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Scripting for Editor Users

This section focuses on the Editor-specific features and best practices that will enhance your scripting experience. Whether you're writing your first line of code or you're a seasoned developer, understanding these tools will significantly boost your productivity.

Why This Section is Important for Editor Users​

As an Editor user, you benefit from a tightly integrated development environment. This means:

  • Direct Asset Management: Scripts are assets, managed alongside your models, textures, and materials.
  • Visual Configuration: Script Attributes allow for easy, code-free customization of script behavior directly in the Inspector.
  • Rapid Iteration: Features like Hot Reloading let you see changes in real-time.
  • Seamless Integration: The Editor bridges the gap between your code and your scene, making it easy to connect scripts to Entities and Components.

What You'll Discover Here​

This collection of pages will delve into the tools and techniques unique to scripting within the PlayCanvas Editor:

  • Managing Scripts in the Editor:
    • Creating, organizing, and deleting Script Assets in the Asset panel.
    • Understanding the connection between Script Assets (.js/.mjs files) and Script Components (instances on Entities).
    • Renaming and moving scripts, and how the Editor handles references.
  • The Built-in Code Editor:
    • Navigating and using the Editor's integrated code editing interface.
    • Key features: syntax highlighting, autocompletion (basic), error checking, and search.
    • Tips for efficient coding directly within PlayCanvas.
  • Using VS Code with PlayCanvas:
    • Setting up and using the official PlayCanvas VS Code Extension.
    • Benefits: advanced autocompletion, debugging, richer IntelliSense, and project-wide search.
    • Synchronizing changes between VS Code and the PlayCanvas Editor.
  • Script Attributes in the Editor:
    • How Script Attributes appear and are managed in the Inspector panel.
    • Assigning various asset types (Entities, Assets, Materials, etc.) to attributes.
    • Leveraging arrays and nested attributes for complex configurations.
  • Script Hot Reloading:
    • Understanding how Hot Reloading works and its benefits for rapid iteration.
    • What gets reloaded and what doesn't (initialize vs. swap).
    • Tips for writing scripts that work well with Hot Reloading.

Unlocking the Editor's Power​

By familiarizing yourself with these Editor-specific aspects of scripting, you'll be able to work more efficiently and build more complex and robust interactive experiences. Each page linked above will provide detailed information and practical guidance.