ActionVariableReferenceMenu

Popup menu that lets the user select a variable reference from parent Action scopes. Walks up the Inspector property tree to discover compatible variables from ancestor Actions and presents them in a dropdown selector.

Definition

Namespace: Paragon.Core.ActionSystem.Editor Assembly: Paragon.Editor.dll

public class ActionVariableReferenceMenu

Remarks

This menu powers the reference-binding workflow for action variables. When an ActionVariable is in reference mode (link toggle enabled), the user can click the dropdown arrow to open this menu and select a variable from any parent Action in the Inspector hierarchy.

The menu uses Odin's GenericSelector<ActionVariable> and filters candidates by type compatibility — only variables whose type is assignable to the current variable's type are shown.

Reference Resolution Strategy

The menu walks upward through the property tree using FindParentOfType<Action>(), collecting variables from each ancestor Action's ActionVariables container. This enables nested Actions (e.g., within an ActionSequence) to reference variables defined in their parent Actions.

Quick Lookup

Goal	How
Open the menu	referenceMenu.Show(buttonRect)
Clear a reference	Select "None" from the dropdown
Reference scope	All parent Actions' variables of compatible type

Constructor

public ActionVariableReferenceMenu(ActionVariableDrawer drawer)

Parameter	Type	Description
drawer	ActionVariableDrawer	The variable drawer that owns this menu

Stores the drawer and reads the ActionVariable from drawer.ValueEntry.SmartValue.

Methods

Show

Opens the popup menu anchored to the given rect.

public void Show(Rect buttonRect)

Parameter	Type	Description
buttonRect	Rect	The screen-space rect of the dropdown button

On each invocation, rebuilds the selector with fresh variable candidates (via GetReferencableVariables()), because the available variables may change as the Inspector state changes.

Reference Discovery

GetReferencableVariables

private IEnumerable<GenericSelectorItem<ActionVariable>> GetReferencableVariables()

Builds the list of selectable variables:

1. Always includes a "None" entry (maps to null) to allow clearing the reference.

2. Starting from the current variable's parent Action property, walks upward through the Inspector tree using FindParentOfType<Action>().

3. For each ancestor Action, finds its actionVariables child property and retrieves the ActionVariables instance.

4. Filters variables using type.IsOfType(variable.Type) — only variables whose type is compatible with the current variable's type are included.

5. Display names are nicified via ObjectNames.NicifyVariableName().

The menu skips the immediate parent Action of the current variable (starts one level up). Variables within the same Action are not shown as reference candidates — only variables from ancestor Actions.

Selection Handling

When the user confirms a selection:

private void OnSelectionConfirmed(IEnumerable<ActionVariable> selection)

1. Gets the first selected ActionVariable (or null for "None").

2. Calls variable.SetReference(selectedVariable) to bind the reference.

3. Marks the drawer's property serialization root dirty for undo/save.

Common Pitfalls

Empty dropdown If no parent Actions exist or no compatible variables are found, the dropdown will only show "None". This is expected for root-level Actions or variables with uncommon types.

Type filtering Only variables whose type satisfies IsOfType() appear in the list. For example, a float variable will not see string variables from parent Actions.

See Also

• ActionVariableDrawer — drawer that opens this menu

• ActionVariable — runtime variable class with SetReference() API

• ActionVariables — container queried for compatible variables