Inconsistencies in retrieving scripts: preload, load, get_script() with const/var

[willnationsdev]

Godot 3.0 master b279f64

Let's assume my goal is to create a property on a base script (base.gd) that will be a reference to its own script resource. Ideally, derived nodes at an arbitrary depth in the inheritance tree will still be able to fetch the base class's resource_path to know where that file exists, and to pull other information related to that script if necessary. Creating this variable in a preferred way is proving to be impossible at the moment.

# base.gd
# Attempt 1: preloading a constant
const Base = preload("base.gd") # error, Can't preload itself (use 'get_script()').
# Attempt 2: get_script()-ing a constant
const Base = get_script() # error on the following line, Expected constant expression
# Attempt 3: get_script()-ing a var
var Base = get_script() # Works! but now if a derived class references it, it will return the derived script rather than the base type's script. Not what we want.
# Attempt 4: preloading a var
var Base = preload("base.gd") # same problem as with const. To be expected.
# Attempt 5: loading a var
var Base = load("base.gd") # this is the only version that ACTUALLY does what we want. It compiles, it works, and it allows derived types to access the base.gd script simply by referencing their Base property.

It would be preferable if this could be handled with a const and if preloading the same script were permitted.

[KoBeWi]

Let's assume my goal is to create a property on a base script (base.gd) that will be a reference to its own script resource.

But why would you need that if you can just use get_script()?

[willnationsdev]

Because you can't call get_script() from a static function, but you can access constants, even inherited ones.

[KoBeWi]

Closing in favor of godotengine/godot-proposals#391