Will I face Any issues if I use this function pointer
private delegate void MyDelegate(string name);
private MyDelegate LoadSceneDelegate = SceneManager.LoadScene;
Over a function call like this
private void LoadScene(string name)
{
SceneManager.LoadScene(name);
}
What’s the difference, should it be avoided and why ?
Depends what you’re trying to accomplish. It’s missing some contextual information to answer the question properly.
If the delegate is useful for you, it’s all the same.
I wouldn’t bother doing that unless I had some reason.
Not sure what else you want to know. 
Loading a scene by clicking a button
The function will be called a lot in an SO asset, it contains function implementations for every Button in the game which I’ll assign from the inspector. Just experimenting, so I don’t have to look at dozens of places to change a button behavior.
I was rather asking about implementation specifics, like…How does the code look like that makes actual use of the delegate? I mean, if these methods are already defined in that SO, and you set buttons in the inspector, you could just register the listeners programmatically for the onClick event.
public void BackToMainMenu()
{
if( GetActiveSceneName() != "Main" )
LoadSceneDelegate("Main");
else
{
DisplayMainMenu();
}
}
public void OpenInventory()
{
int x = -271;
int y = 400;
SetCameraPosition(x,y);
if (GetActiveSceneName() == "Victory")
LoadSceneDelegate("Main");
}
public void OpenEquipment()
{
int x = 758;
int y = 400;
SetCameraPosition(x, y);
if (GetActiveSceneName() == "Victory")
LoadSceneDelegate("Main");
}
[...]
I want to avoid referencing these buttons in code. At runtime I’ll not complain if it doesn’t find a button.
They’ll both work just fine.
By making it a delegate you just basically gave the method an object identity. Which means it could be null, or point to a completely different method all together that also takes a string.
Where as the ‘LoadScene’ method will specifically call SceneManager.LoadScene.
I will say though… is there a reason you can’t just call SceneManager.LoadScene in your code?
Why can’t you do this?
public void OpenEquipment()
{
int x = 758;
int y = 400;
SetCameraPosition(x, y);
if (GetActiveSceneName() == "Victory")
SceneManager.LoadScene("Main");
}
I mainly ask… because if you need to ask this question about delegates. You probably don’t know what a delegate really is. And honestly… if someone was in my garage and picked up my ‘hoozit’ and said “can I use this to change my oil?” my first question would be “what makes you think that should be used to change oil?”
Regardless of it is or is not used for that.
That’s the reason I’m asking.
And you gave me the kind of answer I was looking for
Well for what it’s worth… to have just one less word and dot to type
Else, what would you use delegates for, if it’s not for events ?
Well… I can think of a ton of reasons to use delegates. For one I just wrapped up creating my new input system built around delegates.
Not one of them is to save myself one less word and dot though.
Especially since you’ve increased computational overhead and memory (if only by a tiny amount). It’s often considered code smell if you’re creating runtime objects to save your self development/pre-compile time syntax.
… if you REALLY want to have that shortcut though. If you’re using the latest unity and you’re targeting .net 4.6, then you can access the ‘using static’ directive:
This will inline static methods to that *.cs file.
You must be targeting .net 4.6 since it’s a C#6 feature.
Just stick this at the top of the file next to your other using directives:
using static UnityEngine.SceneManagement.SceneManager;
But I’ll repeat myself… if typing “SceneManager.” is excruciating to you… you got a lot more issues coming ahead.
Well I was just wondering about the implications function pointers might have.
Thanks for the insights.