Scratch To Unity: Control

This post provides a handy reference guide to go from Scratch’s “Control” category of code blocks to C# with Unity.

Code Blocks

Click on the picture of any of these Scratch code blocks to see how to write similar code statements in C#.












[csharp]
IEnumerator Start()
{
// Optional code here
yield return new WaitForSeconds(1f);
// Optional code here
}
[/csharp]


[csharp]
for (int i = 0; i < 10; ++i) { // Code to repeat } [/csharp]


You can simply use the “Update” method of a “MonoBehaviour”:

[csharp]
void Update()
{
// Code to repeat per frame
}
[/csharp]

Or, you can use a “while” loop. Make sure to provide some way to pause execution (like a yield statement in a Coroutine) or you will lock up Unity.

[csharp]
IEnumerator Start()
{
while(true)
{
// Optional code here
yield return null; // wait a frame
// Optional code here
}
}
[/csharp]


[csharp]
// “condition” is anything that evaluates to true or false
if (condition)
{
// Code to execute when condition is true
}
[/csharp]


[csharp]
// “condition” is anything that evaluates to true or false
if (condition)
{
// Code to execute when condition is true
}
else
{
// Code to execute when condition is false
}
[/csharp]


[csharp]
// Optional code here
// “condition” is anything that evaluates to true or false
yield return new WaitUntil(() => condition);
// Optional code here
[/csharp]


This is basically a “while” loop where you want the condition to be false:

[csharp]
// “condition” is anything that evaluates to true or false
while (!condition)
{
// Code to repeat
}
[/csharp]


You can stop a script by disabling it.

[csharp]
enabled = false;
[/csharp]

Or, if you were running a Coroutine you could stop it:

[csharp]
var coroutine = SomeCoroutine();
StartCoroutine(coroutine);
StopCoroutine(coroutine);
[/csharp]


There isn’t a “good” equivalent for this, but a possible solution exists based on a pattern Unity has implemented. Whenever a clone is instantiated, the name of the clone will have “(Clone)” added to the end of its name. I only say it isn’t a “good” solution because you can rename an instantiated clone and then wouldn’t have any way to determine that status.

[csharp]
void Start()
{
if (name.Contains(“Clone”))
{
Debug.Log(“I’m a clone!”);
}
}
[/csharp]


[csharp]
Instantiate(gameObject);
[/csharp]


[csharp]
Destroy(gameObject);
[/csharp]

Summary

This should cover all of the code blocks in Scratch’s “Control” category. If you have any questions about this reference guide feel free to ask below.

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