UGTK / Toolkit / Ui Module / TMP Partial Bold Completed

TMP Partial Bold

Summary

The TMP Partial Bold system puts bold on selected parts of a TextMeshProUGUI label without making designers write rich text by hand. The source can be a marked string (**bold**) or an ordered list of segments, each with its own bold flag; the component generates the <b>…</b> markup and writes it into the label — in Play Mode and in the editor, thanks to [ExecuteAlways].

It exists because a localized string with a couple of emphasised words is a pain to keep in sync when the rich text lives in the label: here the text stays readable and the markup is generated.

Modules Dependencies

TextMeshPro (com.unity.textmeshpro). No UGTK dependency.

Setup

Drop the Text Partial Bold (TMP) prefab under a Canvas — a TMP label with Mn_TMPPartialBoldText already attached and a sample marked string:

Or add Mn_TMPPartialBoldText to a GameObject that already has a TextMeshProUGUI: the component is [RequireComponent(typeof(TextMeshProUGUI))] and [DisallowMultipleComponent], and it picks the label up by itself.

How To Use

Input Mode

MarkedString (default): type plain text in Marked Text and wrap the bold parts in the marker: Tap the **Best Practice** icons to score points. This is the mode to hand to a translator: the marker travels with the string.
Segments: fill the Segments list, each entry with its own text and bold toggle. Use it when the pieces come from different sources (a name, a number, a fixed label).

Markup - Bold Marker (default **): change it if ** can appear in your copy — for example to __. - Parse Markers Inside Segments (default on): a segment that contains the marker is parsed as a marked string. Careful: in that case the segment's own bold flag is ignored — the markers win.

Auto - Apply On Enable / Apply On Validate (both on): the label rebuilds when the object is enabled and whenever a field changes in the inspector, which is what makes editing live.

Debug - Last Applied Rich Text is a read-only view of the string that was written into the label: the fastest way to check the generated markup.

partialBold.SetMarkedText("Score **1200** points");          // switches to MarkedString and applies

partialBold.SetSegments(                                     // switches to Segments and applies
    new S_TMPTextSegment("Player: "),
    new S_TMPTextSegment(playerName, bold: true));

string preview = partialBold.BuildRichText();                // builds without touching the label

// static, usable anywhere without a component
string rich = Mn_TMPPartialBoldText.BuildFromMarkedString("Tap the **icons**");

Good to know:

An unmatched marker is left alone. Tap the **icons renders as literal **icons, not as bold to the end of the string: a broken translation degrades gracefully.
The component forces richText = true on the label; it cannot work with rich text disabled.
Only bold is generated. Any other TMP tag you type survives — the builder copies it through — but the marker only ever produces <b>…</b>.
Apply() skips the write when the generated string has not changed, so leaving Apply On Validate on costs nothing.

Testing Scene

This module has no Debug scene yet. Build a minimal one — a canvas with a few TMP labels using the component — and keep it in Debug/, so the behaviour below can be checked the same way every time.

What to do, in order:

Bold a word in the middle of a sentence and check the spacing around it.
Bold a word containing an accented character.
Bold across a line break.
Use a font asset that has no bold variant.

Step 4 is the one that produces the confusing result: without a real bold face TMP fakes the weight, and the faked version is noticeably worse — uneven and slightly blurry. If the bold looks wrong, look at the font asset before the component.

Scene and GIF still to make.

Technical Info

Path	Content
`Scripts/Runtime/Mn_TMPPartialBoldText.cs`	The component: the two input modes, `Apply()`, and the static builders `BuildFromMarkedString` / `BuildFromSegments`
`Scripts/Runtime/S_TMPTextSegment.cs`	Serializable struct: `text` + `bold`
`Scripts/Editor/Mn_TMPPartialBoldText_Editor.cs`	Custom inspector: help box and Apply Rich Text button
`Prefabs/Text Partial Bold (TMP).prefab`	Sample TMP label with the component

Mn_TMPPartialBoldText API: Apply(), SetMarkedText(string), SetSegments(...), BuildRichText(), BuildFromMarkedString(string, string) (static), BuildFromSegments(IReadOnlyList<S_TMPTextSegment>, bool, string) (static). InputMode: Segments / MarkedString.