Use different "reset" icons for instanced scene properties in the inspector

[Calinou]

Describe the project you are working on

The Godot editor 🙂

Describe the problem or limitation you are having in your project

Right now, the Reset button next to a property looks identical in the inspector, regardless of its "reason":

• A property can have a reset button because its value differs from the node's default value.
• For instanced/inherited scenes, a property can have a reset button because its value differs from the parent scene's default value.

This can be confusing to people who make heavy use of instanced scenes.

Describe the feature / enhancement and how it helps to overcome the problem or limitation

Use slightly different icons (and/or different colors) to distinguish between a reset icon that is shown because the property is different from its default value, and a reset icon that is shown because the instanced scene has a value different from its parent.

Describe how your proposal will work, with code, pseudo-code, mock-ups, and/or diagrams

The Reset icon could have a different color when comparing against a parent scene (compared to the default value).

For instanced scene properties, we could also have an icon that means "modified from the default value, but identical to parent scene". This icon could take the form of an asterisk (similar to the "modified" marker used in the window title). This icon wouldn't be clickable, though.

See godotengine/godot#45536 (comment).

If this enhancement will not be used often, can it be worked around with a few lines of script?

No, as EditorInspector is drawn by the engine's C++ code.

Is there a reason why this should be core and not an add-on in the asset library?

See above.

[dalexeev]

I was just thinking about another issue, but it also related to the reset button. It seems to me that we should distinguish between default values ​​and values ​​that are the same as default values. This is done for custom theme properties (which have a checkbox instead of a reset button in the inspector), but for other properties it is not possible to save a value to the scene file if the value matches the default. See comment on my PR godotengine/godot#39072. The proposed solution, using black as a special value (at which the behavior of the property suddenly starts to differ) does not look entirely clean IMO.

With regard to this proposal, it seems confusing to me. As many as 3 options for the type of reset button and the 4th state is its absence. The current behavior IMO is not a bug, but the correct behavior. This is how inheritance works, the change must be calculated relative to the default of the last inherited class/scene, not its ancestors.

[dalexeev]

For example:

Control

FocusMode	focus_mode	0

BaseButton

FocusMode	focus_mode	2 (parent override)

If it works like this for classes, then it should work in the same way for scenes. No need to overcomplicate.

[timothyqiu]

I think a special reset icon is unnecessary because the action is still "reset the value to be the same as its parent". And once clicked, the asterisk icon is revealed anyway, indicating the default value is changed somewhere in the inheritance chain.

[Calinou]

I think a special reset icon is unnecessary because the action is still "reset the value to be the same as its parent". And once clicked, the asterisk icon is revealed anyway, indicating the default value is changed somewhere in the inheritance chain.

Should I amend this proposal to keep only the asterisk icon?

[timothyqiu]

Should I amend this proposal to keep only the asterisk icon?

I think so since comments in the corresponding PR also have similar thoughts.