On the repetition of WaitForChild calls

Help and Feedback Scripting Support
#1

When writing UIs or working with ReplicatedStorage, it is often necessary to write code such as this:

local leftButton = game.Players.LocalPlayer:WaitForChild("PlayerGui"):WaitForChild("MainGui"):WaitForChild("OptionFrame"):WaitForChild("PaletteFrame"):WaitForChild("OptionFrame"):WaitForChild("LeftButton")

While this is an overexaggerated example, it illustrates the problem well: There are simply too many WaitForChild calls here, which clutters up code and might even impact performance (though I doubt it, I can neither confirm nor deny this claim as I do not have the required expertise).

There is the solution presented within: WaitForPath: A Solution To Endless WaitForChild Calls, however I would like to know if there is a built-in solution within Roblox which does not require further scripting.

Any help is appreciated.

#2

When the local script start to run within client, you could wait only once for all instances, then use those variables for next functions, as far as I understand its mandatory to at least wait once, otherwise how to be sure those exist? (different topic is if player delete those manually or get destroyed by player died event)

local Player = game.Players.LocalPlayer
local PlayerGui = Player:WaitForChild("PlayerGui")
local MainGui = PlayerGui:WaitForChild("MainGui")
local OptionFrame = MainGui:WaitForChild("OptionFrame")

OptionFrame.Activated:Connect(function()
    warn("player pushed OptionFrame button")
end)

OptionFrame...

OptionFrame...
#3

It would be nice if either
A. Loading was “simplified” to parent loaded iff all children loaded (Is there an event for this?)
B. There was a function like WaitForPath
C. The WaitForChild function was shortened somehow, e.g. to Player…PlayerGui. This is highly unlikely.

#5

I don’t believe there is a built-in solution for this.
If you are using the Roblox Studio editor, you can always use the explorer to find the paths to any instance, and then use that path in your code.