Extending the Editor with Plugins in Godot

Plugins are a good way so as to add performance to Godot’s editor with minimal effort. They permit you to add options like customized instruments, helpful shortcuts, and menu objects to hurry up your workflow. This text will information you thru the method of making your individual plugins to unlock the complete potential of Godot.

Observe: This text assumes you’re conversant in Godot’s editor and have a great understanding of GDScript.

Getting Began

To get began, obtain the mission supplies by way of the Obtain Supplies hyperlink on the prime and backside of this web page. Subsequent, open the EditorPlugins mission you discover within the starter folder and open it in Godot.
Earlier than delving into plugins, I’ll give a fast tour of the mission. It comes with a single scene named fundamental.tscn and a few sprites. Open the fundamental scene and try the nodes inside.

There’s a set of StaticBody2D and RigidBody2D nodes right here that make up a non-interactive physics scene. When you direct your consideration to the Scene dock, you’ll see there are all named in response to their perform.

Discover that solely the highest stage nodes may be chosen and moved, whereas their kids are locked. That is intentional to keep away from shifting the collision shapes and sprites by themselves by chance.

Now strive working the mission by urgent F5 and see what occurs.

Shortly after working the mission, you’ll see the little blue avatar falling down on a crimson field, whereas the opposite crimson field falls off a platform. There’s no precise gameplay concerned right here as the main target is on extending the editor.
Now you recognize your method across the scene, it’s time to find out about plugins!

Plugin Overview

In Godot, plugins are scripts that stretch the performance of the editor. You’ll be able to write these scripts utilizing GDScript or C# and there’s no have to recompile the engine to make them work. Apart from the primary plugin script, you possibly can add scenes and further scripts to the plugin to make it much more versatile. These work the identical method like the remainder of your mission, which means you need to use your present data of Godot to increase it!

You should use plugins so as to add buttons, shortcuts and even entire new screens to the editor. Listed below are some examples of what you are able to do with plugins:

• Create a dialog supervisor
• Combine Google Sheets into your mission to load information from
• Add customized useful resource importers
• Make your individual node sorts
• Routinely create the best measurement of colliders for sprites

These are only a handful of concepts to offer you a style of what you are able to do with plugins. When you ever thought of a characteristic you’d need in Godot, there’s a great probability you could find it in a plugin or create your individual.

Creating Your First Plugin

On your first plugin, you’ll add a button to the toolbar that toggles the visibility of a specific node.

Scaffolding

Plugins want three issues to work:

Fortunately, Godot makes it straightforward to create new plugins because it’s constructed into the editor. To get began, open the Undertaking Settings by way of Undertaking ▸ Undertaking Settings… within the prime menu. Now choose the Plugins tab and you need to see an empty record.

• They have to be in a folder named addons within the root of the mission
• They want a file named plugin.cfg containing the metadata
• They want no less than one script that derives from EditorPlugin

Now click on the Create New Plugin button and the Create a Plugin dialog window will pop up.

Godot will create the mandatory information for you primarily based on the knowledge you present, fairly neat! For this visibility button plugin, fill within the following info:

• Plugin Identify: Visibility Button
• Subfolder: visibility_button
• Description: Simply present and conceal a specific node.
• Writer: Your identify or username
• Script Identify: visibility_button.gd

Right here’s what it ought to seem like:

Subsequent, click on the Create button to let Godot create the mandatory information for you. This can even robotically open the visibility_button.gd script within the script editor.
Earlier than enhancing the script, check out the information and folders Godot has created for you within the FileSystem dock.

There’s a brand new folder named addons now that accommodates a folder for the plugin named visibility_button. Inside that folder, there’s a file named plugin.cfg and a script named visibility_button.gd. plugin.cfg accommodates the metadata for the plugin, whereas the script accommodates the precise code.

Observe: It’s possible you’ll be questioning why the addons folder isn’t named plugins as a substitute. In Godot, it’s attainable so as to add add-ons that stretch the performance of the editor, however aren’t plugins. Plugins are editor plugins particularly, which use a script that derives from EditorPlugin.

