Expose Them Properties!

This is a small plugin that exposes child properties onto parent nodes by setting up property hints.

Use case

Let's say you have an Character class that may include several nodes such as HealthComponent or AttackComponent. You'd like to expose those components' properties onto the owner node so you can tweak those values for each instance. The Expose Them Properties! plugin allows you to do that without compromising your code.

How to use it

For clarity sake, let's say you have the following structure:

Character # This is the owner node, where we want to be able to edit children properties
└ HealthComponent # This is the child node that we'll be focusing on for the example
└ AttackComponent
└ ...

1. Expose the properties in the child node

Basic properties

• Use the @export_custom decorator.
• Use the PROPERTY_HINT_FLAGS constant for the hint value.
• Use the ExposeThemProperties.EXPORTABLE_PROPERTY_HINT for the hint_string value.

class_name HealthComponent extends Node

  @export_custom(PROPERTY_HINT_FLAGS, ExposeThemProperties.EXPORTABLE_PROPERTY_HINT) var is_dead := false

Ranges and other property types

• Use the @export_range or any other decorator you want to use.
• In this case you don't need to specify the hint value, just the hint_string value.
• Make sure the hint_string value is placed at the end.

class_name HealthComponent extends Node

  @export_range(0,10,1, ExposeThemProperties.EXPORTABLE_PROPERTY_HINT) var life := 10

Nodepaths

• Use the @export_custom decorator.
• Use the PROPERTY_HINT_FLAGS constant for the hint value.
• In this case you must use the ExposeThemProperties.EXPORTABLE_NODEPATH_HINT for the hint_string value.

class_name HealthComponent extends Node

  @export_custom(PROPERTY_HINT_FLAGS, ExposeThemProperties.EXPORTABLE_NODEPATH_HINT) var some_node : Node

2. Flag the owner node as an importer

You can flag the importer nodes in two different ways:

• By creating a variable in that node's script called is_importer_node.
• By adding a metadata key called is_importer_node in that node from the editor.

In both cases, it is recommeded that the variable/key is a boolean set to true.

class_name Character extends Node

  var is_importer_node := true

FAQ

Will this work if the node that has the properties is not a direct child of the node that exposes them?

Yes, no matter how deep in the tree is the node, the nodes marked as importers will expose the properties of their children, grand-children and so on.

Can I name the is_importer_node variable/key differently?

Yes, in the plugin configuration (plugin.cfg) you can modify a variable named importer_node_flag to whatever that fits your needs.

What are the supported types of properties?

So far you can work with booleans, integers, floats, strings, Vector2, Vector3, resource paths and node paths. I've been trying to allow other complex types but it seems that there's not an easy way to replicate Godot's UI for that kind of behaviour.

What are the supported decorators besides @export_custom?

For now, only @export_range is supported. There aren't many other useful hints for the type of properties currently supported. If I see there's something else that could be interesting I will add it.

I've set up a NodePath but in the owner node I can only apply a script, not a node from the scene:

Make sure you're using the EXPORTABLE_NODEPATH_HINT constant.

Will you expand the plugin or add more supported types

Maybe, if I find a real need for any of my projects I will surely do it and upload the changes to this repository.