Creating Custom Detail Customization Providers

In this lesson, you will learn how to create a custom Detail Customization Provider to dynamically inject unique UI elements into the Details panel based on the specific asset or actor you have selected.

The Core Concept

By default, the Details panel automatically generates UI for your UPROPERTY variables. However, sometimes you need a more specialized interface—perhaps a button that triggers a complex validation script, a custom color picker for specific data, or a warning message that appears only under certain conditions.

A Detail Customization Provider acts as a bridge. It tells the Unreal Editor: "Whenever an object of this specific class is selected, don't just show the default list; let me override or append to the layout using Slate."

How It Works

You implement this by creating a class that inherits from IDetailCustomization. Inside this class, you override the CustomizeDetails method. This method gives you an IDetailLayoutBuilder object, which acts as your canvas. You can use this builder to hide existing properties, rearrange them, or add entirely new Slate widgets, such as buttons or text blocks, to the panel.

Here is a simplified look at how you might structure your customization:

void FMyCustomization::CustomizeDetails(IDetailLayoutBuilder& DetailBuilder)
{
    // Access a specific property and add a custom button next to it
    IDetailPropertyRow& MyProperty = DetailBuilder.EditProperty(GET_MEMBER_NAME_CHECKED(AMyActor, MyData));
    
    MyProperty.CustomWidget()
    .NameContent()
    [
        SNew(STextBlock).Text(FText::FromString("Custom Action"))
    ]
    .ValueContent()
    [
        SNew(SButton).OnClicked_Lambda([]() { 
            // Logic to execute when the button is clicked
            return FReply::Handled(); 
        })
    ];
}

Registration

The final step is registering your provider in your module’s StartupModule function. You provide the FPropertyEditorModule with the class name of the object you want to customize and a delegate that creates an instance of your customizer. Once registered, the editor automatically invokes your logic every time a user selects that specific type of object in the world or Content Browser.

Key Takeaway: Detail Customization Providers allow you to move beyond default property editing by injecting custom Slate logic into the Inspector, turning a static list of variables into a powerful, context-aware user interface.