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GUI

Namespace: gui Language: Lua Type: Defold Lua File: gui_ddf.proto Source: engine/gamesys/proto/gamesys/gui_ddf.proto

GUI API documentation

API

final

Type: FUNCTION This is a callback-function, which is called by the engine when a gui component is finalized (destroyed). It can be used to e.g. take some last action, report the finalization to other game object instances or release user input focus (see release_input_focus). There is no use in starting any animations or similar from this function since the gui component is about to be destroyed.

Parameters

Examples

function final(self)
    -- report finalization
    msg.post("my_friend_instance", "im_dead", {my_stats = self.some_value})
end

fonts

Type: PROPERTY The fonts used in the gui. The type of the property is hash. Key must be specified in options table.

Examples

How to set font using a script property (see resource.font)

go.property("title_latin", resource.font("/open_sans.font"))
go.property("title_cyrillic", resource.font("/open_sans_cyrillic.font"))

function init(self)
  go.set("#gui", "fonts", self.title_cyrillic, {key = "title"})
end

gui.ADJUST

Type: ENUM Adjust modes

Members

gui.ANCHOR

Type: ENUM Anchor modes

Members

gui.animate

Type: FUNCTION This starts an animation of a node property according to the specified parameters. If the node property is already being animated, that animation will be canceled and replaced by the new one. Note however that several different node properties can be animated simultaneously. Use gui.cancel_animations to stop the animation before it has completed. Composite properties of type vector3, vector4 or quaternion also expose their sub-components (x, y, z and w). You can address the components individually by suffixing the name with a dot ‘.’ and the name of the component. For instance, “position.x” (the position x coordinate) or “color.w” (the color alpha value). If a complete_function (Lua function) is specified, that function will be called when the animation has completed. By starting a new animation in that function, several animations can be sequenced together. See the examples below for more information.

Parameters

Examples

How to start a simple color animation, where the node fades in to white during 0.5 seconds:

gui.set_color(node, vmath.vector4(0, 0, 0, 0)) -- node is fully transparent
gui.animate(node, gui.PROP_COLOR, vmath.vector4(1, 1, 1, 1), gui.EASING_INOUTQUAD, 0.5) -- start animation

How to start a sequenced animation where the node fades in to white during 0.5 seconds, stays visible for 2 seconds and then fades out:

local function on_animation_done(self, node)
    -- fade out node, but wait 2 seconds before the animation starts
    gui.animate(node, gui.PROP_COLOR, vmath.vector4(0, 0, 0, 0), gui.EASING_OUTQUAD, 0.5, 2.0)
end

function init(self)
    -- fetch the node we want to animate
    local my_node = gui.get_node("my_node")
    -- node is initially set to fully transparent
    gui.set_color(my_node, vmath.vector4(0, 0, 0, 0))
    -- animate the node immediately and call on_animation_done when the animation has completed
    gui.animate(my_node, gui.PROP_COLOR, vmath.vector4(1, 1, 1, 1), gui.EASING_INOUTQUAD, 0.5, 0.0, on_animation_done)
end

How to animate a node’s y position using a crazy custom easing curve:

function init(self)
    local values = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
                     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
                     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,
                     0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                     1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 }
    local vec = vmath.vector(values)
    local node = gui.get_node("box")
    gui.animate(node, "position.y", 100, vec, 4.0, 0, nil, gui.PLAYBACK_LOOP_PINGPONG)
end

gui.BLEND

Type: ENUM Blend modes

Members

gui.cancel_animations

Type: FUNCTION If one or more animations of the specified node is currently running (started by gui.animate), they will immediately be canceled.

Parameters

Examples

Start an animation of the position property of a node, then cancel parts of the animation:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")
-- animate to new position
local pos = vmath.vector3(100, 100, 0)
gui.animate(node, "position", pos, go.EASING_LINEAR, 2)
...
-- cancel animation of the x component.
gui.cancel_animations(node, "position.x")

Cancels all property animations on a node in a single call:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")
-- animate to new position and scale
gui.animate(node, "position", vmath.vector3(100, 100, 0), go.EASING_LINEAR, 5)
gui.animate(node, "scale", vmath.vector3(0.5), go.EASING_LINEAR, 5)
...
-- cancel positioning and scaling at once
gui.cancel_animations(node)

gui.cancel_flipbook

Type: FUNCTION Cancels any running flipbook animation on the specified node.

Parameters

Examples

local node = gui.get_node("anim_node")
gui.cancel_flipbook(node)

gui.CLIPPING_MODE

Type: ENUM Clipping modes

Members

gui.clone

Type: FUNCTION Make a clone instance of a node. The cloned node will be identical to the original node, except the id which is generated as the string “node” plus a sequential unsigned integer value. This function does not clone the supplied node’s children nodes. Use gui.clone_tree for that purpose.

Parameters

Returns

gui.clone_tree

Type: FUNCTION Make a clone instance of a node and all its children. Use gui.clone to clone a node excluding its children.

Parameters

Returns

gui.delete_node

Type: FUNCTION Deletes the specified node. Any child nodes of the specified node will be recursively deleted.

Parameters

Examples

Delete a particular node and any child nodes it might have:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")
gui.delete_node(node)

gui.delete_texture

Type: FUNCTION Delete a dynamically created texture.

Parameters

Examples

function init(self)
     -- Create a texture.
     if gui.new_texture("temp_tx", 10, 10, "rgb", string.rep('\0', 10 * 10 * 3)) then
         -- Do something with the texture.
         ...

