Issue calling a variable from another script - C#

Questions & Answers
1

Hey guys,

I have a situation in my game in which a button needs to be pressed to open a door.

For the button, the actual button object and the base are parented under an empty gameobject called ButtonParent, to which the following script is attached:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class ButtonScript : MonoBehaviour 
{

    Animator animator;
    public bool buttonDown;
    public bool buttonInRange;

    void Start()
    {
        buttonDown = false;
        animator = GetComponent<Animator>();
    }

    void Update()
    {
        if (Input.GetButtonDown("Jump") && buttonInRange)
        {
            if (!buttonDown)
            {
                ButtonControl("Open");
                buttonDown = true;
            }
            else
            {
                ButtonControl("Close");
                buttonDown = false;
            }
        }
    }

    void OnTriggerEnter(Collider col)
    {
        if (col.gameObject.tag == "Player")
        {
             buttonInRange = true;
        }
    }

    void OnTriggerExit(Collider col)
    {
        if (col.gameObject.tag == "Player")
        {
            buttonInRange = false;
        }
    }

    void ButtonControl(string direction)
    {
        animator.SetTrigger(direction);
    }

}

For the door, the two door objects are parented under an empty gameobject called DoorParent, to which the following script is attached:

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class Doors : MonoBehaviour
{
    public ButtonScript refButtonScript;
    Animator animator;
    bool doorOpen;
        
    void Start()
    {
        doorOpen = false;
        animator = GetComponent<Animator>();
        refButtonScript = FindObjectOfType<ButtonScript>(); 
    }

    void Update()
    {
      

       if (refButtonScript.buttonDown == true)
        {
            DoorControl("Open");
            doorOpen = true;
            Debug.Log("Door should be open");
        }

        if (refButtonScript.buttonDown == false)
        {
            DoorControl("Close");
            doorOpen = false;
            Debug.Log("Door should be closed");
        }

    }

    
    void DoorControl(string direction)
    {
        animator.SetTrigger(direction);
    }

}

What’s supposed to happen is, when the player is within reach of the button, pressing space pushes the button, causing the bool buttonDown to be true, which is then called from the door script to open the doors.

I got it to work, almost.

When the button is pressed, the doors open, but then they close and open again. Likewise, when the button is pressed again, the doors close, and then open and close again.

I can’t figure out for the life of me why the doors are opening and closing twice. Can anyone tell what is going wrong?

Thanks.

2

I think the mistake you made here is in the Door script. In the Door script, you’re constantly checking whether the door button has been pushed or not, which is a redundant action. Because if a button is pressed, the door MUST react.

Instead of Door script containing a reference to the Button script, have the Button script contain a reference to the Door script. Doors open or close depending on the Buttons, not the other way around.

For the Button script:

// Add the reference variable for the Doors script.
public Doors refDoors;

void Awake(){
    refDoors = FindObjectOfType<Doors>();  // To be honest, I wouldn't use this method to get the Doors script. What if you have more than one Doors scripts in the scene?
}

 void Update()
     {
         if (Input.GetButtonDown("Jump") && buttonInRange)
         {
             if (!buttonDown)
             {
                 ButtonControl("Open");
                 buttonDown = true;
                 refDoors.OpenDoors();  // Calls a void in the Doors script that opens the doors.
             }
             else
             {
                 ButtonControl("Close");
                 buttonDown = false;
                 refDoors.CloseDoors();  // Calls a void in the Doors script that closes the doors.
             }
         }
     }

For the Doors script:

// Delete everything in void Update() but add the following voids.

// Open doors
void OpenDoors(){
    DoorControl("Open");
    doorOpen = true;
    Debug.Log("Door should be open");
}

// Close doors
void CloseDoors(){
    DoorControl("Close");
    doorOpen = false;
    Debug.Log("Door should be closed");
}

And now the Doors script doesn’t need to waste time and resources checking every frame to see if the buttons are pushed or not. I believe this is a much more effective way than what you have right now.