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Inspecting Data: Hierarchy & Details

The Hierarchy and Details panels are the primary tools you'll use for inspecting and interacting with your game's state in real-time.

The Hierarchy View​

This panel is your main window into the world of FactsDB. It provides a structured view of all Schemas or live Contexts.

Browsing the Tree​

  • Search Bar: At the top of the panel, the search bar allows you to quickly filter the entire tree. You can search by Context name, Actor name, Fact tag, or even the current value of a Fact.
  • Expansion: Use the expander arrows (>/v) to drill down into a Context and see the Facts it contains.
  • Hierarchical vs. Flat View: Use the toolbar button to toggle the display.
    • Hierarchical (Default): Facts are organized into "folders" based on their Gameplay Tag structure (e.g., Fact.Player.Stat.Health appears inside a Stat folder, which is inside a Player folder). This is excellent for browsing and discovery.
    • Flat: All facts for a context are shown in a simple, non-nested list. This can be useful for quickly scanning all values in a small schema.

Understanding the Columns​

  • Name: Displays the name of the node.
    • For a Scope, it shows the owning Actor's label and the Context ID.
    • For a Fact, it shows the last part of its Gameplay Tag (e.g., Health).
    • Tooltip: Hover over any name to see its full, unique identifier (the full Context ID or Fact Tag).
  • Type / Status: Shows the data type of the Fact (e.g., FactFloat, FactBool, or your custom struct name).
  • Value: Shows a condensed, human-readable representation of the Fact's current value.

Iconography and Indicators​

The Hierarchy View uses several icons to give you information at a glance:

IconMeaningDescription
Folder IconScope / ContextRepresents a live runtime Context, usually labeled with its owning Actor.
Pill IconFactRepresents an individual Fact. The color of the pill matches its Blueprint data type.
Star IconFavoriteIndicates that this node has been marked as a favorite. Click the star icon to toggle this.
Lock IconRead-OnlyThis Fact is defined as bIsReadOnly in its Schema and cannot be modified at runtime.
Link IconInheritedThis Fact is not defined directly in the Context's Schema, but is inherited from a parent Schema. Hover for details.
Italic TextDefault ValueA Fact's name will appear in italics if its current value is still the default value loaded from its Schema. Once modified, the text becomes regular.

The Details Panel​

When you select a Fact node in the Hierarchy view, the Details panel comes to life.

Inspecting Values​

The panel displays the Fact's Value property in a standard Unreal property editor. This allows you to inspect all fields of complex structs, check vector components, or see the precise value of a float.

Live Editing during PIE​

This is one of the debugger's most powerful features.

  1. Start a PIE session.
  2. Select a Fact in the Hierarchy view.
  3. In the Details panel, simply change its value.

The change is instantly pushed into the game. This allows for incredibly fast iteration and balancing. You can tweak a character's speed, damage, or health in real-time without stopping the game, recompiling, or restarting.

Editing a player's health fact live in the Details panel

Editing Limitations

Live editing is only possible under these conditions:

  • You must be in a Play-In-Editor (PIE) or Simulate-In-Editor (SIE) session.
  • You must have network authority over the Actor that owns the UFactsComponent. In a typical client-server setup, this means you can only edit values on the server.
  • The Fact itself must not be marked as bIsReadOnly in its FFactDefinition. The Details panel will show a warning banner if editing is disabled for any of these reasons.

Context Menu​

Right-clicking on a node in the Hierarchy view opens a context menu with useful shortcuts. The available actions adapt to the type of node selected, providing relevant tools for both individual Facts and live runtime Contexts.

For a Fact node:​
  • Toggle Favorite: Adds or removes the fact from the favorites list for quick access.
  • Copy Tag Path: Copies the full FFactTag (e.g., Facts.Character.Stats.Health) to the clipboard.
  • Open Source DataTable: Jumps directly to the UDataTable asset and the specific row where this fact's default value and properties are defined. This action is invaluable for tracing data origins.
  • Focus Actor: (Available only on facts within a runtime context) Selects the owning Actor of the context in the main level viewport and focuses the camera on it.

The context menu for a Fact node in the Hierarchy view

For a runtime Context node:​

  • Focus Actor: Selects the owning Actor of this context in the main level viewport and focuses the camera on it.

  • Toggle Favorite: Adds or removes the entire context node from the favorites list.

  • Copy Context ID: Copies the full, unique FFactContextID string (e.g., Context.Enemy.Goblin[Goblin_Instance_42]) to the clipboard.

  • Save/Load Context: Provides options to serialize the context's current state to a JSON or binary file, and to load a previously saved state back into the live context. This is a powerful feature for debugging specific scenarios and for save/load testing.

Next Up: The Query Explorer