Why couldn't I grab the Text component with this (really) simple script?

The variable 'timer' returns null.

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using UnityEngine.UI;
3. using System.Collections;
4.  
5. public Text timer;
6.  
7. void Start()
8. {
9.    timer = GetComponent<Text>();
10.  
11.    if (timer.text == null)
12.        Debug.LogError("'timer' is NULL!");
13. }

See here for the hierarchy: http://i.imgur.com/0jubtBI.png

What is wrong with this?

 

timer.text is the actual displayed text of the Text component. Switch it to

Code (csharp):

1. if(timer == null)

to check if the component reference is found. If you want to check if a string exists, strings are char arrays so you can use timer.text.Length to see how many characters are in the string. If the Length is 0, there's no string. That's how I do it anyways

Also since the timer component is placed in the Inspector you don't need to grab a reference via code, no need for:

Code (csharp):

1. timer = GetComponent<Text>();

 

Yep, I thought it'd be something really simple. Thanks for helping out.

Is there any performance difference in referencing it via the Inspector vs a GameObject.Find (cached of course)?