🛠️ Options Menu / Cheats

Build interactive menus for in-game tools, debug settings and cheats — great for prototyping and QA.

The panel header has Search (find an item anywhere in the tree), History (recently used), and the two Shortcuts buttons covered below. Search and History results link back to the folder the item lives in.

🧭 Two Ways to Add Options

🏷️ Add Option Items with [ConsoleOption] Attribute

Register fields, properties or methods as menu items. Call this once during setup:

void Start()
{
        NjConsole.Options.CreateCatalogFrom(this, "TestOptions");
        // ^ second param `TestOptions` is optional, it puts all the items inside the `TestOptions` folder in this example.
        // If 'this' is a MonoBehaviour, options will auto-remove when `OnDestroy()`
}

⚠️ For static members pass the type instead: NjConsole.Options.CreateCatalogFrom(typeof(DemoNjConsole)); They’re separate because statics persist without a live instance.

🔘 Buttons

[ConsoleOption]
void SayHello() {
        Debug.Log("Hello");
}

// directory / folder
[ConsoleOption("ChildFolder/My Second Button")]
void AnotherButton() {
        Debug.Log("Clicked my second [ConsoleOption] button");
}

// header
[ConsoleOption("A button inside a header", 
                header:"My Header")]
void AButtonInsideHeader() {
        Debug.Log("Clicked my second [ConsoleOption] button");
}

// key binding - Shift + W to call WinLevelCheat() in playmode
[ConsoleOption(key:Key.W, 
                keyModifier:ConsoleKeyBindings.Modifier.Shift)]
void WinLevelCheat() {
        Debug.Log("Clicked WinLevelCheat");
}

// auto close console overlay
[ConsoleOption(autoClose:true)]
void AutoCloseConsole() {
        Debug.Log("Console overlay should be closed now that you clicked a button with auto close flag");
}

⌨️ key: takes UnityEngine.InputSystem.Key on the new Input System, UnityEngine.KeyCode on the legacy Input Manager — the Options panel’s help text always shows the right one. Key bindings are Editor-only until you enable Features > In Player Key Bindings.

✅ Toggles

[ConsoleOption()]
bool InfiniteLives;

[ConsoleOption()]
bool InfiniteAmmo {get; set;}

Warning: Keybinding feature only works for buttons and toggles.

🔢 Numbers

[ConsoleOption]
int Health;

[ConsoleOption]
int HealthProperty {get; set;}

// With left and right step buttons
[ConsoleOption(increments:0.5f)]
float Speed;

// Range clamping
[ConsoleOption()]
[Range(1, 5)] // FYI: If you use a version before Unity 6, RangeAttribute can not be used in properties
int Strength;

🔢 Text fields

[ConsoleOption]
[Multiline] // if you need multiline text entry, put [Multiline] attribute. 
string UserCommentMessage;

[ConsoleOption]
void SaySomething(string receivedText)
{
        Debug.Log("You said: " + receivedText);
}

🔽 Enum Dropdown

[ConsoleOption]
DeviceOrientation preferredOrientation;

⚠️ Command Line fallback for unsupported options

Members the Options Menu can’t render — multiple parameters, unsupported types — are hidden, but still callable from the Command Line. You’ll see a “3 hidden item(s)” notice with a button to open it. Example:

[ConsoleOption("Demo/Introduce")]
void IntroduceFromPerson(string name, int age)
{
    Debug.Log($"Hello, my name is {name}. I am {age} years old.");
}

Call from Command Line:

demo/introduce "Ninjadini" 30

See Command Line for more details.

🧩 Add Option Items Programmatically

For full control and dynamic setup.

var catalog = NjConsole.Options.CreateCatalog();

A catalog is the unit of cleanup — catalog.RemoveAll() when you’re done with the set.

🔘 Buttons

catalog.AddButton("My First Button", () => Debug.Log("Clicked my first button"));

// directory / folder
catalog.AddButton("A Folder / Child Folder / Child Button", () => Debug.Log("Child button was clicked"));

// header sub-grouping
catalog.AddButton("A button in a header sub-group", () => {})
        .SetHeader("My Header");

// key binding to space key
catalog.AddButton("My Space Key Bound Button", () => Debug.Log("Clicked my Space key bound button"))
        .BindToKeyboard(KeyCode.Space);

// auto close console overlay
catalog.AddButton("My auto close button", () => Debug.Log("Console overlay should be closed now that you clicked a button with auto close flag"))
        .AutoCloseOverlay();

✅ Toggles

var toggle1 = false;
var toggle2 = false;

catalog.AddToggle("My First Toggle", (v) => toggle1 = v, () => toggle1);

// folder + key binding + auto close
catalog.AddToggle("A Folder / My T key Bound Toggle", (v) => toggle2 = v, () => toggle2)
        .BindToKeyboard(KeyCode.T)
        .AutoCloseOverlay();

Buttons and toggles take .BindToKeyboard(KeyCode.Space), or a combo via .BindToKeyboard(KeyCode.E, ConsoleKeyBindings.Modifier.Shift | ConsoleKeyBindings.Modifier.Ctrl). One keybinding per item. .AutoCloseOverlay() closes the overlay after a press.

