Struct AutoDirectionalNavigation 

pub struct AutoDirectionalNavigation {
    pub respect_tab_order: bool,
}

Marker component to enable automatic directional navigation to and from the entity.

Simply add this component to your UI entities so that the navigation algorithm will consider this entity in its calculations:

fn spawn_auto_nav_button(mut commands: Commands) {
    commands.spawn((
        // ... Button, Node, etc. ...
        AutoDirectionalNavigation::default(), // That's it!
    ));
}

Multi-Layer UIs and Z-Index

Important: Automatic navigation is currently z-index agnostic and treats all entities with AutoDirectionalNavigation as a flat set, regardless of which UI layer or z-index they belong to. This means navigation may jump between different layers (e.g., from a background menu to an overlay popup).

Workarounds for multi-layer UIs:

1. Per-layer manual edge generation: Query entities by layer and call auto_generate_navigation_edges() separately for each layer:

   for layer in &layers {
       let nodes: Vec<FocusableArea> = query_layer(layer).collect();
       auto_generate_navigation_edges(&mut nav_map, &nodes, &config);
   }

2. Manual cross-layer navigation: Use DirectionalNavigationMap::add_edge() to define explicit connections between layers (e.g., “Back” button to main menu).

3. Remove component when layer is hidden: Dynamically add/remove AutoDirectionalNavigation based on which layers are currently active.

See issue #21679 for planned improvements to layer-aware automatic navigation.

Opting Out

To disable automatic navigation for specific entities:

• Remove the component: Simply don’t add AutoDirectionalNavigation to entities that should only use manual navigation edges.
• Dynamically toggle: Remove/insert the component at runtime to enable/disable automatic navigation as needed.

Manual edges defined via DirectionalNavigationMap are completely independent and will continue to work regardless of this component.

Requirements (for bevy_ui)

Entities must also have:

• ComputedNode - for size information
• UiGlobalTransform - for position information

These are automatically added by bevy_ui when you spawn UI entities.

Custom UI Systems

For custom UI frameworks, you can call auto_generate_navigation_edges directly in your own system instead of using this component.

Fields

respect_tab_order: bool

Whether to also consider TabIndex for navigation order hints. Currently unused but reserved for future functionality.

Trait Implementations

impl Clone for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn clone(&self) -> AutoDirectionalNavigation

Returns a duplicate of the value.

fn clone_from(&mut self, source: &Self)

Performs copy-assignment from source.

impl Component for AutoDirectionalNavigation

where Self: Send + Sync + 'static,

const STORAGE_TYPE: StorageType = bevy_ecs::component::StorageType::Table

A constant indicating the storage type used for this component.

type Mutability = Mutable

A marker type to assist Bevy with determining if this component is mutable, or immutable. Mutable components will have Component<Mutability = Mutable>, while immutable components will instead have Component<Mutability = Immutable>.

fn register_required_components( _requiree: ComponentId, required_components: &mut RequiredComponentsRegistrator<'_, '_>, )

Registers required components.

fn clone_behavior() -> ComponentCloneBehavior

Called when registering this component, allowing to override clone function (or disable cloning altogether) for this component.

fn relationship_accessor() -> Option<ComponentRelationshipAccessor<Self>>

Returns ComponentRelationshipAccessor required for working with relationships in dynamic contexts.

fn on_add() -> Option<for<'w> fn(DeferredWorld<'w>, HookContext)>

Gets the on_add ComponentHook for this Component if one is defined.

fn on_insert() -> Option<for<'w> fn(DeferredWorld<'w>, HookContext)>

Gets the on_insert ComponentHook for this Component if one is defined.

fn on_replace() -> Option<for<'w> fn(DeferredWorld<'w>, HookContext)>

Gets the on_replace ComponentHook for this Component if one is defined.

fn on_remove() -> Option<for<'w> fn(DeferredWorld<'w>, HookContext)>

Gets the on_remove ComponentHook for this Component if one is defined.

fn on_despawn() -> Option<for<'w> fn(DeferredWorld<'w>, HookContext)>

Gets the on_despawn ComponentHook for this Component if one is defined.

fn map_entities<E>(_this: &mut Self, _mapper: &mut E)

where E: EntityMapper,

Maps the entities on this component using the given EntityMapper. This is used to remap entities in contexts like scenes and entity cloning. When deriving Component, this is populated by annotating fields containing entities with #[entities]

impl Debug for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result

Formats the value using the given formatter.

impl Default for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn default() -> AutoDirectionalNavigation

Returns the “default value” for a type.

impl FromReflect for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn from_reflect(reflect: &dyn PartialReflect) -> Option<Self>

Constructs a concrete instance of Self from a reflected value.

fn take_from_reflect( reflect: Box<dyn PartialReflect>, ) -> Result<Self, Box<dyn PartialReflect>>

Attempts to downcast the given value to Self using, constructing the value using from_reflect if that fails.

impl GetTypeRegistration for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn get_type_registration() -> TypeRegistration

Returns the default TypeRegistration for this type.

fn register_type_dependencies(registry: &mut TypeRegistry)

Registers other types needed by this type.

impl PartialEq for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn eq(&self, other: &AutoDirectionalNavigation) -> bool

Tests for self and other values to be equal, and is used by ==.

fn ne(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

Tests for !=. The default implementation is almost always sufficient, and should not be overridden without very good reason.

