Resolved New Input System - UI Navigation Type Input - Determine which button was clicked onSubmit()

Hi all,

I'm working on a game with keyboard navigation to navigate the ui, which is a series of buttons. Trying to use the new input system for this but I cannot determine in my scripts what button was selected when enter (Submit) was pressed. Here's what I have setup:

Input Actions: Navigation (Up, Left, Down, Right arrow keys), Submit (Enter).
Event System Object: Input System UI Input Module setup with Move + Submit pointing to above input actions
Game Controller script: Player Input component added, which Behavior: Send Messages

In my script I have the following method to respond to Submit button and I want to get the text of the button to know what was selected.

Code (CSharp):

1. void OnSubmit(InputValue value)
2.     {
3.         GameObject go = (GameObject)value.Get();
4.         Button buttonClicked = go.GetComponent<Button>();
5.         if (value.isPressed)
6.         {
7.             Debug.Log(buttonClicked.GetComponentInChildren<Text>().text);
8.  
9.         }
10.     }

However if I try that out, I get 'InvalidCastException: Specified cast is not valid.' for the game object casting. I feel like I must be missing something here, not sure how to determine what button was pressed in the code.

Appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

bump

 

Well, first and foremost, InputValue.Get() returns the value of input in the form of a system.object.

This value can only be a struct — such as an int, float, Vector2, etc.
Casting from this system.object (which is a struct) to a GameObject is impossible, which is why you're getting that error.

As for how to fix it — I recommend using InputValue.Get<ExpectedValueType>() instead. Like this:

Code (CSharp):

1. float value = InputValue.Get<float>();

This version of the .Get() method doesn't create garbage and it explicitly defines the expected value-type you want from the InputValue class.
Just make sure that the InputAction in question is type 'value' or 'pass-through', and that the expectedValueType matches the type you use in the InputValue.Get<T>().


As for the rest of the code — you'll probably need to make some changes.
But hopefully this should clear up the error!

 

Thanks very much for your help. I'm able to get some output now from the button press. However, it just returns 1, do you know how I can determine what button was selected at the time of UI submit event? Heres my code:

Code (CSharp):

1. void OnSubmit(InputValue value)
2.     {
3.         float input = value.Get<float>();
4.         Debug.Log(input);
5.  
6.     }

Thanks!

 

Happy to help.

Hmm, I'm not sure if I can help unless I know the specific UI solution that you are using.
Are you using Unity UI?
If so, I believe EventSystem.current.currentSelectedGameObject will be suitable for your needs. (Newest documentation version)

Also, you may want to check out this thread. There seems to be a lot of useful knowledge in there that may pertain to some of the stuff you're trying to do that could help you out in your glorious UI journey.

 

Thats it! I'm finding the game object now. Thanks so much