Godot: get_node not working with absolute paths or misleading error message

[MrRevington]

OS: Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.18363.720] 64bit
Godot: v3.2.1.stable.mono.official 64bit

It seems get_node (same with $) is not working as expected.

Specify steps to reproduce:
Suppose you have the following tree:
/root/Character
/root/Character/Sword

And a script attached to Sword.

Inside that script you have:
func _ready() -> void:
var bug = get_node("/root/Character")

If you now type bug. below var bug you get "Node not found: /root/Character." in the output window of the editor.
Get_node_bug.zip

And you don't get code completion for properties like position if the Character is a Node for example.

[KoBeWi]

Root is the main Viewport node, you are probably confusing it with main scene, which a sub-node of viewport (check Remote Tree to see how it looks in game).

[Ev1lbl0w]

What you probably want to do is this:

var bug = $".." # <--- now "bug" is the parent node, aka Character

You should read more of Godot's tutorials to understand the node structure, like this one

[Calinou]

Indeed, it's better to use relative paths in your particular case. If you're unsure about a node's full path, you can always check the remote inspector by running the project, alt-tabbing to the editor and clicking the Remote sub-tab in the Scene tree dock.

Closing, as this isn't a bug.

[MrRevington]

What you probably want to do is this:
No i do not want to do this.

var bug = $".." # <--- now "bug" is the parent node, aka Character

You should read more of Godot's tutorials to understand the node structure, like this one

My example is from the offical docs:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.2/classes/class_node.html#class-node-method-get-node

Indeed, it's better to use relative paths in your particular case. If you're unsure about a node's full path, you can always check the remote inspector by running the project, alt-tabbing to the editor and clicking the Remote sub-tab in the Scene tree dock.

Closing, as this isn't a bug.

Please see this image:

/root/Character is a valid path

The path works at runtime but the code completion does not and spams the output panel with the "node not found" message.

Root is the main Viewport node, you are probably confusing it with main scene, which a sub-node of viewport (check Remote Tree to see how it looks in game).
I don't know what you mean, please see:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/3.2/getting_started/step_by_step/scene_tree.html#root-viewport

But if what you say is correct, should /Character not work?

It does not and the correct path for my example imho is /root/Character

Absolute node path are supposed to be supported (and do work at runtime) but the editor somehow can't find them for code completion.

If the manual is out of date and it is not supported anymore - it should proably not work at runtime no?

[Zireael07]

Looks like your path is indeed correct - absolute paths are supported in general but it seems code completion doesn't work with them.

[Ev1lbl0w]

/root/Character is a valid path

The path works at runtime but the code completion does not and spams the output panel with the "node not found" message.

It's valid in this specific case. Imagine if you, instead, load this node somewhere else, and run the same code. If the structure is something like /root/World/Town/Character/Sword, your code will no longer work.

It works at runtime, but in the context of the editor, the editor has no clue how does the scene tree look like.

Absolute node path are supposed to be supported (and do work at runtime) but the editor somehow can't find them for code completion.

Yes: you can use absolute node paths. But to reiterate, it's generally a bad idea. It's best to keep your scenes loosely-coupled; otherwise a simple and small change can break your entire project, if you rely on this method.

To quote the page I linked for the wiki, which explains this best:

When Godot users begin crafting their own scenes, they often run into the following problem:

They create their first scene and fill it with content before the creeping sense that they need to split it up into re-usable pieces haunts them. They save branches of their scene into their own scene. However, they then notice that the hard references they were able to rely on before are no longer possible. Re-using the scene in multiple places creates issues because the node paths do not find their targets. Signal connections established in the editor break.

[MrRevington]

It's valid in this specific case. Imagine if you, instead, load this node somewhere else, and run the same code. If the structure is something like /root/World/Town/Character/Sword, your code will no longer work.

Yeah it's not optimal to use nodes like that but there are specials cases were it is fine and also it's not about what is better or worse.

It works at runtime, but in the context of the editor, the editor has no clue how does the scene tree look like.

Well it does have in this case because otherwise none of the get_node variations would work I think or maybe code completion just doesn't support absolute paths.

It's just the error message that freaks me out. 🤣

[Ev1lbl0w]

If you were to print the current node structure of the editor, it looks something like this:

/root
/root/EditorNode
/root/EditorNode/@@582
/root/EditorNode/@@584
/root/EditorNode/@@584/@@583
/root/EditorNode/@@585
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637/@@636
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637/@@636/@@635
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637/@@636/Export
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637/@@636/Export/@@2768
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637/@@636/RecentScenes
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@637/@@636/RecentScenes/@@2769
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@2772
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@2772/@@2771
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@2772/@@2771/@@2770
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@2772/@@2771/Version Control
/root/EditorNode/@@585/@@586/@@594/@@595/@@634/@@2772/@@2771/Version Control/@@2773
...

This is because the Godot Editor is actually a Godot project.

And this is why the editor gives an error: it can't find /root/Character, or /root/Character/Sword in the scene tree. It's because they only exist on your game: in runtime, not in the editor context.

I think you're assuming that in the path /root/Character, root means the root node of your scene. But in Godot, if you write /root, you're acessing the root node of the entire engine, and not your scene.

If you really need to access the root of your scene from your children's script, you need to find another way. The easiest would be to use relative paths ($"../../..") and backtrack the number of times you need.

[MrRevington]

If the code completetion searches the editor's scene tree for code completion than it is a bug imho because it is not supposed to search the edited scene tree as edited script is not a tool script / EditorPlugin.

[KoBeWi]

Code completion doesn't search editor scene tree. It uses the current open scene. For absolute paths, only root and singleton autocompletion works.

[MrRevington]

Code completion doesn't search editor scene tree. It uses the current open scene. For absolute paths, only root and singleton autocompletion works.

Ok, thanks for the clarification!

Shouldn't there be a warning in the editor that autocompletion is not supported for nodes that are not root or an autoload instead of the "node not found" message? Naive people like me may think there is a typo in the nodepath if you type something like /root/Character and get this error message even tough it is a correct node path.

[KoBeWi]

Ok, it's not clear from your original description, but now I see that there might be some room for improvement here.

To clarify, when you you press Ctrl + Space in this situation

You get these errors

The error makes sense, but if user expects it to work in editor, maybe the error could clarify that absolute paths won't work here. Although I haven't seen anyone else with this problem...

@Calinou Is this worth reopening?

[Calinou]

@KoBeWi Indeed, I suppose this is a documentation issue then.