Bulk update Scriptable Objects from CSV/JSON in Unity via C# code

Got a database as CSV or JSON file and you would like to use it to update Scriptable Objects in bulk? Check this out!

🧰📝🔄

Walkthrough

File pre-requirements

• Must be located in Assets/Resources/myfolder
• Must have an extension in txt,html,htm,xml,bytes,json,csv,yaml,fnt. Note: tsv is not supported. (https://forum.unity.com/threads/tsv-file-as-textassets.495244/)

Doc

• TextAsset https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/TextAsset.html

using UnityEngine;
using UnityEditor;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq; // for Cast()

public class UnityTools : MonoBehaviour
{

    [MenuItem("Tools/FCO/Compute Characters")]
    static void ComputeCharacters()
    {
        Debug.Log("ComputeCharacters: start");
        TextAsset asset = Resources.Load<TextAsset>("myfolder/db_characters"); // no extension
        string[] lines = asset.text.Split('\n'); // line separator, i.e. newline
        lines = lines.Skip(1).Take(lines.Length - 1 - 1).ToArray(); // remove header and last empty line
        foreach (string line in lines)
        {
            string[] cols = line.Split('\t'); // column separator, i.e. tabulation
            Debug.Log("col0: " + col[0]); // will display first column for each line
        }
    }
}

Update Scriptable Object

Pre requirements

• Scriptable Objects must be located in Assets/Resources/myfolder2

Skill[] skills = Resources.LoadAll("myfolder2", typeof(Skill)).Cast<Skill>().ToArray(); // load all "Skill" Scriptable Objects
foreach (Skill skill in skills)
{
    skill.id = id; // update any field
    skill.slots = new List<string> { "a", "b" }; // even List
    EditorUtility.SetDirty(skill); // flag SO as dirty
}
Debug.Log("ComputeCharacters: saving db");
AssetDatabase.SaveAssets(); // save assets to disk
AssetDatabase.Refresh(); // refresh editor
Debug.Log("ComputeCharacters: end");