Make set_script(script) load script as a path if script is a String

[InkONat]

I recently had to bug fix something in my project and had to get help from the Godot's discord server's #advanced channel. The problem was that set_script(script) can take any variable type for script, and therefore it could take a String for script, so I thought that it internally loaded the script at the path script if script was a String

However, that was not the case, and me and the helper wasted some time trying to find the issue, so I suggest that Object's set_script(script) loads a script at path script if script's type is a String, for example:

set_script("path/to/script.gd") would now work and set the Object's script to script.gd, as the function now would load that string and then set the script to what was loaded

[InkONat]

Sorry for any grammar mistakes or typos, I'm not a native english speaker

[Mickeon]

Unless the path is always absolute, this cannot be done. Besides, set_script(preload("path/to/script.gd")) is more explicit and consistent. I'm not sure how to explain it better, but I'll give it a try.
Scripts are Resources like many. Even if the engine treats them a bit more specially, they can be saved, loaded and stored as properties like all others. Therefore, using load/preload to fetch them from disk makes sense because all Resources work that way, too.

set_script(script) can take any variable type for script, and therefore it could take a String for script

Hey..... godotengine/godot#81734

[AThousandShips]

This would create a bit of a confusion as it would be the only place you could do this, and as pointed out in godotengine/godot#81734 this is due to a declaration order thing where Script isn't available, and while it can be forward declared here it wasn't at the time this code was added, so the fact that it is Variant isn't because that is desired, but because it solves an issue

[Mickeon]

To play devil's advocate, the already existing and only error message is a bit problematic. Scripts are not Strings, but you can pass absolutely anything in the method, without failing at compile-time. When set_script inevitably fails, what the error says is not exactly clear, especially if one has just started programming. The user is left in their own thoughts, so I can understand the confusion.

The least that could be done is an error message for a String/StringName type, (not present in any release build, of course).

[AThousandShips]

The confusion I mean would be people assuming they can use set_texture("res://my_texture.png") elsewhere, beyond just the complexity of accomplishing this

Again this is a complex case and the solution would be to eventually change the argument type, not to expand the functionality in an assymetric way

[Mickeon]

I do not see the harm in adding a more concrete error message(s) for the time being. The issue is so nested to the core of the engine, and it's such a low priority in the grand scheme of things, that it may take a while to actually fix it.