How To: Set Project-Wide #pragma Directives with JavaScript

Create a text file in the root of your project's Assets folder:

Code (csharp):

1. Your Project/Assets/us.rsp

With the following:

Code (csharp):

1. -pragmas:strict,downcast

Voila! No more implicit variable declaration bugs without needing to #pragma every script.

Note that this includes the Editor/ compilation pass; if you play fast and loose with dynamic typing in editor scripts this may create more hassle than it resolves.

Thanks to Rodrigo for the tip!

 

Any idea if there is some way to get #defines globally like this for C#?

 

Why would you want it for C#?

That's a nice trick Matthew. As a joke, I was thinking of coming in here and saying, "Yup, that's easy to do: switch to C# "

 

I would love a global #define Debug rather than having to add it to every single script.

 

You can add a file called smcs.rsp to the Assets/ folder. The content of the file will be added as arguments to the compiler.
Do a 'smcs -help' to get all the options. Compiler bat location: <InstallDir>\Unity\Editor\Data\Mono\bin\smcs.bat

If you add '-define:MyDefine' to smcs.rsp, MyDefine will be a global define for all C# scripts.

 

@kjems, that is awesome. I never knew about that. It appears that once you set something in the smcs.rsp file then remove it the define is still present. Do you know if there is some way to clear the cache or wherever it is storing the define?

 

Disregard. It appears to clear itself after a few runs. Awesome tip!

 

Changes to the smcs.rsp will not trigger the automatic refresh of the AssetDatabase as scripts and other assets do.

 

JFYI - I just tried this in Unity 3.3 and smcs.rsp did not seem to work. However, I changed to gmcs.rsp (gmcs being the newer compiler, I think) and it works great! =D

 

What does the pragma downcast do? I use the #pragma strict in every javascript, so was curious if I should use downcast too.

Gigiwoo

 

Any thoughts on Unity 3.4? I've tried with smcs.rsp and gmcs.rsp (and even mcs.rsp) but no luck.

 

Sorry for double-posting; just realised that my last post was entirely unclear.

I am also trying to set project-wide #defines for C#. I am on Unity 3.4 and have tried creating gmcs.rsp, smcs.rsp, and even mcs.rsp under the Assets folder of a project, but none of these seem to be read. I've tried "-define:TEST_DEFINE" and "/define:TEST_DEFINE". Just wondering whether anybody else had come across this since upgrading to 3.4 or if I'm just doing it wrong...

TIA.

 

I tried the smcs.rsp on Unity 3.4 and it works fine.
The one thing to remember is that you should make sure to save your affected files even if there are no changes to the file.
This is because Unity will not re-compile your code unless the Saved Date is different.

Examle:
if I write "-define:TEST_DEFINE" in smcs.rsp and I add

#if TEST_DEFINE
....Some Code....
#endif

in code and save, it will work.

if then I change the smcs.rsp file to say "-define:TEST_DEFINE_2" and run Unity it will still run the "....Some Code...." because the code in the define was previously compiled and Unity did not detect a change in the code file, so it did not bother to re-compile it.

Once you re-save your code file (just press the save button or CTRL-S), Unity will re-compile the code correctly according to the new Defines in smcs.rsp.

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks, I hadn't realised that re-importing the .rcs wouldn't cause a recompile. All sorted.

 

I got global defines running for C# using gmcs.rsp and Unity 3.4, thanks for the tip!

Is there also a way to pass a define argument to the Boo compiler?

 

I can not get this to work, and I am not a coder, but I am trying to get this sorted myself.... I am using Unity 3.4. In my Assets folder I have the file: smcs.rsp with the following code inside:

Code (csharp):

1. -pragmas:strict,downcast

However when I quit and restart unity to get the scripts to recompile I get this errors: Internal compiler error. See the console log for more information. output was:error CS2007: Unrecognized command-line option: `-pragmas:strict,downcast'

Basically what I am trying to do is open an old project in 3.4 and I learn't that I need to disable Dynamic typing? So I found this solution which I can not get to work for the life of me.

