Resolved Character Selection with Prefabs and ScriptableObjects

Hello there.
I'm a Unity beginner and currently learning how to C# properly using Unity and its functions.
I've hit a little wall and thus I'm kindly asking for assistance

The problem:
Loop through the Prefabs Characters and set them to isActive(true) while turning the previous character off.

The scene:
https://ibb.co/S5PRm85

The code I use to store all my character infos, works like a charm!

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4.  
5.  
6. [CreateAssetMenu(fileName = "New CharacterData", menuName = "CharacterData", order = 51)]
7. public class CharacterData : ScriptableObject
8. {
9.     [SerializeField]
10.     private string charName;
11.     [SerializeField]
12.     private string charDescription;
13.     [SerializeField]
14.     private int charNumber;
15.     [SerializeField]
16.     private GameObject charGO;
17.  
18.  
19.     public string CharName
20.     {
21.         get
22.         {
23.             return charName;
24.         }
25.     }
26.     public string CharDescription
27.     {
28.         get
29.         {
30.             return charDescription;
31.         }
32.     }  
33.     public int CharNumber
34.     {
35.         get
36.         {
37.             return charNumber;
38.         }
39.     }
40.  
41.     public GameObject CharGO
42.     {
43.         get
44.         {
45.             return charGO;
46.         }
47.     }
48. }
49.  

In this code lies my problem:

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4.  
5. public class SelectionHandler : MonoBehaviour
6. {
7.  
8.     [SerializeField]
9.     private CharacterData Cdata1;
10.     [SerializeField]
11.     private CharacterData Cdata2;
12.  
13. //useless for now
14.     //private int index;
15.     //private ArrayList[] charAmount;
16.  
17.  
18.     private void Start()
19.     {
20.         GameObject.Instantiate(Cdata1.CharGO);
21.         GameObject.Instantiate(Cdata2.CharGO).SetActive(false);
22.                  
23.     }
24. //press "Next" button, do this
25.     public void Next()
26.     {
27.         //If pressed, switch Cdata1 off and Cdata2 on. Preferably automated like
28.         //foreach(character in SelectionHandler)
29.         //if 1 is active, turn off and turn 1+i on, ...
30.     }
31.  
32. }

Like you see in my commented lines, I'd like to switch characters[i++] on and off and as soon as I hit the last array spot, return back to the first character.

I cannot wrap my head around how I can call, set or browse through SelectionHandler Inspector (picture) and count how many characters I added there and cycle them on and off.

Any help would be really appreciated!
I hope I described the problem good enough, if not, feel free to yell at me

Kind regards!

 

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections.Generic;
2. using UnityEngine;
3.  
4. public class Test : MonoBehaviour
5. {
6.     public List<GameObject> characterList = new List<GameObject>();
7.     private int currentIndex = 0;
8.  
9.     public void Next()
10.     {
11.         characterList[currentIndex].SetActive(false);
12.         currentIndex += 1;
13.         if (currentIndex >= characterList.Count)
14.         {
15.             currentIndex = 0;
16.         }
17.  
18.         characterList[currentIndex].SetActive(true);
19.     }
20. }

 

EDIT:
Got it to work properly now.

The solution was to instantiate the character GameObjetcs and after that store that (clone) information in an empty list to get life access to it.

Here's how it works:

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections;
2. using System.Collections.Generic;
3. using UnityEngine;
4.  
5. public class SelectionHandler : MonoBehaviour
6. {
7. //using my prefabs here with ALL character Infos
8.     public CharacterData[] characterData;
9.  
10.     private int currentIndex = 0;
11. //this list will basically get filled AFTER the charsGO are created
12.     public List<GameObject> characterList = new List<GameObject>();
13.  
14.  
15.     private void Start()
16.     {
17.         foreach( var characterData in characterData)
18.         {
19.             GameObject go = Instantiate(characterData.CharGO); //instantiate
20.             go.SetActive(false); //turn off
21.             characterList.Add(go); //store the clone!
22.         }
23.  
24.         characterList[0].SetActive(true); //basically show the first char on the selection screen
25.        
26.     }
27. //NEXT works like a charm now!
28.     private void Next()
29.     {
30.         characterList[currentIndex].SetActive(false);
31.         currentIndex++;
32.         if (currentIndex >= characterList.Count)
33.         {
34.             currentIndex = 0;
35.         }
36.         characterList[currentIndex].SetActive(true);
37.     }
38.  
39. }

 

Code (CSharp):

1. using System.Collections.Generic;
2. using UnityEngine;
3.  
4. public class Test : MonoBehaviour
5. {
6.     private readonly List<GameObject> characterList = new List<GameObject>();
7.  
8.     private int currentIndex = 0;
9.  
10.     // Create a "Characters" folder in "Resources" folder, then put all your character prefab into "Characters" Folder
11.     private void Start()
12.     {
13.         // 1 load all character prefabs
14.         var characterPrefabs = Resources.LoadAll<GameObject>("Characters");
15.         // 2 create them and set active false, and put into list
16.         foreach (var characterPrefab in characterPrefabs)
17.         {
18.             var instance = Object.Instantiate(characterPrefab);
19.             instance.SetActive(false);
20.             characterList.Add(instance);
21.         }
22.  
23.         // 3 set 0 active
24.         characterList[0].SetActive(true);
25.     }
26.  
27.     public void Next()
28.     {
29.         characterList[currentIndex].SetActive(false);
30.         currentIndex += 1;
31.         if (currentIndex >= characterList.Count)
32.         {
33.             currentIndex = 0;
34.         }
35.  
36.         characterList[currentIndex].SetActive(true);
37.     }
38. }

 

Nice, there are two things to do next, one is to separate the code that creates the role, because they do not belong to the SelectionHandler, and the other is to put the resources in the Resources folder and use them through the absolute path, because when the resources increase, It is not a good practice to drag the prefab to the component

 

Seems like i ran into some new problems.

If I want to load Prefabs, which are ScriptableObjects, am I able to do that?
I used the LoadAll function with a corresponding Resources/Characters Folder but the script doesnt add them to the scene as GameObjects now. No errors, just nothing appearing

Thats the script im using now:

Code (CSharp):

1. public class SelectionHandler : MonoBehaviour
2. {
3.  
4.     //public CharacterData[] characterData;
5.  
6.     private int currentIndex = 0;
7.     private readonly List<GameObject> characterList = new List<GameObject>();
8.  
9.  
10.     private void Start()
11.     {
12.         var characterPrefabs = Resources.LoadAll<GameObject>("Characters");
13.         foreach( var characterPrefab in characterPrefabs)
14.         {
15.             var go = Object.Instantiate(characterPrefab);
16.             go.SetActive(false);
17.             characterList.Add(go);
18.         }
19.  
20.         characterList[0].SetActive(true);
21.        
22.     }

those are my SO character models with all the data:
https://ibb.co/4PGSCNh

 

You need to modify Resource.LoadAll<GameObject> to your type like Resources.LoadAll<YourType>, I haven't used Scriptobject, so I'm not sure how to use it

 

Another way is to store the data in a .csv file, which is a file that excel can open, and then read the data from it, which is a better practice in my opinion. If the data is not a lot, I am used to writing them in constants or static variables