MiniBinder

MiniBinder is a powerful data binding, change notification and state synchronization library for Unity. It's designed to simplify the process of connecting game View and Logic, especially in UI-heavy projects.

Features

• Simplifies variable change detection via the Bindable<> class
• Supports complex binding structures, including many-to-many relationships and cyclical bindings
• Automatically detects and resolves recursive bindings
• Contains a built-in integration with Unity's UI Toolkit
• Includes various high-level utilities and extension methods to simplify the binding process

Examples

Detecting variable change

public readonly BindableProperty<string> MyVariable = new("some text");

private void Start()
{
    //Run code on variable change
    MyVariable.Bind(MyFunction);

    Debug.Log(MyVariable); //\"some text"

    //Set the variable's value
    MyVariable.Value = "some other text"; //\"MyVariable has been changed to some other text"

}

void MyFunction(string value)
{
    Debug.Log($"MyVariable has been changed to \"{value}\"");
}

You can think of the BindableProperty<> class as a box that contains the actual variable. As we don't want to replace the entire Bindable but only its value, we mark it as readonly and use its .Value property instead.

Synchronizing two variables

public readonly BindableProperty<int> a = new(10);
public readonly BindableProperty<int> b = new(20);

private void Start()
{
    //Bind a to b
    a.Bind(b);
    Debug.Log($"{a}, {b}"); //20, 20

    a.Value = 1337;
    Debug.Log(b); //1337

    b.Value = 14;
    Debug.Log(a); //14
}

Synchonizing a variable with UI

public readonly BindableProperty<float> MyFloat = new(0);

void Awake()
{
    var slider = FindObjectOfType<UIDocument>()
        .rootVisualElement.Q<Slider>("mySlider");

    slider.Bind(MyFloat);
}

private void Update()
{
    MyFloat.Value = Mathf.Sin(Time.time);
    Debug.Log(MyFloat);
}

Processing bound data

public readonly BindableProperty<string> Name = new("Bob");
public readonly BindableProperty<string> Message = new();

void Start()
{
    Message.Bind(Name, inputProcessor: DataProcessor);
    Debug.Log(Message); //Hello, I'm Bob!

    Name.Value = "John";
    Debug.Log(Message); //Hello, I'm John!
}

string DataProcessor(string value)
{
    return $"Hello, I'm {value}!";
}

Complex binding structure

public readonly BindableProperty<bool> IsPlaying = new();

void Start()
{
    var root = FindObjectOfType<UIDocument>().rootVisualElement;

    root.Q<Toggle>("play").Bind(IsPlaying);
    root.Q<Toggle>("pause").Bind(IsPlaying,
        inputProcessor: ReverseBool, outputProcessor: ReverseBool);
}

private void Update()
{
    Debug.Log(IsPlaying);
}

bool ReverseBool(bool value) => !value;