         -- Delete the texture
         gui.delete_texture("temp_tx")
     end
end

gui.EASING

Type: ENUM Easing curves

Members

gui.get

Type: FUNCTION Instead of using specific getters such as gui.get_position or gui.get_scale, you can use gui.get instead and supply the property as a string or a hash. While this function is similar to go.get, there are a few more restrictions when operating in the gui namespace. Most notably, only these explicitly named properties are supported:

“position” “rotation” “euler” “scale” “color” “outline” “shadow” “size” “fill_angle” (pie) “inner_radius” (pie) “leading” (text) “tracking” (text) “slice9” (slice9)

The value returned will either be a vmath.vector4 or a single number, i.e getting the “position” property will return a vec4 while getting the “position.x” property will return a single value. You can also use this function to get material constants.

Parameters

Examples

Get properties on existing nodes:

local node = gui.get_node("my_box_node")
local node_position = gui.get(node, "position")

gui.get_adjust_mode

Type: FUNCTION Returns the adjust mode of a node. The adjust mode defines how the node will adjust itself to screen resolutions that differs from the one in the project settings.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_alpha

Type: FUNCTION gets the node alpha

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_blend_mode

Type: FUNCTION Returns the blend mode of a node. Blend mode defines how the node will be blended with the background.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_clipping_inverted

Type: FUNCTION If node is set as an inverted clipping node, it will clip anything inside as opposed to outside.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_clipping_mode

Type: FUNCTION Clipping mode defines how the node will clip it’s children nodes

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_clipping_visible

Type: FUNCTION If node is set as visible clipping node, it will be shown as well as clipping. Otherwise, it will only clip but not show visually.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_color

Type: FUNCTION Returns the color of the supplied node. The components of the returned vector4 contains the color channel values:

Component Color value

x Red value

y Green value

z Blue value

w Alpha value

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_euler

Type: FUNCTION Returns the rotation of the supplied node. The rotation is expressed in degree Euler angles.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_fill_angle

Type: FUNCTION Returns the sector angle of a pie node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_flipbook

Type: FUNCTION Get node flipbook animation.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_flipbook_cursor

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful nodes with flipbook animations. Gets the normalized cursor of the flipbook animation on a node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_flipbook_playback_rate

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful nodes with flipbook animations. Gets the playback rate of the flipbook animation on a node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_font

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful for text nodes. The font must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_font_resource

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful for text nodes. The font must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

Returns

Examples

Get the text metrics for a text

function init(self)
  local node = gui.get_node("name")
  local font_name = gui.get_font(node)
  local font = gui.get_font_resource(font_name)
  local metrics = resource.get_text_metrics(font, "The quick brown fox\n jumps over the lazy dog")
end

gui.get_height

Type: FUNCTION Returns the scene height.

Returns

gui.get_id

Type: FUNCTION Retrieves the id of the specified node.

Parameters

Returns

Examples

Gets the id of a node:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")

local id = gui.get_id(node)
print(id) --> hash: [my_node]

gui.get_index

Type: FUNCTION Retrieve the index of the specified node among its siblings. The index defines the order in which a node appear in a GUI scene. Higher index means the node is drawn on top of lower indexed nodes.

Parameters

Returns

Examples

Compare the index order of two sibling nodes:

local node1 = gui.get_node("my_node_1")
local node2 = gui.get_node("my_node_2")

if gui.get_index(node1) < gui.get_index(node2) then
    -- node1 is drawn below node2
else
    -- node2 is drawn below node1
end

gui.get_inherit_alpha

Type: FUNCTION gets the node inherit alpha state

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_inner_radius

Type: FUNCTION Returns the inner radius of a pie node. The radius is defined along the x-axis.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_layer

Type: FUNCTION The layer must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_layout

Type: FUNCTION gets the scene current layout

Returns

gui.get_layout_objects

Type: FUNCTION Returns the sprites and links found in the text node’s current layout. Each object’s x and y identify its lower-left corner relative to the text node’s upper-left layout origin.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_layouts

Type: FUNCTION Returns a table mapping each layout id hash to a vector3(width, height, 0). For the default layout, the current scene resolution is returned. If a layout name is not present in the Display Profiles (or when no display profiles are assigned), the width/height pair is 0.

Returns

gui.get_leading

Type: FUNCTION Returns the leading value for a text node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_line_break

Type: FUNCTION Returns whether a text node is in line-break mode or not. This is only useful for text nodes.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_material

Type: FUNCTION Returns the material of a node. The material must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

Returns

Examples

Getting the material for a node, and assign it to another node:

local node1 = gui.get_node("my_node")
local node2 = gui.get_node("other_node")
local node1_material = gui.get_material(node1)
gui.set_material(node2, node1_material)

gui.get_node

Type: FUNCTION Retrieves the node with the specified id.

Parameters

Returns

Examples

Gets a node by id and change its color:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")
local red = vmath.vector4(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0)
gui.set_color(node, red)

gui.get_outer_bounds

Type: FUNCTION Returns the outer bounds mode for a pie node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_outline

Type: FUNCTION Returns the outline color of the supplied node. See gui.get_color for info how vectors encode color values.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_parent

Type: FUNCTION Returns the parent node of the specified node. If the supplied node does not have a parent, nil is returned.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_particlefx

Type: FUNCTION Get the paricle fx for a gui node

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_perimeter_vertices

Type: FUNCTION Returns the number of generated vertices around the perimeter of a pie node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_pivot

Type: FUNCTION The pivot specifies how the node is drawn and rotated from its position.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_position

Type: FUNCTION Returns the position of the supplied node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_rotation

Type: FUNCTION Returns the rotation of the supplied node. The rotation is expressed as a quaternion

