Arma: GUI Configuration

Introduction

Dialogs are one way to provide custom graphical user interface in your missions and allow interaction with the player aswell as they are able to run code. They are defined as classes in the description.ext file.

Notice: If you change your description.ext file while the mission is still open in the editor, you will have to reload or resave the mission before the changes will take effect. This behaviour is due to the fact the mission editor only reads the description.ext file during save/load. Eden editor will automatically update the description.ext on mission preview.

Warning: If there are syntactic errors in your description.ext file (e.g. incorrect spelling of keywords), then the game will simply return to desktop while processing the file, stating the nature and location of the error that caused it.

Most of these definitions work with numeric constants, which are presented in the following section. For readability purposes you should consider favoring them instead of the actual integers.

• Positions and dimensions (x, y, w, h) aswell as font sizes are relative to the viewport (not pixel values). Vieweport is a 4:3 area which covers the whole screen with Very Large interface size, but gets smaller with small interface sizes (and user interface gets smaller as well). See GUI Coordinates for more information
• Colors are usually defined in the following convention: { Red, Green, Blue, Alpha }, each ranging from 0.0 to 1.0 as well. To easily convert from the more standard 0-255 range, simply divide the 255 based number by 255.
• Sounds are usually defined in the following convention: { "file.ogg", volume, pitch }, Volume ranges from 0.0 to 1.0. Pitch is a floating point number ranging from 0.0 to 4.0. 2.0 doubles the pitch (makes it higher), 0.5 halfs the pitch (makes it deeper) and 1.0 is normal.

You can find a complete list of scripting related GUI functions in Category:Command Group: GUI Control.

Dialogs, Displays and Huds

There is two kind of displays :

• Dialogs : are displays that interract with the player through controls. While dialogs are opened player can not move.
• Huds : are displays that print informations about the game (ex: amount of ammos, life, etc). Huds do not interfer with the player movement.

Both displays type are invoked by using differents commands (createDialog for dialog, cutrsc for huds) and finished by diffents commands (closeDialog for dialog, cutrsc for huds).

Global considerations

This document attempts to cover the genre of controls (idc's), display (idd's). It attempts to apply the same consistency as one (currently) finds in mission description.ext's, as well as configs. Specifically, config.cpp's relating to the so-called 'user ui'.

This document must be inaccurate because *everything* config-dialogs/displays/controls is at the whim of engine revisions and which flavor pizza was eaten on Friday night.

The token names used for color (purely as an example) are currently not only inconsistent across controls, they are subject to whim. Any addition to the engine's capabilities (with new control types) will (if history is the judge) produce new token names, that do exactly same as different names in other controls. color[]=, colorText[]= ActiveColor[]=ShadowColo[]= (an engine typo) =ColorActive[]=FrenchFries[]=….. all meaning the same thing (and NOT meaning the same thing, depending on the control's type)

Unfortunately, the current state of play with Arrowhead engine (and all engines prior) is that the entire caboodle is arbitrary. In terms of ui.config.cpp, most controls and most displays are hard-wired to the engine.

For config.cpp's, one of the hardest animals to deal with is the fixed-in-concrete classname definitions, aligned with matching fixed-in-concrete idd's.

Purely as an example

RscDisplaySelectIsland uses an idd of 51. Both are currently nuclear fallout shelters (hardened concrete). you can't change the name, you can't change the idd.

The engine is hard wired (with the equivalent of) createDisplay "RscDisplaySelectIsland" via various fixed-in-conrete idc's of other displays. There is no action, no eventhandler, no over-ride, which you can apply to this 'behavior'. Similarly, the engine reacts to that displays controls with hard-wired _display ctrlParent 'control' expecting the _display idd to be 51 to proceed any further. (in this case, open the editor and show the selected island's map)

There is nothing wrong with this approach. It has been the same since CWC. But, with the increasing abundance of official bis sqf scripts which specifically deal with and react to ui controls and displays (see \ca\ui\scripts). The burden of the engine dealing with this is becoming anachronistic and contrary to the flexibility that those scripts provide.