Sufficient scaffolding, time to check out the code!

Taking a Nearer Look

The visibility_button.gd script that Godot generated for you accommodates the next code:

@device # 1
extends EditorPlugin # 2


func _enter_tree() -> void: # 3
    # Initialization of the plugin goes right here.
    go


func _exit_tree() -> void: # 4
    # Clear-up of the plugin goes right here.
    go

I took the freedom so as to add some numbered feedback to make it simpler to clarify what every line does:

1. The @device annotation turns an everyday script right into a device script. Because of this any code within the script can be executed within the editor. That is highly effective, but it surely additionally makes it straightforward to interrupt whole scenes when not cautious. You’ll be taught extra concerning the @device annotation in one other article. If you wish to know extra about it within the meantime, try the Working code within the editor web page of Godot’s documentation.
2. All editor plugins should inherit from EditorPlugin. This class comes with a ton of helpful features to entry and edit Godot’s editor.
3. The _enter_tree perform is known as whenever you activate the plugin. This the place you arrange all wanted variables and references for later use.
4. The _exit_tree perform is known as whenever you disable the plugin. That is the place you clear up all references.

Dealing with Node Choice

For the visibility button plugin, you received’t want the _enter_tree and _exit_tree features so delete them. You’ll be dealing with the initialization and cleanup with different features. Now add the perform beneath within the place of the eliminated ones:

func _handles(object) -> bool:
    return object is Node

Godot calls the _handles perform when you choose an object. The Object class is the bottom class for all different courses in Godot. This perform returns true if the chosen object may be dealt with by your plugin. On this case, the plugin solely edits nodes, so it returns true if the chosen object is a Node class, or derives from it.

You’ll have to maintain observe of the chosen node your self, so add a brand new variable above the _handles perform named node_to_edit:

var node_to_edit : Node

With this variable in place, add the _edit perform beneath the _handles perform:

func _edit(object: Object) -> void: # 1
    if !object: # 2
        return

    node_to_edit = object # 3

The _edit perform is known as by Godot proper after the _handles perform returns true. It requests the editor to edit the given object and it’s the right place to retailer a reference to the chosen object. Right here’s an outline of what’s occurring right here:

1. The _edit perform will get handed the chosen object, a Node in case of this plugin.
2. There’s a chance that the chosen object is null, so it’s good to test if it’s not. If it’s null, return from the perform and don’t do something.
3. Retailer a reference to the chosen object for later use.

To test if this code is working accurately, add a brief print assertion on the finish of the _edit perform:

print(node_to_edit)

Now save the script and check out deciding on some nodes within the scene tree. You need to see the identify of the chosen node within the console.

As you possibly can see, the plugin already works!

Observe: When you choose a root node like Fundamental on this case, the console will name _edit twice. Fortunately, this received’t have an effect on the performance of the plugin.

Now take away or remark out the print assertion you’ve added and save the script once more. The final perform to deliver all of it collectively is the _make_visible perform, add it beneath the _edit perform:

func _make_visible(seen: bool) -> void: # 1
    if seen: # 2
        _add_button()
    else: # 3
        _remove_button()

Just like the _edit perform, Godot calls the _make_visible perform after the _handles perform returns true. It handles the displaying and hiding of the plugin UI. It additionally will get referred to as when disabling the plugin. When displaying the button, you’ll create it and add it to the toolbar. When hiding the button, you’ll take away it from the toolbar and destroy it. That is an alternative choice to utilizing the _enter_tree and _exit_tree features for initialization and cleanup.
Right here’s the code above in additional element:

1. The _make_visible perform will get handed a boolean worth, seen to inform the UI to indicate or disguise.
2. If seen is true, add the button to the toolbar by way of the _add_button perform.
3. If seen is false, take away the button from the toolbar by way of the _remove_button perform.

After including the code, you’ll get some errors as you haven’t added the _add_button and _remove_button features but. Add these empty features to eliminate the errors:

func _add_button() -> void:
    go


func _remove_button() -> void:
    go

These will act as placeholders for now. Within the subsequent part you’ll add the logic.