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_scale

Type: FUNCTION Returns the scale of the supplied node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_screen_position

Type: FUNCTION Returns the screen position of the supplied node. This function returns the calculated transformed position of the node, taking into account any parent node transforms.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_shadow

Type: FUNCTION Returns the shadow color of the supplied node. See gui.get_color for info how vectors encode color values.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_size

Type: FUNCTION Returns the size of the supplied node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_size_mode

Type: FUNCTION Returns the size of a node. The size mode defines how the node will adjust itself in size. Automatic size mode alters the node size based on the node’s content. Automatic size mode works for Box nodes and Pie nodes which will both adjust their size to match the assigned image. Particle fx and Text nodes will ignore any size mode setting.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_slice9

Type: FUNCTION Returns the slice9 configuration values for the node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_text

Type: FUNCTION Returns the text value of a text node. This is only useful for text nodes.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_texture

Type: FUNCTION Returns the texture of a node. This is currently only useful for box or pie nodes. The texture must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_tracking

Type: FUNCTION Returns the tracking value of a text node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_tree

Type: FUNCTION Get a node and all its children as a Lua table.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_type

Type: FUNCTION gets the node type

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_visible

Type: FUNCTION Returns true if a node is visible and false if it’s not. Invisible nodes are not rendered.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_width

Type: FUNCTION Returns the scene width.

Returns

gui.get_xanchor

Type: FUNCTION The x-anchor specifies how the node is moved when the game is run in a different resolution.

Parameters

Returns

gui.get_yanchor

Type: FUNCTION The y-anchor specifies how the node is moved when the game is run in a different resolution.

Parameters

Returns

gui.hide_keyboard

Type: FUNCTION Hides the on-display touch keyboard on the device.

gui.is_enabled

Type: FUNCTION Returns true if a node is enabled and false if it’s not. Disabled nodes are not rendered and animations acting on them are not evaluated.

Parameters

Returns

gui.KEYBOARD_TYPE

Type: ENUM Keyboard types

Members

gui.layout_object

Type: STRUCT Rich-text layout object

Members

gui.move_above

Type: FUNCTION Alters the ordering of the two supplied nodes by moving the first node above the second. If the second argument is nil the first node is moved to the top.

Parameters

gui.move_below

Type: FUNCTION Alters the ordering of the two supplied nodes by moving the first node below the second. If the second argument is nil the first node is moved to the bottom.

Parameters

gui.new_box_node

Type: FUNCTION Dynamically create a new box node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.new_particlefx_node

Type: FUNCTION Dynamically create a particle fx node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.new_pie_node

Type: FUNCTION Dynamically create a new pie node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.new_text_node

Type: FUNCTION Dynamically create a new text node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.new_texture

Type: FUNCTION Dynamically create a new texture.

Parameters

Returns

Examples

How to create a texture and apply it to a new box node:

function init(self)
     local w = 200
     local h = 300

     -- A nice orange. String with the RGB values.
     local orange = string.char(0xff) .. string.char(0x80) .. string.char(0x10)

     -- Create the texture. Repeat the color string for each pixel.
     local ok, reason = gui.new_texture("orange_tx", w, h, "rgb", string.rep(orange, w * h))
     if ok then
         -- Create a box node and apply the texture to it.
         local n = gui.new_box_node(vmath.vector3(200, 200, 0), vmath.vector3(w, h, 0))
         gui.set_texture(n, "orange_tx")
     else
         -- Could not create texture for some reason...
         if reason == gui.RESULT_TEXTURE_ALREADY_EXISTS then
             ...
         else
             ...
         end
     end
end

How to create a texture using .astc format

local path = "/assets/images/logo_4x4.astc"
local buffer = sys.load_resource(path)
local n = gui.new_box_node(pos, vmath.vector3(size, size, 0))
-- size is read from the .astc buffer
-- flip is not supported
gui.new_texture(path, 0, 0, "astc", buffer, false)
gui.set_texture(n, path)

gui.pick_node

Type: FUNCTION Tests whether a coordinate is within the bounding box of a node.

Parameters

Returns

gui.PIEBOUNDS

Type: ENUM Pie bounds modes

Members

gui.PIVOT

Type: ENUM Pivot modes

Members

gui.play_flipbook

Type: FUNCTION Play flipbook animation on a box or pie node. The current node texture must contain the animation. Use this function to set one-frame still images on the node.

Parameters

self:script_instance

The current script instance.</dd>

node:node

The node that is animated.</dd> </dl>

  • play_properties (gui.play_properties) (optional) - optional playback properties

Examples

Set the texture of a node to a flipbook animation from an atlas:

local function anim_callback(self, node)
    -- Take action after animation has played.
end

function init(self)
    -- Create a new node and set the texture to a flipbook animation
    local node = gui.get_node("button_node")
    gui.set_texture(node, "gui_sprites")
    gui.play_flipbook(node, "animated_button")
end

Set the texture of a node to an image from an atlas:

-- Create a new node and set the texture to a "button.png" from atlas
local node = gui.get_node("button_node")
gui.set_texture(node, "gui_sprites")
gui.play_flipbook(node, "button")

gui.play_particlefx

Type: FUNCTION Plays the paricle fx for a gui node

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to play particle fx for
  • emitter_state_function (fun(self:script_instance, node:node nil, emitter:hash, state:particlefx.EMITTER_STATE)) (optional) - optional callback function that will be called when an emitter attached to this particlefx changes state.