Also I tried the other solution where I put #pragma strict after the vars but before the function start () example below:

Code (csharp):

1. private var noOfZaps : int;
2.  
3. #pragma strict
4.  
5. function Start()
6. {
7.     gibbing = false;

When I do that I get these errors:

Assets/02Scripts/GameManager.js(57,27): BCE0043: Unexpected token: ;.

and

Assets/02Scripts/GameManager.js(59,7): UCE0001: ';' expected. Insert a semicolon at the end.

It is annoying when I an not a coder but I am trying to get this working all help would be very greatful!

Thanks

 

Only if you're doing iOS/Android. Otherwise switch to web/Mac/PC publishing. (And you needed to do that for iOS/Android before Unity 3.4 anyway, the difference is that now it applies when scripts are compiled, instead of when you build the project.)

--Eric

 

Sorry I should of been more clear, it is an iOS game. I added "var" in front of each of the errors and it seemed to fix them. Again this is all guess work as I am not a coder hahaha

So what would I need to do to incorporate that anyway for the iOS game to fix the old project? I read somewhere that iOS games in 3.4 automatically use #pragma strict is this true? and if so then those errors I had before need to be fixed another way? It is kinda annoying since the game worked perfect before but I needed to do an updated build to support OF 2.xx

I have the OLD Xcode project which worked like a dream and now with xCode 4.xx it does not even load it crashes after the splash screen. So this is why I am trying to update the actual project.

Thanks.

 

iOS always used pragma strict automatically, now its just written there.

 

Thanks

 

Just as a warning: This no longer works in Unity 3.5
While it works in the editor, the builds will simply lose the defines

 

I think dreamora might've hit some kind of caching issue - it works fine for me.

I'm on Unity Free 3.5.2f on Mac OS X Lion. I created a simple test project, with the following script:

Code (csharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using System.Collections;
3.  
4. [RequireComponent (typeof (Renderer))]
5. public class PreprocessorTest : MonoBehaviour
6. {
7.     void Start ()
8.     {
9.         Color color = Color.red;
10. #if MAKE_PURPLE
11.         color.b = 1f;
12. #endif
13.         renderer.material.color = color;
14.     }
15. }

I put the following in smcs.rsp (note: I'm on Mac, and I could not get gmcs.rsp to work):

Code (csharp):

1. -define:MAKE_PURPLE

I attached that script to a Cube in the scene, and started the editor. It worked fine. I then did a "PC and Mac Standalone" build for Mac OS X, "Development Build" disabled, and ran it - it turned purple as expected.

dreamora: Maybe you need to delete Library/ScriptAssemblies or just re-save the files that you use your defines it. I'm guessing it probably had cached the compilation?

 

Note that it will gmcs.rsp or smcs.rsp based on wether you selected .Net 2.0 or .Net 2.0 Subset in the player settings:

.Net 2.0 Subset: smcs.rsp
.Net 2.0: gmcs.rsp

Also, changing these files will not trigger a recompile. You will have to change one of your script files after editing the rsp to make the changes apply.

 

I found this useful so I figured I'd share this here.

http://buchhofer.com/2011/11/unity-per-project-compiler-options-unsafe/

It goes into a bit more detail about the discussions between smcs.rsp and gmcs.rsp. More specifically:

"More info: different compilers are used based on the language and chosen .NET profile. The subset and web profiles use smcs, the full profile uses gmcs, unityscript uses us, and boo uses booc."

 

Hey Guys, I put a little example togeather to better illustrate how this works for another thread. I thought I may as well re-post it here as well.

http://slipstreamgame.com/shares/DefineExample.rar

 

With the very handy "Global Define Wizard" script provided by Prime[31], I found that if (in the wizard) I disabled a define that I'd previously added it would not be picked up until something else caused a re-load of the script using the define.

