2D Arrays in C#

Scripting C# & .NET
1

I am trying to declare a public multidimensional array that I can access through the editor. However it would appear that only single dimension arrays are usable through the property inspector. Am I declaring these wrong, or are multidimensional arrays just not usable in the inspector?

1 Like
2

they will not show up in the editor, thats correct.

you see normal arrays 1D and list<…> (on the desktop) but no higher order ones

2 Likes
3

That really sucks.

I’m working up a prototype for a game that has gameobject tiles within a rectangular grid of [row, col]. The tiles exist in the scene and I need to assign references them to a tile controller. The controller will apply changes to all tiles in one row or one column while leaving the rest of the tiles alone.

I suppose I could declare a 1D array and set up methods for getting / setting row and col for the tiles, but that’s a huge pain in the ass.

Something like:

int GetArrayIndex(row, col)
{
    return (row + col*numRows);
}
4

Using a 1-d array with access functions for 2-d indexing is actually a pretty common solution to this problem, and has the advantage of (potentially) better cache coherency and less fragmentation (although that may not matter in this context).

However, I think you can probably get the effect of a ‘real’ 2-d array by creating an array of objects, each of which represents one row. I tried the following:

[System.Serializable]
public class Row
{
    public int[] data;
};
public Row[] test = new Row[3];

And it seemed to work. (I haven’t tried it, but by overloading the [ ] operator for the Row class, you may even be able to get the effect of ‘standard’ 2-d indexing, e.g. map[2][2].)

5

Thanks Jesse. I managed to get a working setup based off your example.

6

You can streamline it by allowing Jagged array syntax:

[System.Serializable]
public class StringArray
{
	public string[] names;
	
	public string this [int index]
	{
		get 
		{
			return names[index];
		}
		set 
		{
			names[index] = value;
		}
	}
};

public class TestClass : MonoBehaviour 
{

	StringArray[] stringArrayTest;
	
	// Use this for initialization
	void Start () {
		Debug.Log(stringArrayTest[0][2]);
	}
}

It’s a small feature and workaroundable, but It makes them easier to reference within code in my opinion.

I don’t have any useable samples because I’m working with iPhone, but if you want to use Generics you could also probably even work in a Generic serializable ArrayLayer, making it able to make 2D,3D,4D,nD arrays of any type you want with a single class.

1 Like
7

Out of interest, has anyone managed to get this generic version working with the inspector? Using the strictly typed version with int works a treat, as soon as I replace it with a class that is exactly the same but has it’s int type replaced with a generic parameter (which is then set to int for the instance declaration) the inspector no longer displays the array.

8 
public class RateRow {
	[HideInInspector]
	public string rate_name;
	public Vector2[] rate_vector;
}

I found out you can add a public string to the row class, then hide it after it is set, and then each Element tag will be renamed to whatever you name it in inspector as well.

9

Hey,

I stumbled in this same issue a month ago and after solving it, I have made a solution to this, now. I have made a grid view for a 2D array.

You can find it here:

Its in c# though.

2 Likes
10

Thanks Sir for completely explain this solution, its helped to me :eyes:

11

Good to show appreciation but please use the like button rather than necroing a 7 year old post.

Thanks.

2 Likes