Examples

How to play a particle fx when a gui node is created. The callback receives the gui node, the hash of the id of the emitter, and the new state of the emitter as particlefx.EMITTER_STATE_.

local function emitter_state_change(self, node, emitter, state)
  if emitter == hash("exhaust") and state == particlefx.EMITTER_STATE_POSTSPAWN then
    -- exhaust is done spawning particles...
  end
end

function init(self)
    gui.play_particlefx(gui.get_node("particlefx"), emitter_state_change)
end

gui.play_properties

Type: STRUCT GUI flipbook playback properties

Members

  • offset? (number) - Normalized initial animation cursor.
  • playback_rate? (number) - Positive animation playback rate.

gui.PLAYBACK

Type: ENUM Playback modes

Members

  • gui.PLAYBACK_LOOP_BACKWARD - loop backward
  • gui.PLAYBACK_LOOP_FORWARD - loop forward
  • gui.PLAYBACK_LOOP_PINGPONG - ping pong loop
  • gui.PLAYBACK_ONCE_BACKWARD - once backward
  • gui.PLAYBACK_ONCE_FORWARD - once forward
  • gui.PLAYBACK_ONCE_PINGPONG - once forward and then backward

gui.PROP

Type: ENUM GUI property names

Members

  • gui.PROP_COLOR - color property
  • gui.PROP_EULER - euler property
  • gui.PROP_FILL_ANGLE - fill_angle property
  • gui.PROP_INNER_RADIUS - inner_radius property
  • gui.PROP_LEADING - leading property
  • gui.PROP_OUTLINE - outline color property
  • gui.PROP_POSITION - position property
  • gui.PROP_ROTATION - rotation property
  • gui.PROP_SCALE - scale property
  • gui.PROP_SHADOW - shadow color property
  • gui.PROP_SIZE - size property
  • gui.PROP_SLICE9 - slice9 property
  • gui.PROP_TRACKING - tracking property

gui.reset_keyboard

Type: FUNCTION Resets the input context of keyboard. This will clear marked text.

gui.reset_material

Type: FUNCTION Resets the node material to the material assigned in the gui scene.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to reset the material for

Examples

Resetting the material for a node:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")
gui.reset_material(node)

gui.reset_nodes

Type: FUNCTION Resets all nodes in the current GUI scene to their initial state. The reset only applies to static node loaded from the scene. Nodes that are created dynamically from script are not affected.

gui.RESULT

Type: ENUM GUI results

Members

  • gui.RESULT_DATA_ERROR - data error The provided data is not in the expected format or is in some other way incorrect, for instance the image data provided to gui.new_texture().
  • gui.RESULT_OUT_OF_RESOURCES - out of resource The system is out of resources, for instance when trying to create a new texture using gui.new_texture().
  • gui.RESULT_TEXTURE_ALREADY_EXISTS - texture already exists The texture id already exists when trying to use gui.new_texture().

gui.SAFE_AREA

Type: ENUM Safe-area modes

Members

  • gui.SAFE_AREA_BOTH - both sides safe area Safe area mode that applies insets on all edges.
  • gui.SAFE_AREA_LONG - long side safe area Safe area mode that applies insets only on the long edges.
  • gui.SAFE_AREA_NONE - no safe area Safe area mode that ignores safe area insets.
  • gui.SAFE_AREA_SHORT - short side safe area Safe area mode that applies insets only on the short edges.

gui.screen_to_local

Type: FUNCTION Converts a screen-space position to the local position value for the supplied node. The conversion takes the parent transform, anchors, adjust mode, and adjust reference into account.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node whose local position space should be used
  • screen_position (vector3) - screen-space position

Returns

  • local_position (vector3) - local position value for the node

Examples

Animate a node to the pressed pointer position:

function init(self)
    msg.post(".", "acquire_input_focus")
    self.marker = gui.get_node("marker")
end

function on_input(self, action_id, action)
    if action_id == hash("touch") and action.pressed then
        local screen_position = vmath.vector3(action.screen_x, action.screen_y, 0)
        local target_position = gui.screen_to_local(self.marker, screen_position)
        gui.animate(self.marker, gui.PROP_POSITION, target_position, gui.EASING_OUTQUAD, 0.2)
        return true
    end
end

gui.set

Type: FUNCTION Instead of using specific setteres such as gui.set_position or gui.set_scale, you can use gui.set instead and supply the property as a string or a hash. While this function is similar to go.get and go.set, there are a few more restrictions when operating in the gui namespace. Most notably, only these named properties identifiers are supported:

“position” “rotation” “euler” “scale” “color” “outline” “shadow” “size” “fill_angle” (pie) “inner_radius” (pie) “leading” (text) “tracking” (text) “slice9” (slice9)

The value to set must either be a vmath.vector4, vmath.vector3, vmath.quat or a single number and depends on the property name you want to set. I.e when setting the “position” property, you need to use a vmath.vector4 and when setting a single component of the property, such as “position.x”, you need to use a single value. Note: When setting the rotation using the “rotation” property, you need to pass in a vmath.quat. This behaviour is different than from the gui.set_rotation function, the intention is to move new functionality closer to go namespace so that migrating between gui and go is easier. To set the rotation using degrees instead, use the “euler” property instead. The rotation and euler properties are linked, changing one of them will change the backing data of the other. Similar to go.set, you can also use gui.set for setting material constant values on a node. E.g if a material has specified a constant called tint in the .material file, you can use gui.set to set the value of that constant by calling gui.set(node, “tint”, vmath.vec4(1,0,0,1)), or gui.set(node, “matrix”, vmath.matrix4()) if the constant is a matrix. Arrays are also supported by gui.set - to set an array constant, you need to pass in an options table with the ‘index’ key set. If the material has a constant array called ‘tint_array’ specified in the material, you can use gui.set(node, “tint_array”, vmath.vec4(1,0,0,1), { index = 4}) to set the fourth array element to a different value.

