Inline text UID/Res picker similar to 4.5's new Color picker

[nattyrice]

Describe the problem or limitation you are having in your project

The friction with using UID's for preloading is still too high. Ideally we would still be able to see the res://path while editing text even when we use UID's for the path. Having to hop out of the editor to get the UID from the file system panel isn't clear for beginners nor is it as quick and easy as it could be. Hovering over the string literal to see the tooltip that says the res path helps but is also not as obvious for beginners and not as seamless as the solution I am suggesting.

I know I am not alone with this particular pain-point. I've heard several other Godot users state that they still use res:// for similar reasons.

Describe the feature / enhancement and how it helps to overcome the problem or limitation

I am proposing an inline icon next to every load/preload call, similar to the color picker that was just added to the editor. When the icon is clicked it will pop up a menu to select "load," "quick load," or "create new." Create new would have script, resource, scene, etc as options(these options aren't shown in my mockup- which just says "PackedScene").

The UID would be converted into a chip containing the res path. It will just be what is displayed by the editor, not what is saved to the disk. Any other text editor that opens the gdscript file will still see the UID string literal. That way it won't add any sort of complications with git diffs.

This feature could also be used for get_node()/$/% and instead of a file dialogue it could open a local scene tree to pick a node from. If that would count as an entirely feature proposal I can submit that as well if people are interested.

Describe the project you are working on

I am mostly working on small 2D games like Minesweeper, Flood it and currently Dice Wars with Godot. I participated in a couple jams. I am also working on a couple tools to manage my multimedia, and to help me log my workouts.

edit: I remembered what to call it instead of my "pill capsule" explanation. Used the correct name of "chip" instead with a link to an example of the concept.

edit2: I moved the explanation of what games I work on down to the bottom so hopefully the contents of the preview card shown when I link my friends is more relevant.

Describe how your proposal will work, with code, pseudo-code, mock-ups, and/or diagrams

[nattyrice]

I have PassiveStar's minimalist Godot theme installed. That is why my mockup is not the standard blue.

[timothyqiu]

Making the argument of preload() a chip is overall a good improvement.

We added UID path preloading some time ago. But it's really bad UX for users to use / see UID paths in practice. A chip makes it possible to show a regular path in the code editor while storing a UID path under the hood.

[Calinou]

• Related to Show res:// path instead of uid:// in ScriptEditor #11580 and Add inlay hints to the script editor #12863.

[sockeye-d]

Instead of a chip, an inline hint for uid:// paths would be almost trivial to implement. I can add it to my PR, it would show up like this:

[sockeye-d]

This is what I finally landed on

[nattyrice]

Thanks so much for working on this PR. It looks great to me!

Add inline resource picker

[Fireye04]

This looks great, thanks!

[nattyrice]

A recent Godotfest talk given by Luca Andre Martinelli(from Bippinbits) talked about how UID's are slow to use and they still prefer using res paths.

Here is a link timestamped to the segment in question:
https://youtu.be/3vzDrW7s_k8?t=1925