Unity UI Panels can't use gameobject.activeInHierarchy?

Question

I'm trying to deactive and re-activate certain panels in my UI. I've been trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong for some time but right now I'm not sure what to do anymore.

I'll start with my UI setup: alt text

With the following piece of code I'm trying to deactive and activate the highlighted object above:

 public Button playerMenuButton;
     // set with the editor by dragging and dropping my button onto the public field.
 public GameObject playerMenu;
     // set with the editor by dragging and dropping my InGameMenu onto the public field.

 void Start () 
 {
     playerMenuButton.onClick.AddListener(openPlayerMenu);
 }
 
 private void openPlayerMenu()
 {
     Debug.Log (playerMenu.activeInHierarchy);
     if (playerMenu.activeInHierarchy == false) 
         {
             playerMenu.SetActive(true);
         }
     else {
             playerMenu.SetActive(false);
             Debug.Log (playerMenu.activeInHierarchy);
     }
 }

However when I execute this code it deactives my object but doesn't let me activate it again. I've gone through multiple forums and websites trying to figure out what is wrong but maybe my knowledge of the unity editor or the panels is just lacking.

To show you what happens I added 2 debug.log lines which in turn made this an even bigger mystery to me about what is happening: alt text The first time I click my UI button it does what I want it to do. It deactives the panel and the Debug.log shows that the panel is first active (true) and after passing through my if statement it turns to false. However, If I click my button a second time the if statement deals the same way with the UI panel. Apparently it's still active and therefore it turns it to false once more. Why does this happen?

Not sure how or why I added a 3d gameobject in the public field in the editor. Surprisingly the code now executes exactly how I want it to be. It turns my object off and it turns back on after clicking my button a second time. So 3d objects do work but UI elements do not?

The problem seems to be in the gameObject.activeInHierarchy statement. Since it is able to read the active state of 3d objects but not the active state of UI objects.

Am I doing something wrong? Is it because the UI panel has a parent/children? Can someone help or teach me about this problem?

PS: adding a bool variable in script that hardcodes the state of the UI panel makes it able to active the UI object after deactivating it. The problem is the way it's trying to read the active state of the UI Object with gameObject.activeInHierarchy

Is this a bug? Or is my knowledge simply lacking in terms of the unity UI? Thank you for your help in advance! :)

Answer 1

  playerMenuButton.onClick.AddListener(openPlayerMenu);

You need a reference to the button component in order to add a listener

Button PlayerMenuButton = playerMenuButton.GetComponent();

  public Button playerMenuButton;
  public GameObject playerMenu;
 
  void Start () 
  {
      Button PlayerMenuButton = playerMenuButton.GetComponent<Button>();     
      PlayerMenuButton.onClick.AddListener(openPlayerMenu);
  }
  
  private void openPlayerMenu()
  {
      Debug.Log (playerMenu.activeInHierarchy);
      if (playerMenu.activeInHierarchy == false) 
          {
              playerMenu.SetActive(true);
          }
      else {
              playerMenu.SetActive(false);
              Debug.Log (playerMenu.activeInHierarchy);
      }
  }

surely you just want to do this when setting the panel as active? not sure what else you're trying to do when the button is clicked.

      public Button playerMenuButton;
      public GameObject playerMenu;
     
      void Start () 
      {
          Button PlayerMenuButton = playerMenuButton.GetComponent<Button>();     
          PlayerMenuButton.onClick.AddListener(openPlayerMenu);
      }
      
      private void openPlayerMenu()
      {
          playerMenu.SetActive(true);
       }

Try this

 public GameObject Screen;
 
 public Button ExampleButton;
 
 // this button goes on the screen
 public Button CloseScreen;
 
 void Start()
 {
     Button exampleButton = ExampleButton.GetComponent<Button>():
     exampleButton.onClick.AddListener(OpenScreen);
 
     Button closeScreen = CloseScreen.GetComponent<Button>():
     closeScreen.onClick.AddListener(CloseScreen);
 }
 
 
 public void OpenScreen()
 {
     Screen.SetActive(true);
 }
 
 public void CloseScreen()
 {
     Screen.SetActive(false);
 }

This is a copy/paste of the documentation from Unity. Yet, you refuse to accept that you have to reference the button component, not just public Button MyButton

There is literally nothing I can do to help if you refuse to look at raw evidence. https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/UI.Button-onClick.html

 //To use this example, attach this script to an empty GameObject.
 //Create two buttons (Create>UI>Button). Next, click your empty GameObject in the Hierarchy and click and drag each of your Buttons from the Hierarchy to the Your Button and "Your Second Button" fields in the Inspector.
 //Click the Button in Play Mode to output the message to the console.
 
 using UnityEngine;
 using UnityEngine.UI;
 
 public class Example : MonoBehaviour
 {
     //Make sure to attach these Buttons in the Inspector
     public Button m_YourButton, m_YourSecondButton;
 
     void Start()
     {
         Button btn = m_YourButton.GetComponent<Button>();
         Button btn2 = m_YourSecondButton.GetComponent<Button>();
         //Calls the TaskOnClick method when you click the Button
         btn.onClick.AddListener(TaskOnClick);
 
         m_YourSecondButton.onClick.AddListener(delegate {TaskWithParameters("Hello"); });
     }
 
     void TaskOnClick()
     {
         //Output this to console when the Button is clicked
         Debug.Log("You have clicked the button!");
     }
 
     void TaskWithParameters(string message)
     {
         //Output this to console when the Button is clicked
         Debug.Log(message);
     }
 }

Unity UI Panels can't use gameobject.activeInHierarchy?

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