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BeauPools

Current Version: 0.3.1
Updated 12 April 2024 | Changelog

About

BeauPools is an object pooling library for Unity. It contains both generic pools and a Unity-specific prefab pool, along with utilities for managing those prefab pools.

Table of Contents

1. Usage
   • Installing BeauPools
   • Pool Types
   • Creating/Destroying a Pool
   • Populating a Pool
   • Using a Pool
   • Callbacks and Events
2. PrefabPool
   • PrefabPool Requirements
   • SerializablePool
3. Reference
   • Pool Members
   • PoolConfig Members
   • PrefabPool Members
   • SerializablePool Members
   • Misc Utilities

Usage

Installing BeauPools

Download BeauPools.unitypackage from the repo. Unpack it into your project.

BeauData uses the BeauPools namespace. You'll need to add the statement using BeauPools; to the top of any scripts using it.

Pool Types

There are four types of pools in BeauPools: Fixed, Dynamic, Prefab, and Serializable.

Creating/Destroying a Pool

public class SomeObject { ... }

// -- Creating a FixedPool --

// Max size for the FixedPool
int fixedPoolCapacity = 32;

// Constructor, required for generating pool elements
// This should return identical elements every call
// Pool.DefaultConstructor returns a default constructor for types with empty constructors
Constructor<SomeObject> someObjectConstructor = Pool.DefaultConstructor<SomeObject>();

// Strict typing
// True by default. Set this to false if you don't know
// exactly the type of object being generated by the constructor
bool fixedPoolStrictTyping = true;

// Finally, generating the pool
FixedPool<SomeObject> fixedPool = new FixedPool<SomeObject>( fixedPoolCapacity, someObjectConstructor, fixedPoolStrictTyping );

// -- Creating a DynamicPool --

// You can use more specific constructors if desired
Constructor<SomeObject> customObjectConstructor = (IPool<SomeObject> pool) => { return new SomeObject(); };

DynamicPool<SomeObject> dynamicPool = new DynamicPool<SomeObject>( 16, customObjectConstructor );

// -- Destroying a Pool ---

// To destroy a pool, call Dispose()
fixedPool.Dispose();
dynamicPool.Dispose();

Populating a Pool

By default, pools do not start with any elements. You must prewarm the pool with its initial set of elements.

// This will ensure the pool contains 16 elements
somePool.Prewarm( 16 );

// This will fill the pool up to its current capacity.
somePool.Prewarm();

You can shrink the number of elements in the pool down as well.

// This will ensure the pool contains no more than 16 elements.
somePool.Shrink( 16 );

You can also clear a pool of all its elements with Clear().

Using a Pool

To allocate an element from the pool, call Alloc(). To return it to the pool, call Free( [element] ).

// Allocate the element from the pool
var element = somePool.Alloc();

// Do something with the pooled element
...

// Return the element to the pool
somePool.Free(element);

You can also allocate and free in batches.

List<SomeObject> objectInUse = new List<SomeObject>();

// This will allocate 16 elements and add them to the list
somePool.Alloc(objectsInUse, 16);

// Do something with those elements
...

// Free them all at once
somePool.Free(objectsInUse);

Callbacks and Events

If your pooled object inherits from the IPooledObject<T> interface, it will receive certain calls from the pool during the object's lifecycle. These events are OnConstruct, OnAlloc, OnFree, and finally OnDestruct. The IPoolConstructHandler and IPoolAllocHandler interfaces also exist to provide non-generic interfaces for receiving these events, regardless of the exact pool type.

public class PooledObjectWithCallbacks : IPooledObject<PooledObjectWithCallbacks>
{
	// Called when this object is constructed for the given pool 
	public void OnConstruct(IPool<T> inPool)
    {
		...
	}
    
    // Called when the element is allocated from the pool
    public void OnAlloc()
    {
		...
	}
    
    // Called when the element is returned to the pool
    public void OnFree()
    {
		...
	}
    
    // Called when the element is destroyed from within the pool
    public void OnDestruct()
    {
    	...
    }
}

public class SomeConstructHandler : IPoolConstructHandler
{
    public void OnConstruct()
    {
        ...
    }

    public void OnDestruct()
    {
        ...
    }
}

public class SomeAllocHandler : IPoolAllocHandler
{
    public void OnAlloc()
    {
        ...
    }

    public void OnFree()
    {
        ...
    }
}

Some suggested uses for these callbacks:

• Use the OnAlloc or OnFree callbacks to help reset state.
• Use OnConstruct and OnDestruct to help manage resources in situations where the standard Unity Awake and OnDestroy events may not fire (i.e. the object might never be activated)
• Use OnConstruct(IPool<T>) to remember the pool that owns this object. This would allow you to write a method to return the object to its owning pool.

Every pool also contains an PoolConfig object. This allows you to register additional callbacks on a per-pool rather than per-element basis. See PoolConfig Members below for documentation.

PrefabPool

PrefabPool Requirements

PrefabPools are pools intended for instantiating and pooling Unity prefab objects. To this end, they have the following properties.

• New instances are assigned as children of a specific Transform. You should ensure this Transform is disabled to avoid unwanted behaviour from your pooled instances.
• By default, allocated instances are assigned as children of a specific Transform, or the root of the scene if no Transform is provided.
• By default, allocated instances reset their position and orientation on allocation. This can be disabled.
• PrefabPool provides overridden versions of the Alloc method to mirror some of Unity's Instantiate methods. See PrefabPool Members below for documentation.
• Any components on the prefab or its children that implement the IPoolConstructHandler or IPoolAllocHandler will receive pool events (OnConstruct, OnAlloc, OnFree, OnDestruct)
• Instances are given a component tracking the PrefabPool that created it. You can use the Pool.TryFree(GameObject) or Pool.TryFree(Component) utilities to access this and free the prefab back to its pool, without needing to maintain your own reference to the pool itself.

SerializablePool

BeauPools provides the SerializablePool object for easy setup of a PrefabPool in the inspector. It can be treated as a PrefabPool, and also provides a set of methods for managing all currently allocated/active objects from the pool.

A SerializablePool operates by constructing an internal PrefabPool and performing operations on that pool. The internal pool will be constructed when Initialize is called. It will also be lazily instantiated if any Alloc or Prewarm methods are called. It will not be lazily instantiated if a Free method is called, and will error if the internal pool is not present.

Note: due to Unity's serialization rules in versions prior to 2020.1, you must create a subclass of SerializablePool for each type of component you want to pool.

// This is necessary, since Unity won't serialize generic classes
[Serializable]
public SomePooledBehaviourPool : SerializablePool<SomePooledBehaviour> { }

public class TestSerializedPool : MonoBehaviour
{
	[SerializeField]
	private SomePooledBehaviorPool myPool;
    
    private void Start()
    {
  		// Initialize can be called before the pool is used, but is not required
		myPool.Initialize();
	}
    
    private void OnDestroy()
    {
    	// Make sure to destroy your pool before it goes out of scope
    	myPool.Destroy();
    }
    
    public SomePooledBehaviour Spawn()
    {
    	// A SerializablePool can be treated like any other pool
    	return myPool.Alloc();
    }
}

Reference

Pool Members

PoolConfig Members

PrefabPool Members

SerializablePool Members

Misc Utilities