How to select an object by script - Unity

Question

I am a beginner in Unity and I am currently making a simple game. I have a problem where I need to select an object automatically by script so I can click outside of it without clicking on it in the screen.

What I want to do is when I click the object another object or panel will show and it will be automatically be selected by script so I can click outside the panel and it will close or will setActive to false. I tried the Select() and it is not working for me. The two objects are originally an Image but I added a Button component so it can be selectable.

This is the script for the object that will show the Panel:

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.UI;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;

public class ShowPhone : MonoBehaviour, ISelectHandler
{
    [SerializeField] Button phonePanel;

    public void OnSelect(BaseEventData eventData)
    {
        phonePanel.gameObject.SetActive(true);

    }
}

This is the script for the panel where I want to click outside to close it:

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEngine.UI;
using UnityEngine.EventSystems;

public class HidePhoen : MonoBehaviour, IDeselectHandler
{
    public Button phone;

    private void OnEnable()
    {
        phone.Select();
    }

    public void OnDeselect(BaseEventData data)
    {
        Debug.Log("The Object will be setActive false when clicked outside the object");
    }
}

derHugo · Accepted Answer · 2022-10-02 07:58:50Z

1

You would use EventSystem.SetSelectedGameObject

EventSystem.current.SetSelectedGameObject(yourTargetGameObject);

Note though: Your panel would automatically be closed even if clicking any UI element within it (like e.g. InputField etc)

You can checkout the TMP_Dropdown source code and the way they implemented a "UI Blocker" which basically is an overlay over the entire screen except the drop-down popup and closes the pop-up when clicked on.

you could either replicate this or have a simpler version with a fully transparent background button behind your panel with onClick for closing the panel.

As alternative you could check RectTransformUtility.RectangleContainsScreenPoint

edited Oct 2, 2022 at 7:58

answered Oct 2, 2022 at 7:34

derHugo

92.6k9 gold badges94 silver badges141 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Richard Johnson Over a year ago

The EventSystem.SetSelectedGameObject seems to be working, but it returns an error Attempting to select PhonePanel (UnityEngine.GameObject)while already selecting an object. How can I solve this error?

Richard Johnson Over a year ago

What I did is I replaced the Select() to SelectedGameObject in the OnEnable method. And it returns that error. Is there something wrong with the placement of the code?

Richard Johnson Over a year ago

When I put null to the SetSelectedGameObject so it can reset what is being selected, it returns the error Attempting to select while already selecting an object.. I checked the Scripting, but it should send OnDeselect on the previous selected object but it is not working.

Richard Johnson Over a year ago

I just gone with the fully transparent background button. I can't make the SelectedGameObject work.

derHugo Over a year ago

I guess this happens because the OnEnable already happens as reaction to a button click and therefore a Select of that button in the same frame .. tbh no sure though how to overcome this except for delaying the select by a frame

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to select an object by script - Unity

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

5 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related