UXML element Button

Use the Button element to create clickable buttons in a UI(User Interface) Allows a user to interact with your application. Unity currently supports three UI systems. More info
See in Glossary. For example, when a user clicks or taps on a Button element, it triggers an action or event, such as opening a new window, submitting a form, or playing a sound effect.

Add an icon to a Button

You can enhance the visual appeal of your Button by incorporating an icon, such as a Texture, Render TextureA special type of Texture that is created and updated at runtime. To use them, first create a new Render Texture and designate one of your Cameras to render into it. Then you can use the Render Texture in a Material just like a regular Texture. More info
See in Glossary, SpriteA 2D graphic objects. If you are used to working in 3D, Sprites are essentially just standard textures but there are special techniques for combining and managing sprite textures for efficiency and convenience during development. More info
See in Glossary, or Vector image asset that exists in your project. For information on how to reference an image asset, refer to AssetsAny media or data that can be used in your game or project. An asset may come from a file created outside of Unity, such as a 3D Model, an audio file or an image. You can also create some asset types in Unity, such as an Animator Controller, an Audio Mixer or a Render Texture. More info
See in Glossary.

To add an icon for a Button with UI Builder:

• From the Button’s InspectorA Unity window that displays information about the currently selected GameObject, asset or project settings, allowing you to inspect and edit the values. More info
  See in Glossary tab, choose the desired icon from the Icon Image dropdown list.
• Alternatively, drag the icon from the Assets window to the Icon Image field located in the Button’s Inspector tab.

To add an icon for a Button with UXML, provide the image source to the icon-image attribute:

<ui:Button name="Button" text="Button text" icon-image="/path/to/image-file.png" />

To add an icon for a Button with C#, assign the image source to the iconImage property:

Button myButton = new Button();
var buttonIconImage = Resources.Load<Texture2D>("image-file");

myButton.text = "Button text";
myButton.iconImage = buttonIconImage;

Change the Button icon position

When you add an icon to a Button, it adds two read-only sub-elements to the Button:

• An Image element to define the icon image.
• A TextElement to define the button text.

You can’t edit the sub-elements but you can change their layout using the USS flex-direction property for the Button element. By default, the icon is added on the left of the button text.

To reposition the button icon, adjust the Button’s flex-direction with the following:

• To shift the icon to the right of the button text, set it to row-reverse.
• To move the icon above the button text, set it to column.
• To place the icon below the button text, set it to column-reverse.

Use sub-elements of a Button

The Button element allows you to provide additional information to the user with the text, iconImage properties, and the background-image style property. As with any visual elementA node of a visual tree that instantiates or derives from the C# VisualElement class. You can style the look, define the behaviour, and display it on screen as part of the UI. More info
See in Glossary, you can also add sub-elements in a Button’s hierarchy, such as a Label or Image, to provide additional information to the user if you want to have more fine-grained control over the appearance and behavior of those elements.

In general, use sub-elements in the following situations:

• Customization: Using sub-elements allows you to customize the appearance and behavior of each individual element separately. For example, you may want to use a custom font or color for the label text or add a specific animation to the image. When you add an Image element to your Button, you can add the element from your sceneA Scene contains the environments and menus of your game. Think of each unique Scene file as a unique level. In each Scene, you place your environments, obstacles, and decorations, essentially designing and building your game in pieces. More info
  See in Glossary directly. In addition, an Image element also supports scale mode and repeat mode.
• Dynamic content: If the content of the label or image is dynamic, using sub-elements allows you to update the content of each element separately without affecting the other properties of the button.
• Interaction: If you want to add interactivity to a specific element within the button, such as allowing the user to click only the label (disregarding clicks on other elements of the button) to trigger an action, using sub-elements makes this possible.

Use properties for the following purposes:

• Simple designs: If the design of the button is simple and doesn’t require customization or dynamic content, using properties is recommended.
• Performance: If you have many buttons in your UI, using sub-elements for each one may negatively impact performance. In this case, it’s more efficient to use properties to set the appearance of the button.
• Consistency: If you want to maintain consistency across your UI, using properties can ensure that all buttons have a consistent appearance and behavior.

C# base class and namespace

C# class: Button
Namespace: UnityEngine.UIElements
Base class: TextElement

Inherited UXML attributes

This element inherits the following attributes from its base class:

This element also inherits the following attributes from VisualElement:

USS classes

The following table lists all the C# public property names and their related USS selector.

You can also use the Matching Selectors section in the Inspector or the UI Toolkit Debugger to see which USS selectors affect the components of the VisualElement at every level of its hierarchy.

Additional resources

• UXML element Image
• UXML element TextElement