Helper Functionality

Subwidget component validators

The UI/Components/ComponentHelpers.h file provides a number of utility functions in the ModioUI namespace to simplify validating that a valid subwidget is being returned from a getter function:

template<typename WidgetType = class UWidget, typename InterfaceType>
inline WidgetType* GetInterfaceWidgetChecked(TScriptInterface<InterfaceType> TargetWidget);

template<typename WidgetType = class UWidget, typename InterfaceType>
inline WidgetType* GetInterfaceWidgetAsDataSourceWidget(TScriptInterface<InterfaceType> TargetWidget);

They can be easily invoked as part of a conditional:

if (UWidget* ImageWidget = ModioUI::GetInterfaceWidgetChecked(GetAvatarImageWidget()))
{
    // Make an interface call on ImageWidget using the interface type passed in to GetInterfaceWidgetChecked 
}

These functions use template deduction to infer the correct interface type from the TScriptInterface object you pass in, and will perform a more extended check than TScriptInterface normally does to accommodate pure Blueprint interface implementations as well. Using GetInterfaceWidgetChecked will mean you do not need to perform additional safety checks before invoking an Execute_ method from an interface, which will normally throw an error if the target object does not in fact implement the required interface.

Color references and property overrides

While primarily intended as implementation details of our template UI implementation, the plugin also provides the following helper structs:

• FLinearColorRef

  • This struct is a simple name-based reference to a color defined in a data table, to help implement palette support in the default mod.io components and template design. The default implementation looks colors up by name in a data table at a fixed location, but this can be altered by editing the definition of ULinearColorRefLibrary::Resolve.

• FIntegerOverride, FFloatOverride, FTextOverride, FInputActionOverride, FClassPathOverride

  • These are small helper classes to allow the default components to add properties at the Blueprint level which behave like they have an EditConditionToggle/EditConditionHides/EditConditionInline applied to a relevant bool. They make it easier to provide instanced overrides to class properties in a way that makes it very unambiguous something's being overridden. As with FLinearColorRef, each of these overrides has functional-style helpers defined in a Blueprint function library that avoid the need for divergent Blueprint logic based on an override being set, and simplify applying an override to a default value without having to add more conditional logic to your implementation.