only use Unity's test framework on code you have put into an Assembly Definition?

If it is true (and again I hope it is not), then it seems like a massive hurdle to anyone trying to use the Unity Test Framework (who needs stinkin' tests anyway... )

 

Recently decided to play a little with unity tests and stumbled upon the same problem.

So is this true ?
When you are going to use test framework you have to put assembly definition in your main scripts folder.

This will automatically throw a lot of errors during compilation, since you now need to add manually all the references your projects is using to this new assembly definition.

 

Compile errors are not the only thing that can happen when adding assembly definitions.

All fields with an attribute [SerializedReference] lose their reference.

 

For testing, if you need to reference something from the main csharp assembly just disregard the created test .asmdef and put all your code inside a editor folder like this:


Another valuable thing when using tests is to derive from Editor, that way you can have serialized references in your tests, like this:

 

This was a surprisingly simple solution that I somehow didn't see earlier, thanks a bunch!

 

I don't want to revive this post, but I'm struggling with LevelPlay (IronSource) package and haven't found anything on the internet.
@Baste when I install LevelPlay, it automatically adds IronSource source code folder in Assets folder, however there is no assembly to reference

 

They probably have documentation somewhere? If it just dumps code into the assets folder without an assembly definition, and your code is in an assembly definition, then you can probably add an asmdef file to the IronSource code folder.

Idk, though, not familiar with anything add related at all.

 

This solution is valid for editor tests but I think its not valid for playmode tests.

 

Don't do that. Don't use classes for things they aren't created for. The Editor class is actually derived from ScriptableObject and all you actually need for default-reference-assets is a ScriptableObject. So don't just derive things from Editor when it doesn't represent a custom editor.

Though keep in mind that default references are only applied inside the Unity editor. They do not work in a built game. They are just a tool to fill out common asset references when an instance of that class is created inside the editor.

 

It's pretty bad the way it works, I'm trying to use the performance extension, only way to make it reference my main assembly is to pull it out of packages and add the folder manually and remove the asmdef's

 

I'm struggling with this ;(

[/QUOTE]

I have a package (the unityGltf) which needs to be reference in the assembly to work in script.
& only need it temporarily and only in the editor, but still in script - to export a bunch of models (like 500)

If i create any assembly reference anywhere i get a bunch of errors. I just need the one package and don't feel like reorganizing everything just for the one package i need temporarily !

how can my default assemly reference this package ?

I guess this must be easy for anyone who actually has worked with these before ?!

 

Assembly Definitions has an "auto referenced" checkbox which makes it possible to reference them from code that's not in assembly definitions - see here.

So you should be able to set the asmdef to only be available in the editor by only checking the editor platform here, set the auto referenced checkbox, and then reference it from your editor code.

 

Yes indeed.
Thanks for the rather quick reply.

I solved my particular problem. But -
The things to stumble over :
1. in an already existing project. add an assembly definition to the scripts folder. Then this should put all the scripts from this folder and subfolders into an assembly. & yes auto-referenced.
Now this should not change anything ?!
ALL (my) scripts are in the same assembly. And they can easily find each other.
This is not the case.
No idea where i am going wrong with this. (-yet).

2. In my case the unityGltf package actually did not even contain the assemblies that were supposed to be referenced !!! Quite typical for the so called manual to just 'note' that to use it in script there should be references, but then the thing to reference is not even part of the package !! in the package manager.
So . the full package from github had the assemblies. And the solution is to make a last child folder with an assembly reference that then contains the package part, and yes - autoreference is on. Then the script there can be used in a parent script from the above folder.