Data storage/filling

Unity Engine
,
1

Hi, please help me with data storage/filling in Unity. For example I have this classes

using UnityEngine;

[System.Serializable]
public class Socket
{
    [field: SerializeField] public string socketName { get; private set; }

    // some other info and logic
}

using UnityEngine;

[System.Serializable]
public class Cpu
{
    [field: SerializeField] public string cpuName { get; private set; }

    [field: SerializeField] public Socket socket { get; private set; }

    [SerializeField] private coreInfo[] coresInfo;

    [System.Serializable]
    private class coreInfo
    {
        [field: SerializeField] public int coresAmount { get; private set; }
        [field: SerializeField] public Core core { get; private set; }
    }

    // soem other info and logic
}

using UnityEngine;

[System.Serializable]
public class Core
{
    [field: SerializeField] public float minfrequency { get; private set; } // in MHz
    [field: SerializeField] public float maxfrequency { get; private set; }  // in MHz

    // other info and logic
}

using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

public abstract class BaseDataStorage<T> : ScriptableObject where T : class
{
    [SerializeField] private T[] database;

    public IEnumerable<T> GetData { get { return database; } }
}

using UnityEngine;

[CreateAssetMenu(fileName = "Database", menuName = "Databases/Socket")]
public class SocketsDatabase : BaseDataStorage<Socket>
{
  
}

using UnityEngine;

[CreateAssetMenu(fileName = "Database", menuName = "Databases/Cpu")]
public class CpusDatabase : BaseDataStorage<Cpu>
{
  
}

When I fill the cpu database, coresInfo instances will be created in the cpu instance and that suits me, but in the socket field I don’t want to create a new socket inside the cpu instance, I want instead to be able to paste there a link to the instance from the array from SocketsDatabase. Rroughly the same way as passing gameobjects or monobehaviour scripts is implemented. How to implement this? Are there any third-party assets/plugins or do I need to write an extension for the unity editor? Or any other variants to create databases in Unity?

2

Well what you describe is impossible with your current code as you only have a list of Cpu. Unity’s by-values serialisation will only ever serialise these directly into the CpusDatabase scriptable object.

Your CPU’s would need to be scriptable objects themselves.

3

You mean inheritate Cpu and Socket from scriptableobject? That’s not suitable for me because I will create new instances of them during the game and later save them in file(gamesave). Doing all that is bad with scriptableobjects. I want to use scriptableobjects only to store pre-prepared information and not interact with them in any other way.

4

Well you can’t do what you’re trying to do, not without encapsulating further with something that can differentiate between a straight by-values CPU and a reference to an object that defines a CPU.

You probably just want two storage objects. One for the pre-made CPU’s, and one that you register all runtime generated ones.

5

I don’t know exactly how to implement what I want. I asked chatgpt to write me something. And he wrote me an editor extension, which in this script

public class Test : ScriptableObject
{
    [SerializeField] private Cpu[] cpuDatabase;
    [SerializeField] private Socket[] socketDatabase;
}

linked an instance from socketDatabase[num] into the cpuDatabase[num].socket field. This is not what I need, but I think it can be modified to an acceptable level

6

Chat GPT is useless for a lot of things, like this instance. I’m not sure what that example is even meant to accomplish. Unity’s default by-value serialisation can’t do what you’re trying to do.

Like I said, that most you can do is some kind of encapsulation:

public class CPUDatabase
{
    [SerializeField]
    private List<CPUInstance> _cpuInstances = new();
}

[System.Serializable]
public sealed class CPUInstance
{
    [SerializeReference]
    private CPUReference _cpuReference = null;
}

[System.Serializable]
public abstract class CPUReference
{
    public abstract CPU { get; }
}

[System.Serializable]
public sealed class CPUReferenceInstance : CPUReference
{
    [SerializeField]
    private CPU _cpu;
  
    public override CPU => _cpu;
}

[System.Serializable]
public sealed class CPUReferenceAsset : CPUReference
{
    [SerializeField]
    private CPUScriptableObject _cpuScriptableObject;
  
    public override CPU => _cpuScriptableObject.CPU;
}

Another type of reference is one that can hot-look up from another database as well.