Time for action – Hidecategories

Let's take a look at our AwesomeWeaponUpgrade actor.

1. Let's change the top line of our AwesomeWeaponUpgrade actor to the following:

   class AwesomeWeaponUpgrade extends AwesomeActor
       hidecategories(Attachment,Physics,Debug,Object)
       placeable;

   Note that the class declaration line doesn't end until the semicolon, and it's perfectly fine to spread it across a few lines to keep it readable.

2. Compile the code and take a look at the properties in the editor again.

   

There are a lot less this time!

What just happened?

The hidecategories modifier should only be used when you're sure that a level designer isn't going to need to change any variables in that category. It doesn't get rid of any variables; it just hides them from the editor. This modifier is inherited, and if we wanted to reverse a hidecategories modifier in a subclass we would use the showcategories modifier, for example this hypothetical subclass:

class SomeOtherUpgrade extends AwesomeWeaponUpgrade
   ...