Instancing Text Prefab - getting NullReferenceException

In my manager script I have a public variable damageTextPrefab that has a reference to a text prefab I made. I also have a public var with a reference to the Canvas.

I do this:
Text textBox = Instantiate(damageTextPrefab, nPos, transform.rotation) as Text;
textBox.transform.SetParent(renderCanvas.transform, false);

And I get a nullReferenceException in the SetParent line. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

 

Your problem is 'as Text'. Instantiate returns a GameObject. When you try to cast it to a Text, it can't - since you're using the 'as Text' method of casting (as opposed to (Text)Instantiate...), it simply returns null when it can't perform the cast.

Cast it to GameObject instead, then use GetComponent if you need the Text component.

 

Perfect. Thank you. I had copy/pasted that code from an example I found. I wonder - in a previous version would that have worked? The cast to Text I mean. I find a lot of helpful Unity examples but have found many times where it's for older versions.

 

Nope, that never worked. Whoever wrote that example was off their rocker.

 

It's also worth mentioning that there's a generic overload of Instantiate now

 

Of course it did. As long as the Object passed into the Instantiate function was of the same type you were trying to cast to. Infact, you wouldn't even need the 'as Text' cast if it was as follows:

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2.  
3. public class FooClass
4. {
5.    public Text m_textPrefab;
6.  
7.    void Foo()
8.   {
9.    Text myText = Instantiate(m_textPrefab);
10.   }
11.  
12. }