To solve this I moved these two lines in the save() routine:

Code (csharp):

1.         AssetDatabase.Refresh();
2.         reimportSomethingToForceRecompile();
3.  

to the end of the save() routine.

If you know you changed something, hit save. Job done.

 

Can anyone confirm if this works on builds from Unity 4.0?

 

Yes, it is. I've just added smcs.rsp to project containing one #define and it works.

 

What about EditorUserBuildSettings.activeScriptCompilationDefines ? Can it not be added / removed from there?

 

If anyone is still looking at this, seems like Unity4 has a fix.

http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentati...ttings.SetScriptingDefineSymbolsForGroup.html


Also changes can be done via the PlayerSettings inspector.

*EDIT* The format is DEFINE1;DEFINE2. Make sure you don't repeat a define multiple times because the Unity build process will throw a duplicate key exception.

And as ToxicBakery said below, you do have to hit enter if you're using the player inspector.

 

Big thankyou to kjems and chsu for these tips! This used to be one of my biggest headaches with Unity.

Just fyi in C# kjems' tip still works in 4.0
"-define:CUSTOM_DEFINE" in smcs.rsp

Even better though, it's great to finally see official support as chsu mentioned. Here's how you get to it in the IDE:
Edit > Project Settings > Player > Other Settings (It's a text field labeled "Scripting Define Symbols")...

One very minor nuance to that text field, (in this version) simply clicking away does not apply your define, you have to actually press enter after typing.

 

We are improving the documentation on Custom Defines, and it's important to update these threads with the correct way of using them in the current versions of Unity. If you want to modify only global defines, you should use Scripting Define Symbols in Player Settings, because this will cover all the compilers. If you choose the .rsp files instead, you'll have to provide one file for every compiler Unity uses, and you won't know when one or another compiler is used. To do this you must add a text file with the extra directives to the "Assets/" folder:

[table="width: 500"]
[tr]
[td]C#[/td]
[td]<Project Path>/Assets/smcs.rsp[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]C# - Editor Scripts[/td]
[td]<Project Path>/Assets/gmcs.rsp[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]UnityScript[/td]
[td]<Project Path>/Assets/us.rsp[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Boo[/td]
[td]<Project Path>/Assets/boo.rsp[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

As an example, if you include the single line "-define:UNITY_DEBUG" in your smcs.rsp file the define UNITY_DEBUG will exist as a global define for C# scripts, except for Editor scripts. Every time you make changes to .rsp files you will need to recompile for them to be effective. You can do this by updating or reimporting a single script (.js, .cs or .boo) file. All this information is being added to our documentation.

 

Will this also allow me to override the reference to an assembly? I have an assembly that I want to include, but I want it to use an alias so I need to define -r:<Alias>=<my assembly>.

 

It appears this doesn't work with assembly references. That's too bad.

 

Hey guys, in Unity FOUR,

is there a way to add a disable directive:

#pragma warning disable 414

project wide?

Truly appreciated .. Fattie !

 

Hey is it possible to "bundle" defines in the smcp.rsp?
I'd like to have something like
-define:MOBILE (UNITY_ANDROID || UNITY_IPHONE ) ! UNITY_EDITOR
But that's not working...
I get an Unhandled Exception: System.ArgumentException: Illegal characters in path.
This would be a great help for e.g. if we want to add more mobile platforms later on like UNITY_METRO etc.
Has anyone figured out how to do this?

 

Hi Any one knows how to add comments in rsp file...

 

You could instead add platform-dependent defines, as explained in the docs now (search for "Platform Custom Defines").

 

Ok So I am 7 year late on chipping in but I to would like #define {Whatever}.
But anyway, for debugging I use the Development Build Tick from the Build settings box plus each class I write I add a VerboseLogging bool that defaults to false. This way in the editor DEBUG is always true, so each script will now check and see if it is supposed to Log Messages and do so if enabled. Once I have a script done and feel comfortable with it I just disable its VerboseLogging.

See this post:
http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/236387/is-there-any-way-to-detect-if-this-is-a-developmen.html