How to Iterate thru game object and access scripts by name?

Question

I'm using a "toggle visibility" script on many objects in my scene, and in my gameController class I'm storing references to them in an array like this:

public Fields[] fields;

then I access them by the array index:

fields[0].setVisibility(true);

This works fine, but this list is growing and everything is getting unmaintainable.

So I would like to iterate thru the references to the objects, find the script by its game object name, and call the required function setVisibility(state).

A call, if possible should look like this:

GameObjectName.ScriptName.FunctionCall.State

In this way, I would have a clear overview of my code.

Is this possible in Unity C#?

Answer 1

This sets GameObjects' visibility by name by activating/deactivating them:

using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

public class Utility : MonoBehaviour
{
    static Dictionary<string, GameObject> gameObjects;

    public void Awake()
    {
        gameObjects = new Dictionary<string, GameObject>();
        foreach (var o in Resources.FindObjectsOfTypeAll<GameObject>())
            if (o.CompareTag("MyTag"))
                gameObjects.Add(o.name, o);
    }
    
    static public void SetVisible(string name, bool visibility = true)
    {
        gameObjects[name].SetActive(visibility);
    }
}

This makes the game object named "AnitaBath" visible by activating it

Utility.SetVisible("AnitaBath");

This makes the game object named "AnitaBath" invisible by deactivating it

Utility.SetVisible("AnitaBath", false);

How to Use This Script

This script should be added to a unique object in your scene like GameManager. It enumerates all objects in the scene tagged "MyTag" whenever it's Awake() method is called.

It assumes GameObject names are unique, you've created a new tag called "MyTag" and added this tag to the objects you'll be calling SetVisible on.

If you don't use the tag, you run the risk of affecting hidden internal objects (e.g., "SceneLight", "InternalIdentityTransform", "PreviewMaterials", "Cone", "Cube", ...)

Answer 2

This sets GameObjects' visibility by name by enabling/disabling their MeshRenderer:

static public class Utility
{
    static public void SetVisible(string name, bool visibility = true)
    {
        GameObject.Find(name).GetComponent<MeshRenderer>().enabled = visibility;
    }
}

This makes the game object named "AnitaBath" visible by activating it

Utility.SetVisible("AnitaBath");

This makes the game object named "AnitaBath" invisible by deactivating it

Utility.SetVisible("AnitaBath", false);

Assumptions

This script assumes the GameObjects you are working with are active and contain a MeshRenderer component