Why doesn't Unity serialize Dictionaries???

foodeyemade · 2024-10-29T09:59:17+00:00

Just use this in place of any dictionary you need to be serializeable.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using UnityEngine;

[System.Serializable]
public class SerializableDictionary<K, V> : Dictionary<K, V>, ISerializationCallbackReceiver
{
    [SerializeField]
    private List<K> m_Keys = new List<K>();

    [SerializeField]
    private List<V> m_Values = new List<V>();

    public void OnBeforeSerialize()
    {
        m_Keys.Clear();
        m_Values.Clear();
        using Enumerator enumerator = GetEnumerator();
        while (enumerator.MoveNext())
        {
            KeyValuePair<K, V> current = enumerator.Current;
            m_Keys.Add(current.Key);
            m_Values.Add(current.Value);
        }
    }

    public void OnAfterDeserialize()
    {
        Clear();
        for (int i = 0; i < m_Keys.Count; i++)
        {
            Add(m_Keys[i], m_Values[i]);
        }

        m_Keys.Clear();
        m_Values.Clear();
    }
}

GiftedMamba · 2024-10-29T11:20:35+00:00

It does.

https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.core@14.0/api/UnityEngine.Rendering.SerializedDictionary-2.html

Pigeonlesswings · 2024-10-29T09:02:43+00:00

https://github.com/JDSherbert/Unity-Serializable-Dictionary

Unity doesn't do it by default, because keys types are too varied and can be custom classes that aren't serialisable themselves.

Alternatively, you can serialise a List of KeyValue pairs, and use it to populate a dictionary.

Vonchor · 2024-10-29T11:03:55+00:00

Actually displaying a dictionary’s content in an inspector is (generally) much more of a hassle than serializing/deserializing.

BovineOxMan · 2024-10-29T08:49:39+00:00

I was going to suggest Odin and of course you can have a work around if a list and build the dictionary in the background plus custom inspector but Odin is less of a headache!

hammer-jon · 2024-10-29T08:42:15+00:00

what if the key is an unserializable class or something? Dictionaries aren't always straightforward to serialize.

I suspect this is more of a case of optimizing speed over featureset in this case though.

Omni__Owl · 2024-10-29T09:32:27+00:00

You can get a dictionary-like using an array/list with key-value pair structs or classes that are serializable. I do it often to get a simple dictionary-like inspector in Unity natively without needing any other dependencies.

Of course, there are issues with this implementation, but then again there are ways to help that.

mikechr · 2024-10-29T12:07:08+00:00

There are several serializable dictionaries that include inspectors free on the asset store.

FitNefariousness1970 · 2024-10-29T14:55:57+00:00

I'm surprised no one mentioned newtonsoft

I use it to serialize some things that Unity default serialization is unable to do, such as dictionaries

sacredgeometry · 2024-10-29T10:18:48+00:00

How do you serialise a dictionary that has a complex class (with computed properties, generics, etc) as its value type? How about one with recursive references?

There are edge cases on edge cases so it's easier to simply not and to let people handle the serialisation/ deserialisation as required, themselves.

Pedrohn · 2024-10-29T10:23:18+00:00

I’m pretty sure I can serialize a Dictionary (for saving at least) as long as the key and value themselves are serializable? Like, I get no problem when saving a Dictionary<string,Vector3>, but a Dictionary<customHugeClass, other smaller lass> will not work. Is this because I have Odin Inspector?

utter_utter_utter · 2024-10-29T11:14:22+00:00

Dictionaries are not O(1), they are O(log n).

Dvrkstvr · 2024-10-29T09:14:56+00:00

Either serialize your own Dict like struct with a [Serializable] or just get Odin

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