In short:

• The token names described here as general, have to be taken in context to the control/display they are used in. There can be no guarantee that they are the same for all controls, and no guarantee that they wont change. the bin\config.bin of the engine, is the ultimate umpire. It declares what this engine, expects.
• Any reference to eventHandlers and 'actions' are subject to the whim of the engine. It may, or may not, force-over-ride any action depending on display(idd) and it's control (idc)
• Any class definition may or may not be fixed in concrete. Some classnames are, some classnames are not. Which ones, depend on whether it's Monday afternoon.

Dialogs

Dialogs are parent containers for the actual controls it contains. Their definition contains several properties on the controls it contains, how the dialog can be addressed, and whether or not the player is able to continue regular movement while the dialog is shown.

They can be defined in the description.ext file or externalized to separate hpp-files, which are included in the description.ext file using the #include preprocessor directive. The latter method is generally a good idea to split a large description.ext file into several small chunks in order to keep track of what's where.

Most often, controls of a dialog are defined within the definition of the dialog itself, though it's a good practice to generalize common controls in a base definition in the global scope. See best practice for details. For simplicity we won't apply this practice in the following code examples.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
idd	integer	The unique ID number of this dialog. can be -1 if you don't require access to the dialog itself from within a script.
movingEnable	boolean	Specifies whether the dialog can be moved or not (if enabled one of the dialogs controls should have the moving property set to 1 so it becomes the "handle" the dialog can be moved with). Doesn't seem to matter in Arma 3
enableSimulation	boolean	Specifies whether the game continues while the dialog is shown or not.
controlsBackground	array	Contains class names of all background controls associated to this dialog. The sequence in which the controls are listed will decide their z-index (i.e. the last ones will on top of the first ones).
controls	array	Contains class names of all foreground controls associated to this dialog.
objects	array

Setting the idd property to a non-negative (i.e. "useful") number is only required if you want to access the dialog itself via the findDisplay function. Accessing the dialog itself via the idd property though does not mean that you can implicitly access the controls within the dialog. For that you will have to rely on the control's idc properties. Hence, in most basic cases you won't need it and -1 should be sufficient.

It's also noteworthy for more advanced developers that there is a numeric property named access with the following possible values (and their named constants):

• 0 - ReadAndWrite - this is the default case where properties can still be added or overridden.
• 1 - ReadAndCreate - this only allows creating new properties.
• 2 - ReadOnly - this does not allow to do anything in deriving classes.
• 3 - ReadOnlyVerified - this does not allow to do anything either in deriving classes, and a CRC check will be performed.

This does not have any impact other than limiting what deriving classes are allowed to (re-)specify. Generally this is not required for dialogs or dialog controls and can be safely ignored.

Here's an example of a dialog that will only display Hello world in the top right corner of the screen. If you get confused by the MyHelloText class, just ignore it for the moment until you have read details on the definition of controls in the following chapter, Controls.

• Example 1:

#define true  1
#define false 0

class MyHelloWorldDialog {
	idd = -1;						// set to -1, because we don't require a unique ID
	movingEnable = true;			// the dialog can be moved with the mouse (see "moving" below)
	enableSimulation = false;		// freeze the game
	controlsBackground[] = { };		// no background controls needed
	objects[] = { };				// no objects needed
	controls[] = { MyHelloText }; 	// our "Hello world" text as seen below:

	class MyHelloText {
		idc = -1;					// set to -1, unneeded
		moving = 1;					// left click (and hold) this control to move the dialog
									// (requires "movingEnabled" to be 1, see above)
		type = CT_STATIC;			// constant
		style = ST_LEFT;			// constant
		text = "Hello world";
		font = FontM;
		sizeEx = 0.023;

		colorBackground[] = { 1, 1, 1, 0.3 };
		colorText[] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 };

		x = 0.8;
		y = 0.1;
		w = 0.2;
		h = 0.05;
	};
};

• Example 2:

The benefit of the following syntax is that you do not need to double list all of the control class names.

class RscText; // assume external declaration

class MyHelloWorldDialog {
	idd = -1;
	movingEnable = 0;
	class controlsBackground {
		// define controls here
	};
	class objects {
		// define controls here
	};
	class controls {
		// define controls here

		class MyHelloText: RscText {
			idc = -1;
			text = "Hello world";
			x = 0.80;
			y = 0.10;
			w = 0.20;
			h = 0.05;
		};
	};
};

Once you have defined (or prototyped) dialogs you want to use, be sure to reload the mission in the editor if it is already running. In the Eden editor it's enough to save the mission via CTRL + S (Default). This will precompile the description.ext.

