benui

Unreal Engine UI programmer

Sometimes you want to make some properties only available for editing if the object is a certain type.

Imagine we have a farming game, and we let game designers create plant definitions. We add a property FlowerColor, but we want to make it clear that this is only used if the plant has flowers.

Basic Example

We can use the meta flag meta=(EditCondition="bHasFlowers") to make this property only editable if the bHasFlowers value is true.

Similarly, we can make properties that are only available if a variable is false with the exclamation-mark prefix. For example meta=(EditCondition="!bHasFlowers").

It's also possible to use enums for edit conditions meta=(EditCondition="ToolType == EToolTypes::Wheelbarrow").

PlantDefinition.h (basic)

A simple way of making a property read-only unless a boolean is true.

UCLASS()
class UPlantDefinition : public UDataObject
{

	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly)
	bool bHasFlowers = false;

	// Can only edit this property if "Has Flowers" is true
	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly, meta = (EditCondition = "bHasFlowers"))
	FLinearColor FlowerColor = FLinearColor::White;

};

Advanced Example using CanEditChange

In the example above we saw a way of making a property read-only with a boolean variable. But what can we do for more advanced conditions?

We can do this with the CanEditChange function, which allows us to write any kind of conditions we want in C++.

PlantDefinition.h (advanced)

UENUM()
enum class EPlantType
{
	Flower,
	Food,
	Poison
};

UCLASS()
class UPlantDefinition : public UDataObject
{
	// What type of plant is this?
	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly)
	EPlantType PlantType = EPlantType::Flower;

	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly, Category="Flower")
	FLinearColor FlowerColor = FLinearColor::White;

	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly, Category="Food")
	int32 FoodAmount = 1;

	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly, Category="Poison")
	float PoisonDamagePerSecond = 0.25f;

// Note the CanEditChange() function is only available when compiling with the editor.
// Make sure to wrap it with the WITH_EDITOR define or your builds fail!
#if WITH_EDITOR
	virtual bool CanEditChange(const FProperty* InProperty) const override;
#endif

};

PlantDefinition.cpp

#if WITH_EDITOR
bool UPlantDefinition::CanEditChange(const FProperty* InProperty) const
{
	// If other logic prevents editing, we want to respect that
	const bool ParentVal = Super::CanEditChange(InProperty);

	// Can we edit flower color?
	if (InProperty->GetFName() == GET_MEMBER_NAME_CHECKED(UPlantDefinition, FlowerColor))
	{
		return ParentVal && PlantType == EPlantType::Flower;
	}

	// Can we edit food amount?
	if (InProperty->GetFName() == GET_MEMBER_NAME_CHECKED(UPlantDefinition, FoodAmount))
	{
		return ParentVal && PlantType == EPlantType::Food;
	}

	// Can we edit poison amount?
	if (InProperty->GetFName() == GET_MEMBER_NAME_CHECKED(UPlantDefinition, PoisonDamageperSecond))
	{
		return ParentVal && PlantType == EPlantType::Poison;
	}

	return ParentVal;
}
#endif

Conditionally Hiding Options

Update: There's more!

There is another meta flag, EditConditionHides that you can use to hide properties rather than disabling them.

Below is kind of a contrived example, but the idea is that you can use EditConditionHides to hide stuff. As always search the source for more examples of how it's used.

Cow.h

Weird way of describing a cow, either with a number or some text.

UENUM()
enum class ECowSizeType
{
	Number,
	Description,
};

UCLASS()
class UCow
{
	GENERATED_BODY()
protected:
	UPROPERTY(EditAnywhere)
	ECowSizeType SizeType;

	// Only show this property when the size specified using a number
	// e.g. this cow is 5.6 tonnes
	UPROPERTY(EditAnywhere, meta=(EditCondition = "SizeType == ECowSizeType::Number", EditConditionHides)
	float SizeNumber;

	// Only show this property when the size is described with text
	// e.g. this cow is HUGE
	UPROPERTY(EditAnywhere, meta=(EditCondition = "SizeType == ECowSizeType::Description", EditConditionHides))
	FString SizeDescription;
};

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