Hey all. Sorry if the title isn’t a great explanation, but here it goes.
The TL;DR here is: Can a variable from a C++ class (in this case, an AI Controller) be passed into a Slate UI class for binding?
I’ve got a simple game where if the AI spots the player, the game will end displaying the distance between them. I have some debug text (using GEngine->AddOnScreenDebugMessage) which achieves this, but obviously that’ll get stripped out in a Release build. I’ve been fighting with Slate but managed to get it working, which currently displays some text on the viewport.
I have a variable in my AI Controller C++ class m_bCanSeekerSee , and I’m wanting to pass this into my Slate UI class so the text will change based on the value of m_bCanSeekerSee. The way I have it set up currently,
SSMainMenu.h
ASeekerAIController* seekerController = NewObject<class ASeekerAIController>();
SSMainMenu.cpp
const FText seekerNotLooking = LOCTEXT("AIState", "[PH] - Seeker is resting, hide!");
const FText seekerIsLooking = LOCTEXT("AIState", "[PH] - Seeker is looking for you!");
FSlateFontInfo seekerTextStyle = FCoreStyle::Get().GetFontStyle("EmbossedText");
seekerTextStyle.Size = 30.0f;
bool canSeekerSee = seekerController->m_bCanSeekerSee;
if(canSeekerSee)
{
ChildSlot
[
SNew(SOverlay)
+ SOverlay::Slot()
.HAlign(HAlign_Fill)
.VAlign(VAlign_Fill)
.Padding(contentPadding)
[
SNew(SVerticalBox)
// Seeker AI Info
+ SVerticalBox::Slot()
[
SNew(STextBlock)
.Font(seekerTextStyle)
.Text(seekerNotLooking)
.ColorAndOpacity(FColor::Green)
.ShadowOffset(FVector2D(2.0f, 2.0f))
.Justification(ETextJustify::Left)
]
]
];
}
else
{
ChildSlot
[
SNew(SOverlay)
+ SOverlay::Slot()
.HAlign(HAlign_Fill)
.VAlign(VAlign_Fill)
.Padding(contentPadding)
[
SNew(SVerticalBox)
// Seeker AI Info
+ SVerticalBox::Slot()
[
SNew(STextBlock)
.Font(seekerTextStyle)
.Text(seekerIsLooking)
.ColorAndOpacity(FColor::Red)
.ShadowOffset(FVector2D(2.0f, 2.0f))
.Justification(ETextJustify::Left)
]
]
];
}
}
Breaking into the debugger, the variable gets set once the player first starts, but the class doesn’t seem to get hit again during game play, so the on screen message is always the same. Could it be the fact that each time I’m creating a new object, so the variable technically never changes? But it’s strange why the breakpoint only gets hit once, unless as it’s UI it only needs to be called when the game starts (which makes more sense).
I am trying to avoid using Widget Blueprints, just to get more experience with Unreals C++ API (and a ton of learning in the process). I know in Widget Blueprints Bindings can be made, but I’m trying to achieve this all in C++ for the challenge.
Does anyone have any advice on how best to approach this?