Getting Started

Welcome to the SuperBehaviour Getting Started Guide! This tutorial will guide you through the installation and basic usage of SuperBehaviour, an extension that simplifies Unity development while providing quality-of-life enhancements.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

  • Unity Editor: Version 2022.3.16f1 or higher (Unity 6 is supported).
  • Visual Studio Code (Optional): For enhanced editing with additional snippets and quality-of-life features.
  • SuperBehaviour Unity Package: Available on the Unity Asset Store.

Installation

Install the SuperBehaviour Unity Package

  1. Open the Unity Editor.
  2. Navigate to the SuperBehaviour page on the Unity Asset Store.
  3. Click Add to My Assets and then Open in Unity to import the package into your project.

Install the SuperBehaviour VS Code Extension (Optional)

If you use Visual Studio Code, you can install the SuperBehaviour extension for additional features like context-aware code snippets and auto-adjustments for MonoBehaviour replacement.

  1. Open Visual Studio Code.
  2. Go to the SuperBehaviour for Unity extension page.
  3. Click Install to add the extension to your VS Code environment.

Basic Usage

The whole idea behind SuperBehaviour is to simplify your Unity development workflow. By using SuperBehaviour scripts instead of MonoBehaviour, you can access enhanced features like serialized properties, cached access to frequently used properties, and more. Most of the features are only available in SuperBehaviour scripts, so it's essential to replace MonoBehaviour with SuperBehaviour in your scripts to take full advantage of the extension.

Creating a SuperBehaviour Script

  1. In Unity, create a new SuperBehaviour script:
    • Right-click in the Project window.
    • Select Create > Scripts > SuperBehaviour.
  2. Name your script, for example, MySuperScript.
  3. Open MySuperScript.cs in you IDE
using UnityEngine;
using LoM.Super;

public class MySuperScript : SuperBehaviour
{
    private void Update()
    {
        // Access Transform and GameObject properties directly without having to worry about caching.
        transform.Rotate(Vector3.up * Time.deltaTime * 10);
    }
}

You can also replace MonoBehaviour with SuperBehaviour in existing scripts to access the enhanced features.

Serialized Properties

The [SerializeProperty] attribute allows you to expose Properties (getters and setters) in the inspector like you can with fields. It will not be serialized in the final build but will be exposed in the inspector.

using UnityEngine;
using LoM.Super;

public class MySuperScript : SuperBehaviour
{
    private Rigidbody m_rigidbody;
    
    [SerializeProperty]
    public int Speed => m_rigidbody.velocity.magnitude;
    
    [SerializeProperty]
    public float Rotation { get; set; }
}

SingletonBehaviour<T>

To make your script a singleton in one single line by inheriting from SingletonBehaviour<T>.

using UnityEngine;
using LoM.Super;

public class GameManager : SingletonBehaviour<GameManager>
{
    public void Start()
    {
        Debug.Log("Game Manager Initialized!");
    }
}
  • Access the instance using GameManager.Instance.
  • Ensures there is only one instance of the script in the scene.
  • Use LazySingletonBehaviour<T> if you want to automatically create a new instance if none exists.
  • Use AfterAwake() and OnAfterDestroy() to run code after the script is initialized and before it is destroyed.

More about Singletons: SingletonBehaviour<T> Documentation

Conditional Field Attributes

Use [ShowIf], [HideIf], [EnableIf], and [DisableIf] to control field visibility in the inspector based on conditions. Where Show/Hide completely hides the field or property, and Enable/Disable only make it read-only.

using UnityEngine;
using LoM.Super;

public class ConditionalExample : SuperBehaviour
{
    public bool showDetails;

    [ShowIf("showDetails")]
    public string details;
}

If showDetails is true, the details field will appear in the inspector. No need to write a custom editor script just for this!

VS Code Extension

Using snippets

If you have installed the VS Code extension:

  • Open the script, and the default MonoBehaviour snippets will automatically adjust to use SuperBehaviour.
  • This ensures your code integrates with SuperBehaviour’s features without manual changes.

MonoBeh▯ results in:

using UnityEngine;
using LoM.Super;

namespace my.project.namespace
{
    public class NameOfMyScript : SuperBehaviour
    {
        
    }
}

More about snippets: VS Code Extension Documentation

Additional Resources

Now that you're equipped with SuperBehaviour, you're ready to elevate your Unity development workflow. Enjoy coding smarter and faster!