StartCoroutine() like BroadcastMessage() ?

Question

I really like the way I can call, gameObject.BroadcastMessage("function","varible"); on to a game object and have it trigger in children.

Is there a way to do this with StartCoroutine? Right now I use the following work-arounds.

 SomeScript myscript = gameObject.GetComponent<SomeScript>();
 myscript.StartCoroutine("SomeFunction",someVariable);
 
 //or
 
 gameObject_B.BroadcastMessage("StartCoFunction", someVarible);
 //with on gameObject_B
 void StartCoFunction (SomeVariableType incVariable){
      StartCoroutine("MyCoroutine",incVariable);
 }
 IEnumirator MyCoroutine(SomeVariableType incVariable){
      yield return new WaitForSeconds(1);
     Debug.Log("Thank you for sending me "+ incVariable.name);
 }

But that is so much less convenient and messy than

 gameObject_B.BroadcastMessage("SomeFunction",someVariable);
 
 //On Gameobject B
 void SomeFunction(SomeVariableType incVariable){
     Debug.Log("Thank you for sending me "+ incVariable.name);
 }

It would be awesome if there was a way to send a Coroutine the same way as voids are triggered via BroadcastMessage, Kind of like a BroadcastCoroutine("CoroutineName",someVariable);

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by huntsfromshadow · Feb 27, 2014 at 10:03 PM

Hate to give you bad news, but their is not a way to do this.

You could extend all your personal classes and put your StartCoFunction in the parent class. Then all your classes would respond to the StartCoFunction method. Also since you can start a coroutine with it's string name you could just send the name of the coroutine to launch with the broadcast. You can pass along the two variables as an array or a struct.

Hope this helps.

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Anxo · Feb 27, 2014 at 11:04 PM 0

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Hello Young Rouge,

What do you mean by this,

"Also since you can start a coroutine with it's string name you could just send the name of the coroutine to launch with the broadcast."

Do you mean to say that I make something like this?

 string[] stringArray = {"CoroutineName","importantPackage"};
 
 BroadcastMessage("StartCoFunction",stringArray);
 
 void StartCoFunction(string[] incStrings){
      StartCoroutine(incStrings[1],incStrings[2]);
 }
 
 IEnumirator CoroutineName(string incString){
    yield return new WaitForSeconds(1);
    Debug.log("Thank you for sending me "+incString);
 }

Would this not limit me to only strings b/c I can not make an array with the first element being a string and the second element being a Vector3 or a Game Object, or can I?

huntsfromshadow · Feb 27, 2014 at 11:08 PM 0

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Yep exactly though I would remember arrays start at 0 in that code you'll get an our of index error.

Anxo · Feb 27, 2014 at 11:11 PM 0

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So it would limit me to strings?

huntsfromshadow · Feb 27, 2014 at 11:17 PM 0

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If you did it that way.

You could always do instead an array of objects.

 object[] coroutineArray = {"CRName", 4}
 
 //Then when you deref you just have to know what the second argument was.
 void StartCoFunction(object[] incObjects){
      StartCoroutine(incObjects[0],incObjects[1]);
 }
  
 IEnumirator CoroutineName(object aValue){
    yield return new WaitForSeconds(1);
    Debug.log("Thank you for sending me "+(int)aValue);
 }

Now I'll warn you i've had unity sometime complain when I mix objects. You end up having to decide to use either system.object or UnityEngine.object, but that is just making sure your consistent.

Answer 2

Answer by raybarrera · Feb 27, 2014 at 11:35 PM

This may be a bit outside the box, but I do think you're going about it the "wrong" way. In this case "wrong" is subjective, because if it compiles and it works, then it's not really wrong wrong.

However, there is a better design patter for this type of thing: Events. They're very powerful.

I'd recommend looking here for more information.

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StartCoroutine() like BroadcastMessage() ?

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