StringToHash pattern

Am I the only one feeling uneasy with hard coding strings that point to things that might later be renamed without any warning at compile/build time?

Code (CSharp):

1. animator.SetFloat(Animator.StringToHash("some_parameter"),  42);
2. animator.Play(Animator.StringToHash("Base Layer.my_clip"));

To me sounds like a bad practice, error prone, and hard to mantain in the long run
But no one is complaining, so I'm genuinely interested to understand if I'm missing something

cheers

 

You're not the only one. I try to avoid strings where ever possible, but in some cases it's unavoidable.

For those cases, I like to put strings into some static Constants class, then reference those where needed. This way, I only need to change the string in one place, which automatically updates everything that depends on it. Or build some dictionary where it makes sense. Or whatever it takes to avoid hardcoding strings as much as I can.

But, yes, it's problematic that you need to make sure the name syncs with whatever you've done in the Unity editor.

 

I think unity could auto generate some strongly-typed resource class, like

Code (CSharp):

1. internal class Resources
2. {
3.     internal static string BaseLayer_my_clip{get{return "Base Layer.my_clip";}}
4. }

now that I think of, it should be possible to write some custom editor scripts that monitor file changes and does it on the fly
but I still think it is unity ide responsibility

 

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/53019
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/35903

 

3 things to avoid this issue.

1. Use enums (they are fast and good for small collection of animations)
2. Predefine each clips as string, so that your not allocating while doing a cast.

3. Read my thread post about this here for solution :
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/i-cannot-trigger-an-animation.449745/

 

@Ironmax: thanks but I don't see how any of those points solves the problem i'm describing

anyway, assets from exiguous is the solution for me (though i still think it should be built in in unity)
btw: i found many github projects which try to fix the same issue, but all of them deal with stuff like layer and tags, but misses other resources (like animation clips)

thanks all!

 

ok dont forget to check the profiler now and then, if scripting is adding allot of purples, your not doing to well.

String-O-Matic is using allot of strings all over the place to act as a wrapper (Bad idea) what i try to explain in my posts
are a more memory friendly approach, using Enums or checking if last input string is equal to new input, this way you
overcome overheads. Taking in to account what you wrote in your first post. Read again what blackPete here wrote..