impl PartialReflect for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn get_represented_type_info(&self) -> Option<&'static TypeInfo>

Returns the TypeInfo of the type represented by this value.

fn try_apply(&mut self, value: &dyn PartialReflect) -> Result<(), ApplyError>

Tries to apply a reflected value to this value.

fn reflect_kind(&self) -> ReflectKind

Returns a zero-sized enumeration of “kinds” of type.

fn reflect_ref(&self) -> ReflectRef<'_>

Returns an immutable enumeration of “kinds” of type.

fn reflect_mut(&mut self) -> ReflectMut<'_>

Returns a mutable enumeration of “kinds” of type.

fn reflect_owned(self: Box<Self>) -> ReflectOwned

Returns an owned enumeration of “kinds” of type.

fn try_into_reflect( self: Box<Self>, ) -> Result<Box<dyn Reflect>, Box<dyn PartialReflect>>

Attempts to cast this type to a boxed, fully-reflected value.

fn try_as_reflect(&self) -> Option<&dyn Reflect>

Attempts to cast this type to a fully-reflected value.

fn try_as_reflect_mut(&mut self) -> Option<&mut dyn Reflect>

Attempts to cast this type to a mutable, fully-reflected value.

fn into_partial_reflect(self: Box<Self>) -> Box<dyn PartialReflect>

Casts this type to a boxed, reflected value.

fn as_partial_reflect(&self) -> &dyn PartialReflect

Casts this type to a reflected value.

fn as_partial_reflect_mut(&mut self) -> &mut dyn PartialReflect

Casts this type to a mutable, reflected value.

fn reflect_partial_eq(&self, value: &dyn PartialReflect) -> Option<bool>

Returns a “partial equality” comparison result.

fn debug(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result

Debug formatter for the value.

fn reflect_clone(&self) -> Result<Box<dyn Reflect>, ReflectCloneError>

Attempts to clone Self using reflection.

fn apply(&mut self, value: &(dyn PartialReflect + 'static))

Applies a reflected value to this value.

fn to_dynamic(&self) -> Box<dyn PartialReflect>

Converts this reflected value into its dynamic representation based on its kind.

fn reflect_clone_and_take<T>(&self) -> Result<T, ReflectCloneError>

where T: 'static, Self: Sized + TypePath,

For a type implementing PartialReflect, combines reflect_clone and take in a useful fashion, automatically constructing an appropriate ReflectCloneError if the downcast fails.

fn reflect_hash(&self) -> Option<u64>

Returns a hash of the value (which includes the type).

fn is_dynamic(&self) -> bool

Indicates whether or not this type is a dynamic type.

impl Reflect for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn into_any(self: Box<Self>) -> Box<dyn Any>

Returns the value as a Box<dyn Any>.

fn as_any(&self) -> &dyn Any

Returns the value as a &dyn Any.

fn as_any_mut(&mut self) -> &mut dyn Any

Returns the value as a &mut dyn Any.

fn into_reflect(self: Box<Self>) -> Box<dyn Reflect>

Casts this type to a boxed, fully-reflected value.

fn as_reflect(&self) -> &dyn Reflect

Casts this type to a fully-reflected value.

fn as_reflect_mut(&mut self) -> &mut dyn Reflect

Casts this type to a mutable, fully-reflected value.

fn set(&mut self, value: Box<dyn Reflect>) -> Result<(), Box<dyn Reflect>>

Performs a type-checked assignment of a reflected value to this value.

impl Struct for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn field(&self, name: &str) -> Option<&dyn PartialReflect>

Returns a reference to the value of the field named name as a &dyn PartialReflect.

fn field_mut(&mut self, name: &str) -> Option<&mut dyn PartialReflect>

Returns a mutable reference to the value of the field named name as a &mut dyn PartialReflect.

fn field_at(&self, index: usize) -> Option<&dyn PartialReflect>

Returns a reference to the value of the field with index index as a &dyn PartialReflect.

fn field_at_mut(&mut self, index: usize) -> Option<&mut dyn PartialReflect>

Returns a mutable reference to the value of the field with index index as a &mut dyn PartialReflect.

fn name_at(&self, index: usize) -> Option<&str>

Returns the name of the field with index index.

fn field_len(&self) -> usize

Returns the number of fields in the struct.

fn iter_fields(&self) -> FieldIter<'_>

Returns an iterator over the values of the reflectable fields for this struct.

fn to_dynamic_struct(&self) -> DynamicStruct

Creates a new DynamicStruct from this struct.

fn get_represented_struct_info(&self) -> Option<&'static StructInfo>

Will return None if TypeInfo is not available.

impl TypePath for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn type_path() -> &'static str

Returns the fully qualified path of the underlying type.

fn short_type_path() -> &'static str

Returns a short, pretty-print enabled path to the type.

fn type_ident() -> Option<&'static str>

Returns the name of the type, or None if it is anonymous.

fn crate_name() -> Option<&'static str>

Returns the name of the crate the type is in, or None if it is anonymous.

fn module_path() -> Option<&'static str>

Returns the path to the module the type is in, or None if it is anonymous.

impl Typed for AutoDirectionalNavigation

fn type_info() -> &'static TypeInfo

Returns the compile-time info for the underlying type.

impl Copy for AutoDirectionalNavigation

impl StructuralPartialEq for AutoDirectionalNavigation