How to store a reference to a add_Child() object? The function returns void.

Question

We can add nodes by doing add_child(node), however how we can store a reference for later use? My expectation was that this was going to work:

Julliet = add_child(Julliet_Template)

However in the editor it says:

Assignment operation, but the function 'add_child()' returns void.

I have researched the topic but nobody is talking about this, this will be very useful for a lot of reasons. Where is the blackmagic? I can't find it. o.o

Answer 1

The node you add is your reference. In your example, Julliet_Template is a reference to the node you added. I'm not sure what else you're looking for there...

Comments

I was expecting a unique RID from add_child, kind like a unique copy. Because we can add multiple instances using add_child as far as I know. But I can still do this using meta or some sort of reference injection through the parent if say, a child has X var or value. But I see what you mean now. Thanks @Jgodfrey!

Just for details why I thought like this, is because I am used to create some nodes like this:

onready var TWEEN = Tween.new()

func _ready():
    add_child(TWEEN)
    #TWEEN INTERPOLATE STUFF

    yield(TWEEN,"tween_all_completed") 

    print(name," : feedback 1")

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Because we can add multiple instances using add_child as far as I know.

No, that's not true. A node instance can only exist in one place in the scene tree, and therefore can only have a single parent. If you attempt to parent the same node instance to multiple nodes (via add_child) the second one (and beyond) will fail as the instance already has a parent.

You can create multiple instances of the same scene, and add each of them to the scene tree in any location you want. But, each single instance can only have a single parent. And, each instance really is the reference you're after...

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Oh I see now, never thought of instances like that. I guess it's my fault for not going far down the rabbit hole enough :D thanks again, you always bring clear answers! +1