GUILayoutButton

GUILayoutButton is a function in the Unity game engine's IMGUI (Immediate Mode Graphical User Interface) system. It is used to create a button that, when clicked, triggers a specific action or event. Unlike traditional GUI elements that are managed as objects, IMGUI elements are drawn and processed on the fly during the OnGUI() function call. This makes GUILayoutButton suitable for simpler UI elements or editor scripting where performance is not as critical as in a full game runtime.

The GUILayoutButton function typically takes a string as its primary argument, which serves as the text displayed on the button. It returns a boolean value: true if the button was clicked during the current frame, and false otherwise. This return value is crucial for detecting user interaction and executing code in response. Developers can wrap the GUILayoutButton call within an if statement to perform actions only when the button is pressed.

GUILayoutButton is part of the layout system, meaning it automatically handles the positioning and sizing of the button within the GUI. It respects the layout of other IMGUI elements, arranging them in a flow. This simplifies the process of creating basic user interfaces without the need for manual coordinate calculations. However, for more complex or visually rich UIs, Unity's UI Toolkit or the older UGUI system are generally preferred.