Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
As you can see, there are a multitude of different options, from the primary
Text
Component
field, which holds the entered value (for which you can supply a default
value and a limit on the number of characters the user can enter), to the
Placeholder
Text
field, which is only displayed until the user enters a value (useful as it separates
default values from actual user data). By default, adding the
Input Field
control also
adds two child
Text
components for the
Text
and
Placeholder
properties.
The control also provides a multitude of configurations for the
Input Field
through
the
Input Type
property, each with their own configurable elements:
•
Standard
: Single or multiple lined
•
Autocorrected
: Single or multiple lined with word prompts (depending on
the platform it runs on, does not function in editor)
•
Integer Number/Decimal Number
: Only numbers
•
Alphanumeric
: Only letters and numbers; no special characters
•
Name
: Letters only, and first characters of each word are uppercase
•
E-mail address
: Complete with e-mail address text validation
•
Password/Pin
: Hashed out entry with either all characters or just numbers
Additionally, there is a custom option where you can mix and match the option
above you build your own style of input control.
Several other options are available as well from setting the blink rate of the Text caret
(blinking line showing where you are typing) and the color of the text when the user
highlights/selects it.
We'll discuss the
Transition
options when we go over the
Button
control and the
Navigation
option in the
Navigation
section.
Shadows and effects
In any modern UI framework, there are always options to apply effects to content,
whether it is with shadows, gloss, or blur. Usually, this is done with shaders but it's
tricky at the best of times and without adequate experience, very time-consuming.
To this end, Unity has all over implemented a modular effect component system that
can modify the vertexes (points in 3D space) of the content being drawn before it is
passed to the rendering system.