Creating dialogs

Dialogs can then be created and shown using the createDialog function. If you do so by script and await a responsive action from the user, you might also want to wait until the user has closed the dialog by using a wait statement (e.g. waitUntil) in conjunction with the dialog function, if you intend to handle the dialog result within the same script.

• Example:

_ok = createDialog "MyHelloWorldDialog"; waitUntil { !dialog }; // hit ESC to close it hint "Dialog closed.";

Closing dialogs

In most use cases a dialog "closes itself", ie. by invoking the closeDialog function in an action field. However dialogs don't necessarily have to close themselves, but can also be closed from the "outside" (ie. by scripts or triggers). Once closed, the dialog function returns false and wait statements with a !dialog condition will end.

• Example - close by action

class CloseButton : RscButton {
	/* … */
	type = CT_BUTTON;
	text = "Close";
	action = "closeDialog 0";
}

• Example - close by external request

closeDialog 0;

Controls

Controls are the actual content of dialogs and can be anything, ranging from simple solid rectangles to a complex 3d object within a dialog. Like dialogs, controls can have a unique ID saved in the idc property to access them from within scripts using GUI functions.

The type of the control is usually set in the type property. Different types allow or require a different set of properties. However most controls share a set of properties in addition to the properties described in the following sections:

Common properties
Name	Type	Remark
idc	integer	the unique ID number of this control. can be -1 if you don't require access to the control itself from within a script
moving	boolean	whether the dialog will be moved if this control is dragged (may require "movingEnable" to be 1 in the dialog. In Arma 3 works regardless). Another way of allowing moving of the dialog is to have control of style ST_TITLE_BAR
type	integer CT_TYPES
style	integer CT_STYLES	can be combinatorial: style = "0x400+0x02+0x10";
x/y/w/h	float	the position and size of the control in fractions of screen size.
sizeEx	float	the font size of text (0..1)
font	string	the font to use. See the list of available fonts for possible values
colorText	color array	text color
colorBackground	color array	background color
text	string or texture	the text or picture to display
shadow	0,1 or 2	can be applied to most controls (0 = no shadow, 1 = drop shadow with soft edges, 2 = stroke).
tooltip	string	Text to display in a tooltip when control is moused over. A tooltip can be added to any control type except CT_STATIC and CT_STRUCTURED_TEXT. Note: As of Arma 3 v1.48 (approx), most controls now support tooltips.
tooltipColorShade	color array	Tooltip background color
tooltipColorText	color array	Tooltip text color
tooltipColorBox	color array	Tooltip border color
autocompete	string	Option for entry fields (e.g. RscEdit) to activate autocompletion. For known script commands and functions use autocomplete = "scripting".
url	string	URL which will be opened when clicking on the control. Used on e.g. a button control. Does not utilize the Steam Overlay browser if enabled, opens the link in the default browser set by the OS.

Attributes class

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
font	string
color	HTML color
align	string	center, left, etc
shadow	integer	not image class

AttributesImage class

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
font	string	optional
color	HTML color
align	string	center, left, etc optional

To save space and effort, it is generally a good idea to make use of class polymorphism, i.e. deriving from very basic classes that already have some specific properties set. See the Best practice for details.

