Creating prefabs programmatically, confused about GameObject return values

When creating prefabs programmatically, I am confused about the difference between the

GameObject

prefab instance in the scene and whatever it is that gets returned from

SaveAsPrefabAssetAndConnect

. Let me explain...

I have a prefab that's created like so:

Code (CSharp):

1. private GameObject CreatePrefab(Mesh mesh, Material material, string path)
2. {
3.   var prefab= new GameObject("test");
4.  
5.   var meshFilter = prefab.AddComponent<MeshFilter>();
6.   meshFilter.sharedMesh = mesh;
7.  
8.   var meshRenderer = prefab.AddComponent<MeshRenderer>();
9.   meshRenderer.material = material;
10.  
11.   var savedPrefab = PrefabUtility.SaveAsPrefabAssetAndConnect(prefab, path, InteractionMode.AutomatedAction);
12.  
13.   AssetDatabase.AddObjectToAsset(mesh, savedPrefab);
14.   var meshFilter = savedPrefab.GetComponent<MeshFilter>();
15.  
16.   meshFilter.sharedMesh = mesh;
17.   PrefabUtility.SavePrefabAsset(savedPrefab);
18.   return prefab;
19. }

The mesh is built procedurally in a design-time scene that's solely for building prefabs. I believe that I need to save the prefab before adding the mesh to the prefab as a child with

AddObjectToAsset()

. I've reached that conclusion using process of elimination. Is that right?

With the prefab that is returned from this function, I can do instance things like:

Code (CSharp):

1. var prefab = CreatePrefab(...);
2. prefab.transform.position = new Vector3(100,100,100);

or, if I don't want to keep the instance...

Code (CSharp):

1. DestroyImmediate(prefab);

However, where the confusion is that I would expect

savedPrefab

to have a type other than

GameObject

because if I were to return

savedPrefab

, then my

transform.position

or

DestroyImmediate

fails.

What's the difference between the prefab instance and whatever is returned from

SaveAsPrefabAssetAndConnect

?

Many thanks, I'm truly trying to get a firm understanding of programmatic prefabs so that I can avoid issues when my tooling becomes more complex.

P.S. I've read through but not entirely understood these threads:
https://forum.unity.com/threads/how-do-i-edit-prefabs-from-scripts.685711/
https://forum.unity.com/threads/cus...s-how-to-setup-overrides.675310/#post-4574266

 

You have covered everything wonderfully, thank you Peter!

I'm glad I'm not barking up the wrong tree!