Out parameter for GetComponent() and friends

It would be useful for, say, raycasting.

Code (CSharp):

1. // Current method:
2. if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out RaycastHit hit, 1f))
3. {
4.     Player player = hit.transform.GetComponent<Player>();
5.  
6.     if (player)
7.     {
8.         // ...
9.     }
10. }
11.  
12. // Or, using pattern matching:
13. if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out RaycastHit hit, 1f))
14. {
15.     if (hit.transform.GetComponent<Player>() is Player player)
16.     {
17.         // ...
18.     }
19. }
20.  
21. // Proposed, a more elegant alternative to pattern matching:
22. if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out RaycastHit hit, 1f))
23. {
24.     if (hit.transform.GetComponent(out Player player))
25.     {
26.         // ...
27.     }
28. }
29.  
30. // Like most such things, this can be easily extracted into an extension method, but would be nice to have officially:
31. public bool GetComponent<T>(this Component component, out T t)
32. {
33.     T foundComponent = component.GetComponent<T>();
34.  
35.     t = foundComponent;
36.  
37.     return foundComponent; // This should work, since you can do `if (component)`. If not, cast?
38. }

 

there is: https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Component.TryGetComponent.html

 

Huh. Well, thank you. It's refreshing to come to the forum and not get ignored.

 

Alright, two issues with this:
1 - It was introduced in 2019.2. I'm stuck with 2019.1 for now.
2 - This is only available for GetComponent(), but I need it for GetComponentInParent() too.
Back to extension methods it is.

 

Great. With extension methods, you can't use interfaces for that. Good luck writing good code in Unity. You need a workaround for even auto property serialization. Back to pattern matching it is. It's the shortest reliable method I could find.

 

I've had that extension method around forever, and it works just fine for interfaces. Code more, complain less.