ChildManager

source: ChildManager.gd extends: Object

Copyright (c) 2026
Liam Sherwin — All rights reserved.
Licensed under GPLv3

ChildManager is a utility class that provides a unified interface for managing children of a parent object. It wraps a set of user-supplied Callable references for creating, adding, removing, and retrieving children, and connects to signals on the parent to track changes. When children are added or removed, ChildManager batches the notifications and emits modification_callback once per deferred frame.

The user-supplied callables must implement the following interface:

In cases where network synchronisation or RPC calls are in use, all user-supplied methods except get_children may return a Promise that resolves once a response is received from the remote. The value passed when the Promise resolves must still match the return type specified in the interface above.

Signals

modification_callback

Args: Array: added, Array: removed
Emitted once per deferred frame whenever children have been added or removed since the last emission. added contains all children added during the batch window, and removed contains all children removed.

Public API

_init

Args:

• Object: p_parent
• Callable: p_create_child
• Callable: p_add_child
• Callable: p_add_children
• Callable: p_remove_child
• Callable: p_remove_children
• Callable: p_get_children
• Signal: p_children_added
• Signal: p_children_removed
• Script: p_index_class
• Script: p_child_class

Returns: void

Initialises the ChildManager with all required references. Each argument is passed directly to its corresponding setter. p_children_added and p_children_removed are connected to internal handlers immediately.

create_child

Args: String: p_class_name
Returns: Promise

Calls the configured create-child callable with the given class name. Returns a rejected Promise if no create-child callable has been set.

add_child

Args: Object: p_child
Returns: Promise

Calls the configured add-child callable with the given object. Returns a rejected Promise if no add-child callable has been set.

add_children

Args: Array: p_children
Returns: Promise

Calls the configured add-children callable with the given array of objects. Returns a rejected Promise if no add-children callable has been set.

remove_child

Args: Object: p_child
Returns: Promise

Calls the configured remove-child callable with the given object. Returns a rejected Promise if no remove-child callable has been set.

remove_children

Args: Array: p_children
Returns: Promise

Calls the configured remove-children callable with the given array of objects. Returns a rejected Promise if no remove-children callable has been set.

get_children

Args: null
Returns: Array

Calls the configured get-children callable and returns the result. Returns an empty Array if no get-children callable has been set.

get_parent

Args: null
Returns: Object

Returns the parent object.

get_create_child_method

Args: null
Returns: Callable

Returns the callable used to create a new child.

get_add_child_method

Args: null
Returns: Callable

Returns the callable used to add a single child.

get_add_children_method

Args: null
Returns: Callable

Returns the callable used to add multiple children.

get_remove_child_method

Args: null
Returns: Callable

Returns the callable used to remove a single child.

get_remove_children_method

Args: null
Returns: Callable

Returns the callable used to remove multiple children.

get_get_children_method

Args: null
Returns: Callable

Returns the callable used to get all children.

get_children_added

Args: null
Returns: Signal

Returns the signal that is emitted by the parent when children are added.

get_children_removed

Args: null
Returns: Signal

Returns the signal that is emitted by the parent when children are removed.

get_index_class

Args: null
Returns: Script

Returns the script assigned as the index class for this ChildManager.

get_child_class

Args: null
Returns: Script

Returns the script that all child classes must inherit from.

set_parent

Args: Object: p_parent
Returns: void

Sets the parent object.

set_create_child

Args: Callable: p_method
Returns: void

Sets the callable used to create a new child.

set_add_child_method

Args: Callable: p_method
Returns: void

Sets the callable used to add a single child.

set_add_children_method

Args: Callable: p_method
Returns: void

Sets the callable used to add multiple children.

set_remove_child_method

Args: Callable: p_method
Returns: void

Sets the callable used to remove a single child.

set_remove_children_method

Args: Callable: p_method
Returns: void

Sets the callable used to remove multiple children.

set_get_children_method

Args: Callable: p_method
Returns: void

Sets the callable used to get all children.

set_children_added

Args: Signal: p_signal
Returns: void

Sets the signal to listen to for child additions. If a previous signal was connected, it is disconnected first. The new signal is connected to the internal addition handler immediately.

set_children_removed

Args: Signal: p_signal
Returns: void

Sets the signal to listen to for child removals. If a previous signal was connected, it is disconnected first. The new signal is connected to the internal removal handler immediately.

set_index_class

Args: Script: p_script
Returns: void

Sets the script assigned as the index class for this ChildManager.

set_child_class

Args: Script: p_script
Returns: void

Sets the script that all child classes must inherit from.

is_read_only

Args: null
Returns: bool

Returns true if any of the create, add, or remove callables are null. A read-only ChildManager can still retrieve children via get_children but cannot modify them.

Notes

• modification_callback is always emitted deferred, once per frame, batching all additions and removals that occurred during that frame into a single emission.
• If a callable passed to any set_* method is null, the corresponding operation method (add_child, remove_child, etc.) will return a rejected Promise rather than erroring.
• set_children_added and set_children_removed handle signal reconnection automatically — it is safe to call them after initialisation to swap signals.