Resolved [UI] TextMeshPro - How to get the caracter under the mouse?

Hello everyone,

I'm currently making a roguelite game in ASCII format, aka where all characters are represented in plain text with a simple TextMeshProUGUI Component.

What I would like is to get any char's position in pixels and compare it to the mouse cursor's position, then if they roughly coincide, get the char's sibling index to determine its order in the TMP's string (See below : The '@' and 'r' caracters are both playable entities in the game with their own stats and behaviours).



This would allow me to retrieve the actual Character on the Map and display its info to the player. How should I go about this?

Thank you for your time.

 

I think you can use TextMeshProUGUI.textInfo.characterInfo[characterIndex].bottomLeft, bottomRight, topLeft, or topRight to get the position of the character. You then can compare your mouse's Canvas position to it.

 

You were on the right track, but I found this in the TMP Package's example assets :

Code (CSharp):

1. TMP_TextUtilities.FindIntersectingCharacter(TextMeshProUGUI component, Vector3 position, Camera main, bool visibleOnly);

It returns the index of the character I'm hovering over. It needs null in the Camera parameter if the canvas is in Screen Space Overlay.

I'll update this when I can get the actual coordinates correctly.

 

Alright, I found a solution. Using my last answer, I made this :

Code (CSharp):

1.  
2.             int charIndex = TMP_TextUtilities.FindIntersectingCharacter(_mapTextField, UnityEngine.Input.mousePosition, null, true);
3.  
4.             if (charIndex != -1 && charIndex != _mapTextField.textInfo.characterCount)
5.             {
6.                 Vector2Int coords = new Vector2Int(charIndex % s_Size.x,  charIndex / s_Size.x);
7.                 var cellUnderMouse = s_Map[coords.x, coords.y];
8.             }

The problem with TMP_TextUtilities.FindIntersectingCharacter() is that it retrieves a char depending on the character's mesh, so if you have small characters (like .,'-) they will be harder to aim with the mouse.

 

I think this makes more sense:

Code (CSharp):

1. int CaretPos = TMP_TextUtilities.FindNearestCharacter(MyText, UnityEngine.Input.mousePosition, null, true);