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Configuring behaviors

The main configuration for a behavior is set in behavior.js.

Behavior constants

The following constants are defined in the file-level scope:

const BEHAVIOR_ID = "MyCompany_MyAddon";
const BEHAVIOR_VERSION = "1.0.0.0";	// addon SDK v1 only
const BEHAVIOR_CATEGORY = "general";

The ID and version constants must match the values specified in addon.json.

BEHAVIOR_ID
This is a unique ID that identifies your behavior from all other addons. This must not be used by any other addon ever published for Construct 3. It must never change after you first publish your addon. (The name is the only visible identifier of the addon in the Construct 3 editor, so that can be changed any time, but the ID must always be the same.) To ensure it is unique, it is recommended to use a vendor-specific prefix, e.g. MyCompany_MyAddon.
BEHAVIOR_VERSION Addon SDK v1 only
A string specifying the addon version in four parts (major, minor, patch, revision). Be sure to update this when releasing updates to your addon, which must also be updated in addon.json.
BEHAVIOR_CATEGORY
The category for the behavior when displaying it in the Add behavior dialog. This must be one of "attributes", "general", "movements", "other".

Updating behavior identifiers

The main class declaration of the behavior looks like this:

const BEHAVIOR_CLASS = SDK.Behaviors.MyCompany_MyAddon = class MyCustomBehavior extends SDK.IBehaviorBase

Be sure to update the identifiers to describe your own behavior, in both the SDK namespace and the class name.

Updating in type.js and instance.js

Likewise in both type.js and instance.js, you must update the following:

  • BEHAVIOR_CLASS to refer to your behavior's name
  • The class name suffixed with Type or Instance. (For example the Bullet behavior uses BulletBehavior, BulletType and BulletInstance as the three names.)

Optional behavior scripts

Addon SDK v2 only With the addon SDK v2, you may omit the editor script files type.js and instance.js, as well as the runtime script files plugin.js and type.js. If these files are omitted, it uses the default base class with no modifications. To remove these files, be sure to do the following:

  1. Delete any unused script files
  2. Remove the files from the "file-list" array in addon.json
  3. Remove any unused editor script files from the "editor-scripts" array in addon.json
  4. In the editor behavior script, call this._info.SetC3RuntimeScripts() with an array of the runtime script files in use, as the default list includes c3runtime/behavior.js and c3runtime/type.js.

The behavior constructor

The main function of behavior.js is to define a class representing your behavior. In the class constructor, the configuration for the behavior is set via the this._info member, which is an IBehaviorInfo interface. The constructor also reads potentially translated strings from the language subsystem.

For more information about the possible behavior configurations, see the IBehaviorInfo reference.

Specifying behavior properties

The behavior properties appear in the Properties Bar when instances using the behavior are selected. To set which properties appear, pass an array of PluginProperty to this._info.SetProperties. An example is shown below. For more details see the PluginProperty reference. (Note that behaviors use the same property class as plugins, hence re-using the PluginProperty class for behaviors.)

	this._info.SetProperties([
		new SDK.PluginProperty("integer", "test-property", 0)
	]);
Addon SDK Manual 2024-05-20