Fields overview

Fields table

This is all fields types, BGDatabase currently supports (you can create your own field if it's needed.)

Field Group	Field name	Field Type	Comments
Primitives	int	int
	long	long
	float	float
	double	double
	bool	bool
	decimal	decimal
	guid	Guid
	string	string	single line text
	text	string	multiple lines text
Primitive nullable	int?	int?
	long?	long?
	float?	float?
	double?	double?
	bool?	bool?
	guid?	Guid?
Enum #4	enum	Enum
	enumByte	Enum
	enumShort	Enum
	enumList	List<Enum>
Unity Primitives	vector2	Vector2
	vector3	Vector3
	vector4	Vector4
	quaternion	Quaternion
	rect	Rect
	bounds	Bounds
	color	Color
	ray	Ray
	ray2d	Ray2D
	keyCode	KeyCode
	gradient	Gradient
	animationCurve2017	AnimationCurve	Field target Unity 2017. For Unity >= 2018, download field animationCurve2018 here
Unity Primitive nullable	vector2?	Vector2?
	vector3?	Vector3?
	vector4?	Vector4?
	quaternion?	Quaternion?
	color?	Color?
Unity Assets #5	unityTexture	Texture
	unityTexture2d	Texture2D
	unitySprite	Sprite	Can accept a single sprite, a sprite from a multiple sprite, a sprite from SpriteAtlas If you use SpriteAtlas, make sure to turn SpritePacker on (set Edit->Project settings->Editor->SpritePacker to "Always Enabled" and press on "Pack preview" button when you change your atlas)
	unityMaterial	Material
	unityPrefab	GameObject
	unityFont	Font
	unityAudioClip	AudioClip
	unityObject	Object	Starting with v.1.5.6 additional type constraint can be added. Code generators generate proper type (using type from constraint)
List of Primitives	listBool	List<bool>
	listDouble	List<double>
	listFloat	List<float>
	listGuid	List<Guid>
	listInt	List<int>
	listLong	List<long>
	listString	List<string>
List of Unity Primitives	listVector2	List<Vector2>
	listVector3	List<Vector3>
	listVector4	List<Vector4>
	listQuaternion	List<Quaternion>
	listColor	List<Color>
Dictionary	hashtable #3	Hashtable
Relations	relationSingle	BGEntity
	relationMultiple	List<BGEntity>
	nested	List<BGEntity>	read-only, #1
Unity Scene #2	entityReference	BGEntityGo	not recommended, use objectReference instead
	entityListReference	List<BGEntityGo>	not recommended, use objectListReference instead
	objectReference	BGWithId
	objectListReference	List<BGWithId>

Nested Field (#1)

Nested field is a special field, which creates a whole new meta (table), which has many-to-one relation to owner meta. It means, you can create a linked list with any fields that are supported by BGDatabase. It is a readonly field (to change it's value- delete or add nested Entities). To create a nested Entity use special method, which accept the owner of nested entity BGMetaNested.NewEntity(BGEntity owner). BGMetaNested is a class for nested tables (to be used instead of generic BGMetaRow)

Technically, it's a usual table with many-to-one relation to parent table with 2 distinct features:

1. To access nested rows you need to choose parent row first using parent table GUI
2. If you delete a parent row, related nested rows will also be deleted, cause they are considered as integral part of this parent row

You can read more about nested table concept here

Unity Scene Fields (#2)

Referencing scene GameObjects using objectReference/objectListReference fields is implemented with the same technique, which is used in this Unity project, by adding additional component (BGWithId) with unique ID. On Awake method object is added to the internal cache and On OnDestroy method object is removed from the cache. There are 2 restrictions, then using these fields:

1. GameObjects can not be resolved before Awake method is called or after OnDestroy method
2. GameObjects can be resolved only at runtime, they will not be resolved from Editor code

entityReference/entityListReference fields are considered to be obsolete and not recommended anymore (they use UnityObject.FindComponentOfType method and very slow)

Hashtable (#3)

Hashtable is a dictionary without generic parameters. Following types are supported as keys: int, string, bool, Guid, custom fields. Following types are not supported as values: Unity assets, relations, hashtable, nullable structs. Null values are also not supported.

Enum/enumList (#4)

With enum/enumList fields you can reference your own enumerations. Important notes:

1. Once you created your own enum field, you can not change enum type name or namespace, cause they are stored inside database. To change it you can create exact copy of your enum with different name and change enum type at field's settings
2. Values are stored exactly as C# store them- with numeric value. You may consider adding numeric values to your constants so constants reordering does not affect values

Unity Asset Fields (#5)

All these fields are read only. You can reference any Unity asset (UnityObject can be used to reference any asset).

Available loaders are:

	Resources	Asset Bundles (obsolete)	Addressables	Addressables by Guid
Recommendations	Use it only if an amount of assets is small. Unity does not recommend to use it (more info)	not recommended under any circumstances	use it if you want database to store asset's address	use it if you want database to store asset's Guid.
How asset is loaded	using Resources.Load	using AssetBundle.Load	using Addressables.LoadAssetAsync
Prerequisites	asset should be placed under one of Resources folder	asset should be included to one of asset bundles	Addressables package should be installed asset should be included to Addressables BGDatabase plugin for Addressables support should be installed
Stored value	path, relative to Resources folder	path within asset bundle	asset address	asset Guid
Limitations after asset was added to database (otherwise you need to reassign the value)	path/name can not be changed	name can not be changed	asset address can not be changed, but you can freely move/rename asset	asset Guid can not be changed (it's stored in corresponding meta file), but you can freely move/rename asset
More information	Read more about Resources folder and asset bundles here		Read Unity's Addressables manual here. To add support for addressables, please, download our plugin and follow setup/use manual at our download page