How do I set a parent of a prefab at runtime (C#)?

Question

I tried transform.parent = desiredParentTransform

but unity gives me an error saying that parenting a prefab is disabled to prevent data corruption.

What do I do?

Answer 1

Best Answer

Answer by Ashkan_gc · Jan 19, 2010 at 07:09 AM

you can not make a prefab parent of another and a prefab can not have a parent at all. in editor if you drag something on a prefab it will change the content of that prefab with the newly draged gameObject. if you want to change the parent of a prefab you should instantiate it and change the parent and then create a prefab from it again. in runtime you don't have access to editor classes and methods but in editor scripts you can do this easily. to create a prefab in a script you should use CreateEmptyPrefab and then assign a Gameobject to it by ReplacePrefab. so just instantiate the prefab, then do whatever you want. (add or remove components, change parent) and then apply to prefab.

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swatmaster69 · Mar 25, 2013 at 09:08 PM 0

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I think this solution defeats the purpose of using Prefabs. The right way to do it is explained here by user "Slem."

Fattie · Mar 25, 2015 at 04:02 PM 0

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yeah this is not the way to go. simply, clone the 'instantiated prefab' and use that normally in the normal way. the actual 'instantiated prefab' is useless.

Answer 2

Answer by dkoontz · Jan 05, 2010 at 05:07 AM

Do you have a prefab that has not been instantiated yet? For example, do you have a class that has a public GameObject variable that you drag/drop the prefab onto? If so, you'll need to do one of two things (depending on how your game works). Either instantiate the prefab (http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/Object.Instantiate.html) or create an instance of the prefab in your scene by dragging it into the scene and then dragging the prefab instanace in the scene onto your script. Here's an example of instantiating a prefab you've dragged onto your script that doesn't exist in the scene until runtime.

class AClassThatUsesAPrefab : MonoBehaviour { public GameObject myPrefab; public GameObject prefabInstance;

 void Start() {
     prefabInstance = (GameObject)Instantiate(myPrefab);
 }

}

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Answer 3

Answer by nolver · Nov 16, 2010 at 11:22 AM

The only workaround I know about this is the following:

At design-time create an empty object, and attach the prefab as a child of it. This object will act as a wrapper.
At run-time create instances of the wrapper object, instead of the prefab.
The instanced object transform parent can now be set to any other object.

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Mike 3 · Nov 16, 2010 at 11:59 AM 1

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If you just instantiate the prefab and set the instance's parent, it'll work fine. The issue in the question was that he was trying to set the prefab's parent, not the instance's one

Answer 4

Answer by Proclyon · Nov 16, 2010 at 01:44 PM

I'f you'd let me reply the Quality in Q&A with Quality = q and Qq = Aq then I would say:

Just don't parent the prefab because it is a bad way to do what you want in any case. Make a clone with the Instantiate method Instantiate(PREFAB, TRANSFORM (pos), ROTATION)

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Answer 5

Answer by ThiagoVT · Sep 18, 2013 at 12:07 PM

Try this! Worked for me! Instantiate the prefab and use Game.Find to find it and add it to desired hierarchy. Like these:

 class AClassThatUsesAPrefab : MonoBehaviour {
     public GameObject myPrefab;
     public GameObject prefabInstance;
  
     void Start() {
         prefabInstance = (GameObject)Instantiate(myPrefab);
         myPrefab.name = "NameOBJECT"; // if you have a multiple instances
         GameObject.Find("myPrefabNAME(Clone)").transform.parent = transform;

         myPrefab.name = "NameOBJECT2"; // if you have a multiple instances
         GameObject.Find("myPrefabNAME(Clone)").transform.parent = transform;
 
     }
 }

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Bunny83 · Sep 18, 2013 at 12:37 PM 1

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Sorry, but that makes no sense. prefabInstance is already the instantiated object. Using GameObject.Find is just slow and gives you much trouble if you have multiple objects with the same name.

ThiagoVT · Sep 18, 2013 at 02:02 PM 0

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sorry but worked perfectly fine for me, and i solved the multiples instances using myPrefab.name, and not happens slowly for me... myPrefab.name = "PrefabName"; GameObject.Find("myPrefabNA$$anonymous$$E(Clone)").transform.parent = transform;

How do I set a parent of a prefab at runtime (C#)?

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