Editor Extensions

Intro

Writing Editor Extensions in Unity can be a bit overwhelming at first but here I explain my workflow.

Whenever possible I highly recommend using the UIToolkit (Previously known as UI Elements) for writing custom editors.

Note

As of Unity 2023.3 there are still certain custom inspectors that must (or are simpler to) be written with IMGUI. Example custom Shader/Material inspectors are easier to write with IMGUI

When you check the Unity documentation they recommend using .uxml, .uss and C# to make your custom inspectors: UIE

But I prefer doing everything in C#, I find it easier to have all the references, styles, etc.. in one place. Everyone has a workflow that works for them, so try out both and see which one you prefer.

Note

I sometimes use .uss for styles, but only if I want to have a consistent style across multiple components.

I rarely use UXML, and that’s mainly for two reasons:

1. the visual editor is quite limited for dynamic windows, it sometimes does not work as expected for certain custom visual elements, for example I had some issues while trying to create a Split editor with an inspector and GridView.
2. Making any changes to the UXML, probably also means making some changes in C#. So most of the time it kind of defeats the purpose. It sometimes takes more time setting up (and especially maintaining) the bindings between C# and UXML than doing everything in C#

That being said, I don’t dismiss the usefulness of UXML and USS. Use it when you think it makes sense. At the end of the day it’s all about time, maintainability and scalability.

We’ll look into a few major Unity Editor Extensions And I will give a few tips along the way.

• Custom inspector
• Property drawer
• Editor Window