Parameters

  • node (node url) - node to set the property for, or msg.url() to the gui itself
  • property (string hash gui.PROP) - the property to set
  • value (number vector4 vector3 quaternion nil) - the property to set. nil is only supported for removing runtime texture mappings with gui.set(msg.url(), "textures", nil, {key = ...}).
  • options (gui.set_options) (optional) - optional material-constant options

Examples

Updates the position property on an existing node:

local node = gui.get_node("my_box_node")
local node_position = gui.get(node, "position")
gui.set(node, "position.x", node_position.x + 128)

Updates the rotation property on an existing node:

local node = gui.get_node("my_box_node")
gui.set(node, "rotation", vmath.quat_rotation_z(math.rad(45)))
-- this is equivalent to:
gui.set(node, "euler.z", 45)
-- or using the entire vector:
gui.set(node, "euler", vmath.vector3(0,0,45))
-- or using the set_rotation
gui.set_rotation(node, vmath.vector3(0,0,45))

Sets various material constants for a node:

local node = gui.get_node("my_box_node")
gui.set(node, "tint", vmath.vector4(1,0,0,1))
-- matrix4 is also supported
gui.set(node, "light_matrix", vmath.matrix4())
-- update a constant in an array at position 4. the array is specified in the shader as:
-- uniform vec4 tint_array[4]; // lua is 1 based, shader is 0 based
gui.set(node, "tint_array", vmath.vector4(1,0,0,1), { index = 4 })
-- update a matrix constant in an array at position 4. the array is specified in the shader as:
-- uniform mat4 light_matrix_array[4];
gui.set(node, "light_matrix_array", vmath.matrix4(), { index = 4 })
-- update a sub-element in a constant
gui.set(node, "tint.x", 1)
-- update a sub-element in an array constant at position 4
gui.set(node, "tint_array.x", 1, {index = 4})

Set a named property

function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
   if message_id == hash("set_font") then
       gui.set(msg.url(), "fonts", message.font, {key = "my_font_name"})
       gui.set_font(gui.get_node("text"), "my_font_name")
   elseif message_id == hash("set_texture") then
       gui.set(msg.url(), "textures", message.texture, {key = "my_texture"})
       gui.set_texture(gui.get_node("box"), "my_texture")
       gui.play_flipbook(gui.get_node("box"), "logo_256")
   end
end

Remove a named runtime texture resource mapping:

local atlas_id = resource.create_atlas("/runtime.texturesetc", atlas_params)
gui.set(msg.url(), "textures", atlas_id, {key = "runtime_texture"})
gui.set_texture(gui.get_node("box"), "runtime_texture")

-- Later, remove the GUI mapping before releasing the atlas resource.
gui.set(msg.url(), "textures", nil, {key = "runtime_texture"})
resource.release(atlas_id)

gui.set_adjust_mode

Type: FUNCTION Sets the adjust mode on a node. The adjust mode defines how the node will adjust itself to screen resolutions that differs from the one in the project settings.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set adjust mode for
  • adjust_mode (gui.ADJUST) - adjust mode to set

gui.set_alpha

Type: FUNCTION sets the node alpha

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set alpha
  • alpha (number) - 0..1 alpha color

gui.set_blend_mode

Type: FUNCTION Set the blend mode of a node. Blend mode defines how the node will be blended with the background.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set blend mode for
  • blend_mode (gui.BLEND) - blend mode to set

gui.set_clipping_inverted

Type: FUNCTION If node is set as an inverted clipping node, it will clip anything inside as opposed to outside.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set clipping inverted state for
  • inverted (boolean) - true or false

gui.set_clipping_mode

Type: FUNCTION Clipping mode defines how the node will clip it’s children nodes

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set clipping mode for
  • clipping_mode (gui.CLIPPING_MODE) - clipping mode to set
  • gui.CLIPPING_MODE_NONE
  • gui.CLIPPING_MODE_STENCIL

gui.set_clipping_visible

Type: FUNCTION If node is set as an visible clipping node, it will be shown as well as clipping. Otherwise, it will only clip but not show visually.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set clipping visibility for
  • visible (boolean) - true or false

gui.set_color

Type: FUNCTION Sets the color of the supplied node. The components of the supplied vector3 or vector4 should contain the color channel values:

Component Color value

x Red value

y Green value

z Blue value

w vector4 Alpha value

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the color for
  • color (vector3 vector4) - new color

gui.set_enabled

Type: FUNCTION Sets a node to the disabled or enabled state. Disabled nodes are not rendered and animations acting on them are not evaluated.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to be enabled/disabled
  • enabled (boolean) - whether the node should be enabled or not

gui.set_euler

Type: FUNCTION Sets the rotation of the supplied node. The rotation is expressed in degree Euler angles.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the rotation for
  • rotation (vector3 vector4) - new rotation

gui.set_fill_angle

Type: FUNCTION Set the sector angle of a pie node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the fill angle for
  • angle (number) - sector angle

gui.set_flipbook_cursor

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful nodes with flipbook animations. The cursor is normalized.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the cursor for
  • cursor (number) - cursor value

gui.set_flipbook_playback_rate

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful nodes with flipbook animations. Sets the playback rate of the flipbook animation on a node. Must be positive.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the cursor for
  • playback_rate (number) - playback rate

gui.set_font

Type: FUNCTION This is only useful for text nodes. The font must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set the font
  • font (string hash) - font id

gui.set_id

Type: FUNCTION Set the id of the specicied node to a new value. Nodes created with the gui.new_*_node() functions get an empty id. This function allows you to give dynamically created nodes an id. No checking is done on the uniqueness of supplied ids. It is up to you to make sure you use unique ids.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the id for
  • id (string hash) - id to set

