Custom Events & Functions

The I/O system was designed in a way to be easily extensible. You can register custom events and functions with the I/O system for any of your actors using the ActorIOInterface.

1. Adding the I/O Interface to the Actor

In order to expose custom events and functions, you need to add the ActorIOInterface to your actor. The LogicActorBase class already has this interface implemented, so if you are creating a custom logic actor then you can skip this step.

2. Registering Custom Events

Override the RegisterIOEvents function of the I/O interface, and use RegisterEvent to add an entry to the event registry of this actor.

Supported delegate types are: Blueprint event dispatchers, C++ dynamic multicast delegates, and C++ sparse delegates.

void APickupActor::RegisterIOEvents(FActorIOEventList& EventRegistry)
{
	EventRegistry.RegisterEvent(FActorIOEvent()
		.SetId(TEXT("APickupActor::OnPickup"))
		.SetDisplayName(INVTEXT("OnPickup"))
		.SetTooltipText(INVTEXT("Event when the item is picked up."))
		.SetMulticastDelegate(this, &OnPickup));
}

3. Registering Custom Functions

Override the RegisterIOFunctions of the I/O interface, and use RegisterFunction to add an entry to the function registry of the actor.

Supported function types are: Blueprint functions, Blueprint custom events, and all C++ functions marked with UFUNCTION (no specifiers required).

void APickupActor::RegisterIOFunctions(FActorIOFunctionList& FunctionRegistry)
{
	FunctionRegistry.RegisterFunction(FActorIOFunction()
		.SetId(TEXT("APickupActor::Pickup"))
		.SetDisplayName(INVTEXT("Pickup"))
		.SetTooltipText(INVTEXT("Pickup the item from the ground."))
		.SetFunction(TEXT("Pickup")));
}

Custom Function for Actor Components

When registering an I/O function for the actor, you can specify a SubobjectName. If set, the I/O system will call the function on the specified subobject instead of the actor itself.

The SubobjectName should be the name of a component (or any other subobject) that is part of the actor.

Note that this only works for default subobjects! Dynamically added components will not work.