How do I put structs in their own header?

Development Programming & Scripting
1

I have a few simple structs and enums I am using in my project. I would like to separate these out into their own header files for readability. My issue is that, creating a new header in the source folder does not get built and seems to be ignored by Unreal. I could use the “create new C++ class” menu option, but I don’t know what additional code that generates and don’t need the cpp file. I should note that these are not USTRUCTS, they are just regular structs I am using to contain a few data types.

2

You only have to create a header file. Put USTRUCT() and UENUM() macros above your types when you want to use them as UPROPERTY()'s. Also very important, you have to add #include "YourFileName.generated.h" at the top. One more thing, make sure that the new file actually is in your source directory of your project. When you create a file in VisualStudio, the default path is somewhere in Intermediate folder.

Here is an example of a header file:

//ProcGenBlueprintTypes.h

#pragma once

#include "ProcGenBlueprintTypes.generated.h"

UENUM(BlueprintType)
enum class EStudentTypes : uint8
{
	General,
	Standard,
	Fat,
	PhoneCheater,
	PaperPlane,
	Punk,
};


USTRUCT()
struct FStudentProp
{
	GENERATED_USTRUCT_BODY()

	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly, BlueprintReadWrite, Category = "Student")
	UStaticMesh* Mesh;

	UPROPERTY(EditDefaultsOnly, BlueprintReadWrite, Category = "Student")
	UMaterial* MaterialOverride;

	FStudentProp::FStudentProp()
	{
		Mesh = NULL;
		MaterialOverride = NULL;
	}

	void SetMesh(UStaticMesh* NewMesh)
	{
		Mesh = NewMesh;
	}
};
2 Likes
3

Ah thanks, the intermediate folder was my problem. Can you explain a little bit about including the generated header? I am not sure of it’s purpose and currently attempting to do so just results in source file could not be opened.

4

Well, UnrealHeaderTool does things and stuff. Compilation kinda happens in two steps. Step 1: UnrealHeaderTool scans your code for unreal related data and puts extra code inside these generated header files. Step 2: standard c++ compiling of the generated code.