If a child object is added to a prefab is that a component or not?

Question

I'm struggling with the prefab concept here and not sure what I am doing wrong.

I have a prefab that is essentially an "empty" game object. To that I have added a camera.

I have a script attached to the Empty object i.e. the prefab root from which I want to access the Camera. My problem is that I cannot seem to find it. I tried GetComponent. That returns as null i.e. it is not finding the camera.

What I am trying to understand is whether a component added in the editor by drag and drop is the same as one added in code using gameComponent.AddComponent() so that I can work out if I must use the scripted version to get access to the camera.

A hint of where I am going wrong would be good.

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by YoucefB · Jan 05, 2018 at 10:25 PM

What you are looking for is GetComponentInChildren, and no it's not a component its a gameObject itself.

methode 1:

 GameObject pref; // the prefab (root)
 Camera prefCam = pref.GetComponentInChildren<Camera>();

methode 2: (if you know the index of the camera's gameObject)

 Camera prefCam = pref.transform.GetChild(0).GetComponent<Camera>(); // 0 is the first index.

there are more methods, but these should do the job.

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Answer 2

Answer by tre4bax · Jan 06, 2018 at 02:11 AM

Perfect. Many thanks that really helps. After I posted last night I found my way through to the second method. As I currently only have the one item in the prefab it worked, it just did not feel right as I cannot be sure of the ordinal remaining the same if I change the prefab.

The first method is perfect and also clears in my head the construction of the prefab. The component belongs to a game object and the game object is a child of my prefab game object.

Thanks for your help.

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If a child object is added to a prefab is that a component or not?

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