Serialization In Depth

Tim Cooper @stramit

Who Am I?
Developer at Unity Used to make games!
Bioshock 1 / 2

Responsible for:
Editor features Graphics features

Topics

Overview How serialization works How to serialize

Classes Class References ScriptableObject Arrays

Topics

Working with Assets

Creating an asset Custom GUI for assets Using an asset at runtime Sub-assets

Overview

Why write nicely serializable classes?

Editor windows will survive assembly reload Ability to save data as custom asset les Easier than writing your own Once you know how it works ;)

Overview

When does serialization happen?

On assembly reload Script recompilation Enter / exit play mode Loading and saving the project / scene

How serialization works

Assembly reload
Pull all data out of managed (mono) land Create internal representation of the data on C++ side Destroy all memory / information in managed land Reload assemblies Reserialize the data from c++ into managed

If your data does not make it into c++ it will go away!

Serializing Classes
A simple class will not automatically serialize! Unity does not know if the class is meant to serialize or not!

We can x this!

Serializing Classes

A class needs to be marked up to serialize

[Serializable]

Field serialization rules

public - always serialize private / protected - serialize on assembly reload (editor) static - never serialize

Serializing Classes

Field serialization modiers

[SerializeField] - Make private / protected elds serialize [NonSerialized] - Never serialize the eld

Serializing Structs

User structs dont serialize

A few built in ones do

Dont use them for serialization!

Serializing Class References

Normal class references

Each reference serialized individually When you deserialize... you have different members Think of them as behaving like structs!

Use them when you have:

Data that is references only once Nested data

Serializing ScriptableObject

Serialize as reference properly!

Multiple references to this object Will resolve properly on deserialization

Supports some Unity callbacks

OnEnable, OnDisable, OnDestroy Create them with CreateInstance <type> ()

Serializing ScriptableObject

Use them when you want data

That is referenced multiple times Shared data Needs Unity system callbacks

Serializing ScriptableObject

Initialization order
Instance created Fields deserialized into object If they exist on the c++ side ;) OnEnable() Called

Serializing ScriptableObject

To create elds properly inside a SO

Dont create them in constructor Check if they are null in OnEnable () If not null... then they were deserialized if null... create them!

Hideags

Control visibility
Important if you are NOT saving the asset or holding a reference to it i.e editor only data structure referenced by a window

HideAndDontSave
No asset / scene root - tells unity to consider this a root object Will not get cleaned up on scene load (play mode) Destroy using Destroy ()

Serializing Concrete Arrays

Works as expected
No object sheering Serialized and deserialized properly

More complex objects?

Serializing Base Class Arrays

Does not work as expected

Breaks on deserialization Object shearing occurs

How can we serialize more complex hierarchies?

Serializing General Array

ScriptableObject Array!
Serializes as references... Will serialize as expected Only need to set hideags on the most root object

Asset Creation

Design the class you want to be an asset

Database, Character Info, ect

Ensure that the root is a ScriptableObject

An asset le is a ScriptableObject

Create the asset by calling

AssetDatabase.CreateAsset (object, location.asset) If is mandatory to use the .asset le extension

Custom Asset UI

Your asset is just like a Unity asset!

You can write custom editors [CustomEditor (typeof (YourType))] Extend from the EditorClass Remember to put in in an editor folder!

Property Fields

Delegate drawing to a separate class

Useful for custom controls

Can be implicitly linked to a class

[CustomPropertyDrawer (typeof (MyType))] Does not need to be marked up per eld

Can be hooked up via an attribute

Marked on a per eld basis!

Property Fields

How?
[CustomPropertyDrawer (typeof (MyType))] Extend PropertyDrawer Need a custom height? Override GetPropertyHeight () Do your custom drawing OnGUI ()

Using Assets
Create a reference to the type
Can be anywhere: EditorWindow MonoBehaviour

Connect it to an asset
Via code or the inspector

Do game specic things!

Using Sub-Assets

ScriptableObjects
Save each manually... they wont serialize to le all the way down

How?
Add them as children of another asset (AddObjectToAsset) By default it will show all assets as sub assets Set HideFlags to HideFlags.HideInHierarchy Much nicer :)

Using Sub-Assets
Use SubAssets for complex data structures
Where many elements are ScriptableObjects Graphs Databases ect!