CONTROL TYPES

Define	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Remark
CT_STATIC	0	0x00
CT_BUTTON	1	0x01
CT_EDIT	2	0x02
CT_SLIDER	3	0x03
CT_COMBO	4	0x04
CT_LISTBOX	5	0x05
CT_TOOLBOX	6	0x06
CT_CHECKBOXES	7	0x07
CT_PROGRESS	8	0x08
CT_HTML	9	0x09
CT_STATIC_SKEW	10	0x0A
CT_ACTIVETEXT	11	0x0B
CT_TREE	12	0x0C
CT_STRUCTURED_TEXT	13	0x0D
CT_CONTEXT_MENU	14	0x0E
CT_CONTROLS_GROUP	15	0x0F
CT_SHORTCUTBUTTON	16	0x10
CT_HITZONES	17	0x11
CT_VEHICLETOGGLES	18	0x12
CT_CONTROLS_TABLE	19	0x13
CT_XKEYDESC	40	0x28
CT_XBUTTON	41	0x29
CT_XLISTBOX	42	0x2A
CT_XSLIDER	43	0x2B
CT_XCOMBO	44	0x2C
CT_ANIMATED_TEXTURE	45	0x2D
CT_MENU	46	0x2E	Arma 3 (EDEN)
CT_MENU_STRIP	47	0x2F	Arma 3 (EDEN)
CT_CHECKBOX	77	0x4D	Arma 3
CT_OBJECT	80	0x50
CT_OBJECT_ZOOM	81	0x51
CT_OBJECT_CONTAINER	82	0x52
CT_OBJECT_CONT_ANIM	83	0x53
CT_LINEBREAK	98	0x62
CT_USER	99	0x63
CT_MAP	100	0x64
CT_MAP_MAIN	101	0x65
CT_LISTNBOX	102	0x66
CT_ITEMSLOT	103	0x67
CT_LISTNBOX_CHECKABLE	104	0x68
CT_VEHICLE_DIRECTION	105	0x69

Control Types Defines

Show text

All defines can be retrieved by executing "Default" call BIS_fnc_exportGUIBaseClasses;

#define CT_STATIC				  0
#define CT_BUTTON				  1
#define CT_EDIT					  2
#define CT_SLIDER				  3
#define CT_COMBO				  4
#define CT_LISTBOX				  5
#define CT_TOOLBOX				  6
#define CT_CHECKBOXES			  7
#define CT_PROGRESS				  8
#define CT_HTML					  9
#define CT_STATIC_SKEW			 10
#define CT_ACTIVETEXT			 11
#define CT_TREE					 12
#define CT_STRUCTURED_TEXT		 13
#define CT_CONTEXT_MENU			 14
#define CT_CONTROLS_GROUP		 15
#define CT_SHORTCUTBUTTON		 16
#define CT_HITZONES				 17
#define CT_VEHICLETOGGLES		 18
#define CT_CONTROLS_TABLE		 19
#define CT_XKEYDESC				 40
#define CT_XBUTTON				 41
#define CT_XLISTBOX				 42
#define CT_XSLIDER				 43
#define CT_XCOMBO				 44
#define CT_ANIMATED_TEXTURE		 45
#define CT_MENU					 46
#define CT_MENU_STRIP			 47
#define CT_CHECKBOX				 77
#define CT_OBJECT				 80
#define CT_OBJECT_ZOOM			 81
#define CT_OBJECT_CONTAINER		 82
#define CT_OBJECT_CONT_ANIM		 83
#define CT_LINEBREAK			 98
#define CT_USER					 99
#define CT_MAP					100
#define CT_MAP_MAIN				101
#define CT_LISTNBOX				102
#define CT_ITEMSLOT				103
#define CT_LISTNBOX_CHECKABLE	104
#define CT_VEHICLE_DIRECTION	105

