Is there a simple way to display an error message?

Questions & Answers
1

There doesn’t seem to be any simple way to display an error message to the user.

If I Debug.LogError(msg); and then Application.Quit(); the user thinks the program just suddenly crashed for no apparent reason? Lol.

Searching doesn’t even show anyone else asking this question. I can’t believe it’s not a super common need? I guess I’ll have to do some custom thing.

What do you all do about the need for this?

2

Yes, you’ll need a custom solution.

Here is a simple and not recommended one (OnGUI should not be used for multiple reasons):

using UnityEngine;

public class ErrorPresenter : MonoBehaviour
{
    private static ErrorPresenter _instance;
    private string _message;

    private static ErrorPresenter Instance
    {
        get
        {
            if(_instance == null)
            {
                _instance = new GameObject(nameof(ErrorPresenter)).AddComponent<ErrorPresenter>();
            }

            return _instance;
        }
    }

    public static void Show(string message)
    {
        Instance._message = message;
    }

    private void OnGUI()
    {
        if(!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(_message))
        {
            Rect container = new Rect(Screen.width * 0.3f, Screen.height * 0.3f, Screen.width * 0.4f, Screen.height * 0.4f);
            GUI.Box(container, (string) null);
            GUILayout.BeginArea(new RectOffset(20, 20, 20, 20).Remove(container));

            DrawLabel();
            DrawButton();

            GUILayout.EndArea();
        }
    }

    private void DrawLabel()
    {
        GUILayout.FlexibleSpace();
        GUILayout.BeginHorizontal(GUILayout.ExpandWidth(true));
        GUILayout.FlexibleSpace();
        GUILayout.Label(_message);
        GUILayout.FlexibleSpace();
        GUILayout.EndHorizontal();
        GUILayout.FlexibleSpace();
    }

    private static void DrawButton()
    {
        GUILayout.BeginHorizontal(GUILayout.ExpandWidth(true));
        GUILayout.FlexibleSpace();
        if (GUILayout.Button("Quit", GUILayout.MaxWidth(Screen.width * 0.1f)))
#if UNITY_EDITOR
            UnityEditor.EditorApplication.ExitPlaymode();
#else
                Application.Quit();
#endif
        GUILayout.FlexibleSpace();
        GUILayout.EndHorizontal();
    }
}

And call ErrorPresenter.Show("My error message"); wherever and whenever you want.

I advise you building a simple canvas with Text & Buttons instead.