Clean Code Solutions for Extending Asset Scripts
Safely extend Unity asset scripts without editing the original code.
Why Modifying Unity Asset Scripts is a Challenge:
Unity developers frequently face a critical challenge when working with third-party assets: the need to extend functionality or fix bugs without directly modifying the original asset scripts. Direct modification can lead to several issues:
- Breaking compatibility with future asset updates.
- Losing changes when the asset is updated.
- Violating clean code principles and increasing technical debt.
The goal is to implement enhancements and custom logic while keeping the original codebase untouched. In this blog, we'll explore three clean code techniques to achieve this in Unity.
- Partial Classes: Partial classes allow splitting the definition of a class into multiple files. This is helpful when working with large codebases or when extending functionality without modifying the original asset script.
- Keeps the original code untouched.
- Allows adding new features and logic in separate files.
- Maintains compatibility with future asset updates.
Example Use Case:
Inheritance and Override: Inheritance allows creating a derived class that extends the original asset class and overrides its methods.
- Provides flexibility to modify behavior.
- Avoids directly editing the original code.
- Supports polymorphism.
Unity's Event System: Using Unity Events or C# events allows you to hook into the asset’s functionality without modifying the core script.
- Supports event-driven architecture.
- Enables adding custom logic at runtime.
- Prevents code duplication.
By combining these approaches, Unity developers can:
- Maintain clean, modular code.
- Extend asset functionality without modifying original scripts.
- Ensure compatibility with future asset updates.
