CreateWidget — create a UserWidget instance

Always pass a valid PlayerController as OwningPlayer. Cast the ReturnValue to your specific widget class.

UserWidget

Parent class for Widget Blueprints. Override Construct, Tick, OnPaint, etc.

AddToViewport — display a widget on screen

Create widget, add to viewport, and store reference

Pattern: EventBeginPlay → CreateWidget(OwningPlayer=GetPlayerController, WidgetType=WBP_MyWidget) → SetVariable(HUDWidget=ReturnValue) → CastTo<WBP_MyWidget>(HUDWidget) → Cast Succeeded → AddToViewport(ZOrder=0). Always store widget reference in a variable. CreateWidget inputs: 'OwningPlayer' (PlayerController) and 'WidgetType' (class). Exec in='execute', exec out='then'.

Widget data binding: update UI automatically when variable changes

METHOD 1 - Function Binding (auto-updates every frame, easy but has perf cost): In Widget BP: select TextBlock → Details → Content → Text → click 'Bind' → Create Binding → connect your data (e.g. GetPlayerHealth as Text). METHOD 2 - Event-driven (recommended, update only when needed): In owning actor: when data changes → CastTo<WBP_HUD>(HUDWidget) → call custom function 'UpdateHealth(NewHealth)' on widget. In Widget BP: UpdateHealth function → SetText(HealthText, Conv_FloatToString(NewHealth)). KEY: Function bindings run every frame. For frequently-changing data (Tick-speed), use Event-driven approach instead to avoid perf issues.

CreateWidget — create widget instance from class

K2Node_CreateWidget. Class is the Widget Blueprint class reference.

Create widget and add to viewport for HUD

Pattern: BeginPlay → CreateWidget(WidgetClass, GetPlayerController(0)) → store as variable → AddToViewport(Widget, ZOrder=0). Remove: RemoveFromParent(Widget). Toggle: SetVisibility(Collapsed/Visible). Create once, toggle visibility — never recreate every frame. For interaction: SetInputModeUIOnly + SetShowMouseCursor.

SetText on TextBlock — set display text on UI text widget

UTextBlock::SetText. Bind widget reference with BindWidget meta or GetWidgetFromName.

Main menu with widget switching and button navigation

Pattern: WBP_MainMenu with WidgetSwitcher containing panels (Main, Options, Credits). Buttons: OnClicked → SetActiveWidgetIndex(WidgetSwitcher, PanelIndex). Play button: RemoveFromParent → OpenLevel(GameMap). Quit: QuitGame. Level BP BeginPlay: CreateWidget(MainMenu) → AddToViewport → SetInputModeUIOnly → SetShowMouseCursor(true).

SetColorAndOpacity — change widget color and transparency