Examples

Create a new node and set its id:

local pos = vmath.vector3(100, 100, 0)
local size = vmath.vector3(100, 100, 0)
local node = gui.new_box_node(pos, size)
gui.set_id(node, "my_new_node")

gui.set_inherit_alpha

Type: FUNCTION sets the node inherit alpha state

Parameters

  • node (node) - node from which to set the inherit alpha state
  • inherit_alpha (boolean) - true or false

gui.set_inner_radius

Type: FUNCTION Sets the inner radius of a pie node. The radius is defined along the x-axis.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the inner radius for
  • radius (number) - inner radius

gui.set_layer

Type: FUNCTION The layer must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set the layer
  • layer (string hash) - layer id

gui.set_layout

Type: FUNCTION Applies a named layout on the GUI scene. This re-applies per-layout node descriptors and, if a matching Display Profile exists, updates the scene resolution. Emits the “layout_changed” message to the scene script when the layout actually changes.

Parameters

  • layout (string hash) - the layout id to apply

Returns

  • return (boolean) - true if the layout exists in the scene and was applied, false otherwise

gui.set_leading

Type: FUNCTION Sets the leading value for a text node. This value is used to scale the line spacing of text.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set the leading
  • leading (number) - a scaling value for the line spacing (default=1)

gui.set_line_break

Type: FUNCTION Sets the line-break mode on a text node. This is only useful for text nodes.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set line-break for
  • line_break (boolean) - true or false

gui.set_material

Type: FUNCTION Set the material on a node. The material must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor, and assigning a material is supported for all node types. To set the default material that is assigned to the gui scene node, use gui.reset_material(node_id) instead.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set material for
  • material (string hash) - material id

Examples

Assign an existing material to a node:

local node = gui.get_node("my_node")
gui.set_material(node, "my_material")

gui.set_options

Type: STRUCT Generic GUI property options

Members

  • index? (integer) - One-based material-constant array index.
  • key? (hash) - Internal property name.

gui.set_outer_bounds

Type: FUNCTION Sets the outer bounds mode for a pie node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set the outer bounds mode
  • bounds_mode (gui.PIEBOUNDS) - the outer bounds mode of the pie node

gui.set_outline

Type: FUNCTION Sets the outline color of the supplied node. See gui.set_color for info how vectors encode color values.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the outline color for
  • color (vector3 vector4) - new outline color

gui.set_parent

Type: FUNCTION Sets the parent node of the specified node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set its parent
  • parent (node) (optional) - parent node to set, pass nil to remove parent
  • keep_scene_transform (boolean) (optional) - optional flag to make the scene position being perserved

gui.set_particlefx

Type: FUNCTION Set the paricle fx for a gui node

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set particle fx for
  • particlefx (hash string) - particle fx id

gui.set_perimeter_vertices

Type: FUNCTION Sets the number of generated vertices around the perimeter of a pie node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - pie node
  • vertices (number) - vertex count

gui.set_pivot

Type: FUNCTION The pivot specifies how the node is drawn and rotated from its position.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set pivot for
  • pivot (gui.PIVOT) - pivot constant
  • gui.PIVOT_CENTER
  • gui.PIVOT_N
  • gui.PIVOT_NE
  • gui.PIVOT_E
  • gui.PIVOT_SE
  • gui.PIVOT_S
  • gui.PIVOT_SW
  • gui.PIVOT_W
  • gui.PIVOT_NW

gui.set_position

Type: FUNCTION Sets the position of the supplied node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the position for
  • position (vector3 vector4) - new position

gui.set_render_order

Type: FUNCTION Set the order number for the current GUI scene. The number dictates the sorting of the “gui” render predicate, in other words in which order the scene will be rendered in relation to other currently rendered GUI scenes. The number must be in the range 0 to 15.

Parameters

  • order (number) - rendering order (0-15)

gui.set_rotation

Type: FUNCTION Sets the rotation of the supplied node. The rotation is expressed as a quaternion

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the rotation for
  • rotation (quaternion vector4) - new rotation

gui.set_safe_area_mode

Type: FUNCTION Sets how the safe area is applied to this gui scene.

Parameters

  • mode (gui.SAFE_AREA) - safe area mode

gui.set_scale

Type: FUNCTION Sets the scaling of the supplied node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the scale for
  • scale (vector3 vector4) - new scale

gui.set_screen_position

Type: FUNCTION Set the screen position to the supplied node

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the screen position to
  • screen_position (vector3) - screen position

gui.set_shadow

Type: FUNCTION Sets the shadow color of the supplied node. See gui.set_color for info how vectors encode color values.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the shadow color for
  • color (vector3 vector4) - new shadow color

gui.set_size

Type: FUNCTION Sets the size of the supplied node. You can only set size on nodes with size mode set to SIZE_MODE_MANUAL