🔢 Numbers

var aFloat = 12.34f;
catalog.AddNumberPrompt("A Number", (v) => aFloat= v, () => aFloat);

// clamped int number
var int0To100 = 50;
catalog.AddNumberPrompt("0 to 100", (v) => int0To100 = Mathf.Clamp(v, 0, 100), () => int0To100);

// Number prompt with left and right step buttons
var steppedNumber = 10;
catalog.AddNumberPrompt("Stepped number", (v) => steppedNumber = v, () => steppedNumber, 2);

🔢 Text fields

var text = "Initial text";
catalog.AddTextPrompt("My Text Prompt", (v) => text = v, () => text);

// Text prompt with submission validation and input restriction
var text2 = "Initial text";
catalog.AddTextPromptWithValidation("My validated text", 
  getter: () => text2, 
  setter: v => {
        if(v.All(char.IsUpper)) // in this example we only accept capital letters
        {
                text2 = v;
                return true; // return true to accept the input and close the prompt.
        }
        return false; // Return false to block user from closing the dialog due to invalid value.
  },
  validator: (v) => {
        if (v.Length > 5) v = v.Substring(0, 5); // Trim out invalid characters (or length) and return the valid version (optional)
        return v;
  } );

🔽 Dropdown choices

// Note the setter comes before the getter, same as AddToggle / AddNumberPrompt.
var choices = new List<string>() { "A", "B", "C", "D" };
var index = 0;
catalog.AddChoice("A Choice List", choices, (v) => index = v, () => index);

// An enum choice:
var platform = RuntimePlatform.OSXEditor;
catalog.AddEnumChoice("A Choice Enum", (v) => platform = v, () => platform);

// The choices list is live - edit it later and the dropdown follows.
// Or pass onBeforeDropDownListing to refill it right before the dropdown opens:
catalog.AddChoice("Live list", choices, (v) => index = v, () => index, () => RefillChoices(choices));

💡 Grouped paths keep menus navigable: catalog.AddButton("App / Utilities / Reload Scene", () => ReloadScene());

🤔 Should You Use [ConsoleOption] or Add Programmatically?

[ConsoleOption] — quick and declarative, and cleans up automatically when the MonoBehaviour is destroyed.

Programmatic — control over when and how options appear, slightly faster (no reflection), and the only way to build options dynamically:

foreach (var itemType in inventoryItemTypes)
{
        var local = itemType;
        catalog.AddButton("Inventory/Give " + itemType.Name, () => GiveItem(local));
}

🎯 Shortcuts

Pin an option item — or a whole folder — somewhere reachable without walking the menu. Two kinds, one header button each:

📌 How to Create a Shortcut

Press and hold any option item or folder, then drag.

• Editor window — it goes into the menu shortcuts list.
• Runtime overlay — drag to a screen corner for an overlay shortcut, or drop on the Add to Menu ≡ Shortcuts zone for the menu list instead.

Overlay shortcuts snap to one of four corners and fill horizontally or vertically depending on where you drop — top-left can fill right or down.

✏️ Overlay shortcut edit mode

Dropping your first overlay shortcut enters edit mode:

• 🟦 Drag existing items to reposition them.
• 🔁 Switch between 4 layouts (Set 1–Set 4).
• 📋 Show all options adds more without leaving edit mode.
• ⚙️ Auto Show at start displays them on game launch.
• 🧠 Shortcuts follow their linked options — they appear and disappear together.
• ✅ Done leaves edit mode; after Hide shortcuts, reopen it with the □ Shortcuts button.

✏️ Menu shortcuts

5 layout slots (Set 1–Set 5). The ≡ button on the toolbar offers Copy / Paste / Clear — copy/paste goes via the system clipboard, so you can share a set with a teammate or move it between the editor window and a device.

🖥️ Editor-only options

NjConsole.Options is for play mode. For items that work outside play mode use NjConsole.EditModeOptions — they appear in the console window’s Editor Options panel and survive entering and leaving play mode.

var catalog = NjConsole.EditModeOptions.CreateCatalog();
catalog.AddButton("My Editor Button", () => Debug.Log("Clicked my editor button"));

Same catalog API. Register from editor-only code — an Editor assembly or an [InitializeOnLoad] class — so nothing reaches your player build. Custom Panels applies the same idea to whole panels.

🧹 Removing options

A catalog is the unit of cleanup:

catalog.RemoveAll();                      // remove everything this catalog added
catalog.Remove("A Folder / My Button");   // remove one item by path

Both only touch items this catalog added. To clear a path regardless of owner, use RemoveIncludingConflicts(path) / RemoveAllIncludingConflicts().

CreateCatalogFrom(monoBehaviour) removes its items on destroy already — pass autoRemoveOnMonoBehaviourDestroy: false to manage it yourself.

⌨️ Binding keys without a menu item

.BindToKeyboard() is the usual route, but you can bind directly too:

NjConsole.KeyBindings.BindKeyDown(() => Debug.Log("C key was pressed"), KeyCode.C);
NjConsole.KeyBindings.BindKeyDown(() => Debug.Log("Shift + C"), KeyCode.C, ConsoleKeyBindings.Modifier.Shift);
NjConsole.KeyBindings.UnbindKeyDown(KeyCode.C, ConsoleKeyBindings.Modifier.None);

There are UnityEngine.InputSystem.Key overloads of each of these too.

In the Editor these work without passing the access challenge. In player builds they’re off unless Features > In Player Key Bindings is enabled, and then only after the challenge is passed.

💬 Tooltips / hint text

Any item can carry a hint:

catalog.AddButton("Reload Scene", ReloadScene).SetTooltip("Reloads the currently active scene");

With the attribute, use Unity’s [Tooltip]:

[ConsoleOption("profile/name")]
[Tooltip("Get or set user profile name")]
public string Name;

Tooltip shows up in three places:

• Options Menu — a hover tooltip on the item, so Editor and desktop only; there’s no hover on touch. - also sadly Unity sometimes doesn’t show tooltip during playmode.
• Command Line autocomplete — next to the suggestion.
• /help — next to the command.

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