Editor script for setting the sorting layer of an object

Questions & Answers
1

Hi there,

I have a script that changes the sorting layer on start up based on values I defined in the editor.

Here is the script :
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class ZHK_SetSortingLayer : MonoBehaviour {

	// Use this for initialization
	public string sortingLayerName;
	public int sortingOrder;
	void Start () {
		renderer.sortingLayerName = sortingLayerName;
		renderer.sortingOrder = sortingOrder;
	}
}

Now I dont want to run the game each time just to see the effects of that script. So I was wondering if someone could show me how to write an editor script to update the sorting layer automatically in the editor.

Any help is appreciated.

2

Maybe it is not shortest way, but it works. Hope that i understand correct what you want to do.

DDSSortingLayer.cs - behavior script

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
#if UNITY_EDITOR
using UnityEditor;
using UnityEditorInternal;
using System.Reflection;

[ExecuteInEditMode]
[System.Serializable]
#endif

public class DDSSortingLayer : MonoBehaviour 
{
	[SerializeField] public string currentSortingLayer = "";
	[SerializeField] public string[] sortingLayerNamess = null;

#if UNITY_EDITOR
	public void OnEnable ()
	{
		if (this.GetComponent <SpriteRenderer> () != null)
		{
			this.currentSortingLayer = this.GetComponent <SpriteRenderer> ().sortingLayerName;
			this.GetComponent <DDSSortingLayer> ().hideFlags = HideFlags.None;

			System.Type internalEditorUtilityType = typeof (InternalEditorUtility);
			PropertyInfo sortingLayersProperty = internalEditorUtilityType.GetProperty ("sortingLayerNames", BindingFlags.Static | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
			
			this.sortingLayerNamess = (string[]) sortingLayersProperty.GetValue (null, new object[0]);
		}

		EditorApplication.update += CheckSortingLayer;
	}

	public int GetLayerIndex (string layerToFind = "Default")
	{
		if (this.sortingLayerNamess.Length == 0 || this.sortingLayerNamess == null)
						return -1;

		for (int i = 0; i < this.sortingLayerNamess.Length; i++)
		{
			if (this.sortingLayerNamess*.Equals (layerToFind))*

  •  		return i;*

  •  }*

  •  return -1;*

  • }*

  • public void CheckSortingLayer ()*

  • {*

  •  if (this.GetComponent <SpriteRenderer> () != null)*

  •  {*

  •  	this.GetComponent <SpriteRenderer> ().sortingLayerName = this.currentSortingLayer;*

  •  }*

  • }*
    #endif

}
DDSSortingLayerEditor.cs - should be placed in Editor folder
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using UnityEditor;

[CustomEditor (typeof(DDSSortingLayer))]

public class DDSSortingLayerEditor : Editor
{

  • private DDSSortingLayer layer = null;*

  • public void OnEnable ()*

  • {*

  •  this.layer = (DDSSortingLayer)target;*

  • }*

  • public override void OnInspectorGUI ()*

  • {*

  •  int _index = this.layer.GetLayerIndex (this.layer.currentSortingLayer);*

  •  _index = EditorGUILayout.Popup (_index, this.layer.sortingLayerNamess, GUILayout.ExpandWidth (true));*

  •  this.layer.currentSortingLayer = this.layer.sortingLayerNamess [_index];*

  •  EditorUtility.SetDirty (target);*

  •  //this.layer.currentSortingLayer*

  • }*

}
If you want to add new sorting layer by taping in the field, it will be different code.
P.S. I am not allowed to answer twice, this why i edit my previos answer.

3

From here: https://github.com/nickgravelyn/UnityToolbag/tree/master/SortingLayer

Edited a little myself.

Usage:

[myNameSpace.SortingLayer]
public string sortingLayer;

Code:

using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;

namespace myNameSpace
{
    public class SortingLayerAttribute : PropertyAttribute
    {
        [CustomPropertyDrawer(typeof(SortingLayerAttribute))]
        public class SortingLayerDrawer : PropertyDrawer
        {
            public override void OnGUI(Rect position, SerializedProperty property, GUIContent label)
            {
                string[] sortingLayerNames = new string[SortingLayer.layers.Length];
                for (int a = 0; a < SortingLayer.layers.Length; a++)
                    sortingLayerNames[a] = SortingLayer.layers[a].name;
                if (property.propertyType != SerializedPropertyType.String)
                {
                    EditorGUI.HelpBox(position, property.name + "{0} is not an string but has [SortingLayer].", MessageType.Error);
                }
                else if (sortingLayerNames.Length == 0)
                {
                    EditorGUI.HelpBox(position, "There is no Sorting Layers.", MessageType.Error);
                }
                else if (sortingLayerNames != null)
                {
                    EditorGUI.BeginProperty(position, label, property);

                    // Look up the layer name using the current layer ID
                    string oldName = property.stringValue;

                    // Use the name to look up our array index into the names list
                    int oldLayerIndex = -1;
                    for (int a = 0; a < sortingLayerNames.Length; a++)
                        if (sortingLayerNames[a].Equals(oldName)) oldLayerIndex = a;

                    // Show the popup for the names
                    int newLayerIndex = EditorGUI.Popup(position, label.text, oldLayerIndex, sortingLayerNames);

                    // If the index changes, look up the ID for the new index to store as the new ID
                    if (newLayerIndex != oldLayerIndex)
                    {
                        property.stringValue = sortingLayerNames[newLayerIndex];
                    }

                    EditorGUI.EndProperty();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}