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set the size for
  • size (vector3 vector4) - new size

gui.set_size_mode

Type: FUNCTION Sets the size mode of a node. The size mode defines how the node will adjust itself in size. Automatic size mode alters the node size based on the node’s content. Automatic size mode works for Box nodes and Pie nodes which will both adjust their size to match the assigned image. Particle fx and Text nodes will ignore any size mode setting.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set size mode for
  • size_mode (gui.SIZE_MODE) - size mode to set

gui.set_slice9

Type: FUNCTION Set the slice9 configuration values for the node.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to manipulate
  • values (vector4) - new values

gui.set_text

Type: FUNCTION Set the text value of a text node. This is only useful for text nodes.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set text for
  • text (string number) - text to set

gui.set_texture

Type: FUNCTION Set the texture on a box or pie node. The texture must be mapped to the gui scene in the gui editor. The function points out which texture the node should render from. If the texture is an atlas, further information is needed to select which image/animation in the atlas to render. In such cases, use gui.play_flipbook() in addition to this function.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set texture for
  • texture (string hash) - texture id

Examples

To set a texture (or animation) from an atlas:

local node = gui.get_node("box_node")
gui.set_texture(node, "my_atlas")
gui.play_flipbook(node, "image")

Set a dynamically created texture to a node. Note that there is only one texture image in this case so gui.set_texture() is sufficient.

local w = 200
local h = 300
-- A nice orange. String with the RGB values.
local orange = string.char(0xff) .. string.char(0x80) .. string.char(0x10)
-- Create the texture. Repeat the color string for each pixel.
if gui.new_texture("orange_tx", w, h, "rgb", string.rep(orange, w * h)) then
    local node = gui.get_node("box_node")
    gui.set_texture(node, "orange_tx")
end

gui.set_texture_data

Type: FUNCTION Set the texture buffer data for a dynamically created texture.

Parameters

  • texture (string hash) - texture id
  • width (number) - texture width
  • height (number) - texture height
  • type (string image.TYPE) - texture type
  • "rgb" or image.TYPE_RGB - RGB
  • "rgba" or image.TYPE_RGBA - RGBA
  • "l" or image.TYPE_LUMINANCE - LUMINANCE
  • "astc" - ASTC compressed format
  • buffer (string) - texture data
  • flip (boolean) - flip texture vertically

Returns

  • success (boolean) - setting the data was successful

Examples

function init(self)
     local w = 200
     local h = 300

     -- Create a dynamic texture, all white.
     if gui.new_texture("dynamic_tx", w, h, "rgb", string.rep(string.char(0xff), w * h * 3)) then
         -- Create a box node and apply the texture to it.
         local n = gui.new_box_node(vmath.vector3(200, 200, 0), vmath.vector3(w, h, 0))
         gui.set_texture(n, "dynamic_tx")

         ...

         -- Change the data in the texture to a nice orange.
         local orange = string.char(0xff) .. string.char(0x80) .. string.char(0x10)
         if gui.set_texture_data("dynamic_tx", w, h, "rgb", string.rep(orange, w * h)) then
             -- Go on and to more stuff
             ...
         end
     else
         -- Something went wrong
         ...
     end
end

gui.set_tracking

Type: FUNCTION Sets the tracking value of a text node. This value is used to adjust the vertical spacing of characters in the text.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node for which to set the tracking
  • tracking (number) - a scaling number for the letter spacing (default=0)

gui.set_visible

Type: FUNCTION Set if a node should be visible or not. Only visible nodes are rendered.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to be visible or not
  • visible (boolean) - whether the node should be visible or not

gui.set_xanchor

Type: FUNCTION The x-anchor specifies how the node is moved when the game is run in a different resolution.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set x-anchor for
  • anchor (gui.ANCHOR) - anchor constant
  • gui.ANCHOR_NONE
  • gui.ANCHOR_LEFT
  • gui.ANCHOR_RIGHT

gui.set_yanchor

Type: FUNCTION The y-anchor specifies how the node is moved when the game is run in a different resolution.

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to set y-anchor for
  • anchor (gui.ANCHOR) - anchor constant
  • gui.ANCHOR_NONE
  • gui.ANCHOR_TOP
  • gui.ANCHOR_BOTTOM

gui.show_keyboard

Type: FUNCTION Shows the on-display touch keyboard. The specified type of keyboard is displayed if it is available on the device. This function is only available on iOS and Android. .

Parameters

  • type (gui.KEYBOARD_TYPE) - keyboard type
  • autoclose (boolean) - if the keyboard should automatically close when clicking outside

gui.SIZE_MODE

Type: ENUM Size modes

Members

  • gui.SIZE_MODE_AUTO - automatic size mode The size of the node is determined by the currently assigned texture.
  • gui.SIZE_MODE_MANUAL - manual size mode The size of the node is determined by the size set in the editor, the constructor or by gui.set_size()

gui.stop_particlefx

Type: FUNCTION Stops the particle fx for a gui node

Parameters

  • node (node) - node to stop particle fx for
  • options (particlefx.stop_options) (optional) - options used when stopping the particle fx

gui.TYPE

Type: ENUM Node types

Members

  • gui.TYPE_BOX - box type
  • gui.TYPE_CUSTOM - custom type
  • gui.TYPE_PARTICLEFX - particlefx type
  • gui.TYPE_PIE - pie type
  • gui.TYPE_TEXT - text type

init

Type: FUNCTION This is a callback-function, which is called by the engine when a gui component is initialized. It can be used to set the initial state of the script and gui scene.

Parameters

  • self (script_instance) - script instance used for storing state

Examples

function init(self)
    -- set up useful data
    self.my_value = 1
end

layout_changed

Type: MESSAGE This message is broadcast to every GUI component when a layout change has been initiated on device.

Parameters

  • id (hash) - the id of the layout the engine is changing to
  • previous_id (hash) - the id of the layout the engine is changing from

Examples

function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
   if message_id == hash("layout_changed") and message.id == hash("Landscape") then
       -- switching layout to "Landscape"...
       ...
   end
end

material

Type: PROPERTY The main material (the default material assigned to a GUI) used when rendering the gui. The type of the property is hash.

