> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://adro.codes/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Show custom editor warnings on Nodes

> Learn how to show custom editor warnings on your Nodes to help with your development workflow.

> This article was originally posted on [dev.to](https://dev.to/hurricaneinteractive/godot-show-editor-warnings-on-nodes-2p8p)

Have you ever wanted to add the warning triangle on custom nodes that you can see on an `Area2D` or `KinematicBody2D` node? Well, then you're in luck because it is actually pretty easy!

For this example, we're going to create a custom `Enemy` node that requires a `Sprite` child node. That will give you a good starting point to extend the functionality to fit your purpose.

First, create a new script that inherits from the `Node2D` (or whatever node you'd like your `Enemy` to inherit from). I am going to call my file `Enemy.gd`.

We will define our class name to be `Enemy` and add the [`tool`](https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/misc/running_code_in_the_editor.html) keyword. This will allow us to run code in the editor and show the required errors. One note here, I recommend reading the documentation for the `tool` keyword as there are some caveats that you will need to know about.

The top of your script should look something like this:

```gd theme={null}
extends Node2D
tool
class_name Enemy
```

Next, we'll add the magical function, `_get_configuration_warning`. Whenever this function returns a non-empty string, it will show the warning in the editor.

```gd theme={null}
// ...

func _get_configuration_warning():
	return ""
```

Before we add the logic, create your new `Enemy` node in a `Scene` so you can see the warnings appear in the editor. If you've changed the return statement, you should see something similar to this:

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/adrocodes/4BK3kYLBrRFwX4OU/images/godot-node-warning.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=4BK3kYLBrRFwX4OU&q=85&s=21b1dcd1291ea05f5593721150ea2c0b" alt="Editor warning example in godot" width="948" height="494" data-path="images/godot-node-warning.png" />

We'll only be looking at direct children, so we'll use the `get_children` method and do a simple boolean check if the check includes a `Sprite`.

```gd theme={null}
func _get_configuration_warning():
	var has_sprite = false

	for child in get_children():
		if child is Sprite:
			has_sprite = true

	if !has_sprite:
		return "Sprite is required"

	return ""
```

We create a boolean variable called `has_sprite` and set it to `false` by default. Then we loop through all the children, check if the child `is` a `Sprite` and set the variable to `true`. After the loop, we check if the `has_sprite` variable is still `false` and if it is, then we return a message saying that a `Sprite` is required.

If you save the script, the warning should pop up with your message and adding a `Sprite` as a child node should remove the warning.

The cool thing here is the `is` keyword, which allows us to;

> Tests whether a variable extends a given class, or is of a given built-in type.

Using this, we can test for any other nodes or other custom nodes that we have created.

Again, this is a very simple example but will be a good starting point from which to extend further to suit your needs.

***

Thank you for reading my article, it really means a lot! ❤️ Please provide any feedback or comments, I'm always looking to improve and have meaningful discussions.

👋 until next time!