Question Problem with prefabs and lists.

I have a prefab with a script attached that contains a list and if there is more than one instance of this prefab all of what I think should be individual lists are treated like one list. I'm not sure how to solve this problem.

Doing a List.Clear() does not work as it clears the data in the scriptableobject I'm getting the pages information from and I have to re-enter the information and it only clears the list of the button I clicked.

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

https://i.imgur.com/299Xbi6.jpg - Image of problem

Code (CSharp):

1. namespace InGameLibrary
2. {
3.     [CreateAssetMenu(fileName = "New Book", menuName = "Scriptable Objects/Book")]
4.     public class Book_ScriptableObject : ScriptableObject
5.     {
6.         public string bookTitle;
7.         [TextArea] public List<string> pages = new List<string>();
8.     }
9. }

Code (CSharp):

1. namespace InGameLibrary
2. {
3.     [CreateAssetMenu(fileName = "New List of Scriptable Objects", menuName = "Scriptable Objects/ListOf")]
4.     public class ListOfScriptableObjects : ScriptableObject
5.     {
6.         public List<Book_ScriptableObject> listOfScriptableObjects = new List<Book_ScriptableObject>();
7.     }
8. }

Code (CSharp):

1. namespace InGameLibrary
2. {
3.     public class DisplayBookContent : MonoBehaviour
4.     {
5.         [SerializeField] private ListOfScriptableObjects lOSO;
6.         [SerializeField] private List<string> test = new List<string>();
7.         public Book_ScriptableObject book;
8.        
9.         public int pageNumber;
10.  
11.         public TMP_Text BookTitleTextBox;
12.         public TMP_Text BookPageBody;
13.  
14.         public GameObject previousPageButton;
15.         public GameObject nextPageButton;
16.         public Button thisButton;
17.         public string thisButtonBookTitle;
18.  
19.         private void Start()
20.         {
21.             pageNumber = 0;
22.  
23.             BookTitleTextBox = GameObject.Find("Book Title").GetComponent<TMP_Text>(); //Text box that holds book.bootTitle
24.             BookPageBody = GameObject.Find("Page Body").GetComponent<TMP_Text>(); //Text box that holds book.page
25.             previousPageButton = GameObject.Find("LeftArrowButton");
26.             nextPageButton = GameObject.Find("RightArrowButton");
27.             thisButton = transform.GetComponent<Button>();
28.             thisButtonBookTitle = thisButton.GetComponentInChildren<TMP_Text>().text;
29.  
30.             Button pPB = previousPageButton.GetComponent<Button>();
31.             Button nPB = nextPageButton.GetComponent<Button>();
32.  
33.             pPB.onClick.AddListener(PreviousPage);
34.             nPB.onClick.AddListener(NextPage);
35.             thisButton.onClick.AddListener(UpdatePage); //When book button is clicked
36.  
37.         }
38.  
39.         //Called when thisButton is clicked NOT the arrow buttons
40.         public void UpdatePage()
41.         {
42.            
43.             for (int i = 0; i < lOSO.listOfScriptableObjects.Count; i++)
44.             {
45.                 if (lOSO.listOfScriptableObjects[i].bookTitle.Contains(thisButtonBookTitle))
46.                 {
47.                     book = lOSO.listOfScriptableObjects[i];
48.                 }
49.             }
50.             BookTitleTextBox.text = book.bookTitle;
51.             test = book.pages;
52.             BookPageBody.text = test[0];
53.         }
54.  
55.         private void PreviousPage()
56.         {
57.             if (previousPageButton && test != null)
58.             {
59.                 if (test.Count > 0)
60.                 {
61.                     if (pageNumber > 0)
62.                     {
63.                         pageNumber--;
64.                         BookPageBody.text = test[pageNumber];
65.                     }
66.                     else if (pageNumber <= 0)
67.                     {
68.                         pageNumber = 0;
69.                         BookPageBody.text = test[pageNumber];
70.                     }
71.                 }
72.             }
73.         }
74.  
75.         private void NextPage()
76.         {
77.             if (nextPageButton && test != null)
78.             {
79.                 if (test.Count > 0)
80.                 {
81.                     if (pageNumber < test.Count - 1)
82.                     {
83.                         pageNumber++;
84.                         BookPageBody.text = test[pageNumber];
85.                     }
86.  
87.                     else if (pageNumber > test.Count - 1)
88.                     {
89.                         pageNumber = test.Count - 1;
90.  
91.                         if (pageNumber < 0)
92.                         {
93.                             pageNumber = 0;
94.                             BookPageBody.text = test[pageNumber];
95.                         }
96.                         BookPageBody.text = test[pageNumber];
97.                     }
98.                 }
99.             }
100.         }
101.     }
102. }

 

Some variable types are "reference types" and some are "value types". In C#, all primitives (such as int) and structs (such as Vector3) are value types; when you assign one variable to another, value types are copied in their entirety. When you say:

Code (csharp):

1. int x = y;
2. y = 5;

int is a value type, so when you change y, x is unaffected. This seems to be the mindset you're working with List as.

Reference types, on assignment, just point to the same object. A reference-type variable points to a spot in memory. All classes (including MonoBehaviour, GameObject, ScriptableObject, and really, most things) are reference types.

List is a reference type, so when you say:

Code (csharp):

1. test = book.pages;

test is now pointing to the exact same List object as book.pages, which is why they share their contents.

List has a constructor that makes a copy of the source List, so you'll now have two different List objects you can use separately.

Code (csharp):

1. test = new List<string>(book.pages);

 

Already tried that and it doesn't work, still have the same problem.