Examples

How to set material using a script property (see resource.material)

go.property("desaturate_material", resource.material("/desaturate.material"))

function init(self)
  go.set("#gui", "material", self.desaturate_material)
end

materials

Type: PROPERTY The materials used when rendering the gui. The type of the property is hash. Key must be specified in options table.

Examples

How to change a named material resource using a script property from a script

go.property("my_material", resource.material("/my_material.material"))

function init(self)
  -- this will update the "my_gui_material" entry in the GUI to use the material
  -- specified in the "my_material" script property.
  go.set("#gui", "materials", self.my_material, { key = "my_gui_material" })
end

node

Type: TYPEDEF An opaque handle to a node in the current GUI scene. Obtain a node with gui.get_node, create one with a gui.new_*_node function, or clone an existing node. A handle becomes invalid when its node is deleted.

Parameters

  • value (userdata) - GUI node handle

Examples

local health_bar = gui.get_node("health_bar")
gui.set_color(health_bar, vmath.vector4(1, 0, 0, 1))

local marker = gui.new_box_node(vmath.vector3(100, 100, 0), vmath.vector3(16, 16, 0))

on_input

Type: FUNCTION This is a callback-function, which is called by the engine when user input is sent to the instance of the gui component. It can be used to take action on the input, e.g. modify the gui according to the input. For an instance to obtain user input, it must first acquire input focus through the message acquire_input_focus. Any instance that has obtained input will be put on top of an input stack. Input is sent to all listeners on the stack until the end of stack is reached, or a listener returns true to signal that it wants input to be consumed. See the documentation of acquire_input_focus for more information.

Parameters

  • self (script_instance) - script instance used for storing state
  • action_id (hash nil) - id of the received input action, as mapped in the input_binding-file, or nil for mouse movement
  • action (on_input.action) - input data for the action

Returns

  • consume (boolean nil) - optional boolean to signal if the input should be consumed (not passed on to others) or not, default is false

Examples

function on_input(self, action_id, action)
    -- check for input
    if action_id == hash("my_action") then
        -- take appropritate action
        self.my_value = action.value
    end
    -- consume input
    return true
end

on_message

Type: FUNCTION This is a callback-function, which is called by the engine whenever a message has been sent to the gui component. It can be used to take action on the message, e.g. update the gui or send a response back to the sender of the message. The message parameter is a table containing the message data. If the message is sent from the engine, the documentation of the message specifies which data is supplied. See the update function for examples on how to use this callback-function.

Parameters

  • self (script_instance) - script instance used for storing state
  • message_id (hash) - id of the received message
  • message (table<any, any>) - a table containing the message data
  • sender (url) - address of the sender

on_reload

Type: FUNCTION This is a callback-function, which is called by the engine when the gui script is reloaded, e.g. from the editor. It can be used for live development, e.g. to tweak constants or set up the state properly for the script.

Parameters

  • self (script_instance) - script instance used for storing state

Examples

function on_reload(self)
    -- restore some color (or similar)
    gui.set_color(gui.get_node("my_node"), self.my_original_color)
end

text_object_clicked

Type: MESSAGE Sent to the GUI script when an interactive rich-text object is clicked.

Parameters

  • id (hash) - the object’s id attribute, or its generated layout object id
  • type (hash) - the layout object type, currently link
  • src (string) - the application-defined target from the object’s src attribute

text_object_hovered

Type: MESSAGE Sent to the GUI script when the pointer enters an interactive rich-text object.

Parameters

  • id (hash) - the object’s id attribute, or its generated layout object id
  • type (hash) - the layout object type, currently link
  • src (string) - the application-defined target from the object’s src attribute

text_object_unhovered

Type: MESSAGE Sent to the GUI script when the pointer leaves an interactive rich-text object.

Parameters

  • id (hash) - the object’s id attribute, or its generated layout object id
  • type (hash) - the layout object type, currently link
  • src (string) - the application-defined target from the object’s src attribute

textures

Type: PROPERTY The textures used in the gui. The type of the property is hash. Key must be specified in options table.

Examples

How to set texture using a script property (see resource.atlas)

go.property("cards_red", resource.atlas("/cards_red.atlas"))
go.property("cards_blue", resource.atlas("/cards_blue.atlas"))

function init(self)
  go.set("#gui", "textures", self.cards_red, {key = "cards"})
end

update

Type: FUNCTION This is a callback-function, which is called by the engine every frame to update the state of a gui component. It can be used to perform any kind of gui related tasks, e.g. animating nodes.

Parameters

  • self (script_instance) - script instance used for storing state
  • dt (number) - the time-step of the frame update

Examples

This example demonstrates how to update a text node that displays game score in a counting fashion. It is assumed that the gui component receives messages from the game when a new score is to be shown.

function init(self)
    -- fetch the score text node for later use (assumes it is called "score")
    self.score_node = gui.get_node("score")
    -- keep track of the current score counted up so far
    self.current_score = 0
    -- keep track of the target score we should count up to
    self.target_score = 0
    -- how fast we will update the score, in score/second
    self.score_update_speed = 1
end

function update(self, dt)
    -- check if target score is more than current score
    if self.current_score  self.target_score then
            self.current_score = self.target_score
        end
        -- update the score text node
        gui.set_text(self.score_node, "" .. math.floor(self.current_score))
    end
end

function on_message(self, message_id, message, sender)
    -- check the message
    if message_id == hash("set_score") then
        self.target_score = message.score
    end
end