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CONTROL STYLES

CT_STATIC Specific Styles

Define	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Remark
ST_LEFT	0	0x00	Default, text left aligned
ST_RIGHT	1	0x01	Modifier, adding this to another style will force text to be aligned to the right
ST_CENTER	2	0x02	Modifier, adding this to another style will force text to be centered
ST_DOWN	4	0x04
ST_UP	8	0x08
ST_VCENTER	12	0x0C	ST_DOWN + ST_UP
ST_SINGLE	0	0x00	Plain single line box without a border
ST_MULTI	16	0x10	Plain multiple line box with a slight border. To remove border add 512 (+ ST_NO_RECT) to the style (style 528, 529 and 530 are therefore border-less). Additional parameter lineSpacing is required for this style. lineSpacing = 1; is normal line spacing. Any \n character in the text string will be interpreted as new line.
ST_TITLE_BAR	32	0x20	Plain single line box with semi-transparent background and somewhat embossed border. When this style is used, the dialog containing control becomes draggable by this control
ST_PICTURE	48	0x30	Border-less picture box. Text string is treated as a path to a texture. Alignment has no effect. The texture is stretched to fit the box by default. To force original aspect ratio add 2048 (+ ST_KEEP_ASPECT_RATIO) to the style. Background is ignored, colorText controls texture colour and opacity
ST_FRAME	64	0x40	Legend like frame without background with text showing over the frame edge. Alignment has no effect. colorText defines both text and frame colour
ST_BACKGROUND	80	0x50	Single line box with always black opaque background and thick raised beveled border
ST_GROUP_BOX	96	0x60	Single line box with delicate semi-transparent background and slight border. Only text colour can be controlled
ST_GROUP_BOX2	112	0x70	Plain single line box, same as ST_SINGLE, only with a slight border similar to ST_MULTI box border
ST_HUD_BACKGROUND	128	0x80	Sets special texture for corners. It was used for rounded corners in OFP, Arma and Arma 2. In Arma 3, square corners are used everywhere, so the texture is adapted to the unified style, but the technology is not removed. In Arma 3 it looks the same as normal ST_SINGLE. Corner textures are defined in configFile >> "CfgInGameUI" >> "imageCornerElement" (can be set only globally for the whole game, not per control)”
ST_TILE_PICTURE	144	0x90	The picture is tiled according to tileH and tileW values. To force tiled picture to keep aspect ratio of original image, add 2048 (+ ST_KEEP_ASPECT_RATIO) to the style.
ST_WITH_RECT	160	0xA0	Single line box frame, similar to ST_FRAME box. The text however is displayed inside the frame. Frame and text colour are set with colorText
ST_LINE	176	0xB0	Diagonal line going from left top corner to bottom right corner. To control line direction, width w and height h parameters of the box could be negative. Line and text colour are set with colorText
ST_UPPERCASE	192	0xC0	Forces control text to upper case
ST_LOWERCASE	208	0xD0	Forces control text to lower case
ST_ADDITIONAL_INFO	3840	0x0F00	ST_SHADOW + ST_NO_RECT + SL_HORZ + ST_KEEP_ASPECT_RATIO
ST_SHADOW	256	0x0100
ST_NO_RECT	512	0x0200	this style works for CT_STATIC in conjunction with ST_MULTI
ST_KEEP_ASPECT_RATIO	2048	0x0800	When used with image or texture, stops it from stretching to fit the control
ST_TITLE	34	0x22	ST_TITLE_BAR + ST_CENTER

CT_SLIDER Specific Styles

Define	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Remark
SL_VERT	0	0x00
SL_HORZ	1024	0x0400
SL_TEXTURES	16	0x10

CT_PROGRESS Specific Styles

Define	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Remark
ST_VERTICAL	1	0x01
ST_HORIZONTAL	0	0x00

CT_LISTBOX Specific Styles

Define	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Remark
LB_TEXTURES	16	0x10
LB_MULTI	32	0x20	Makes CT_LISTBOX multi-selectable (see also lbSetCurSel, lbCurSel, lbSetSelected, lbSelection)

CT_TREE Specific Styles

Define	Decimal	Hexadecimal	Remark
TR_SHOWROOT	1	0x01
TR_AUTOCOLLAPSE	2	0x02

Control Styles Defines

Show text

All defines can be retrieved by executing "Default" call BIS_fnc_exportGUIBaseClasses;

#define ST_LEFT					0x00
#define ST_RIGHT				0x01
#define ST_CENTER				0x02
#define ST_DOWN					0x04
#define ST_UP					0x08
#define ST_VCENTER				0x0C
#define ST_SINGLE				0x00
#define ST_MULTI				0x10
#define ST_TITLE_BAR			0x20
#define ST_PICTURE				0x30
#define ST_FRAME				0x40
#define ST_BACKGROUND			0x50
#define ST_GROUP_BOX			0x60
#define ST_GROUP_BOX2			0x70
#define ST_HUD_BACKGROUND		0x80
#define ST_TILE_PICTURE			0x90
#define ST_WITH_RECT			0xA0
#define ST_LINE					0xB0
#define ST_UPPERCASE			0xC0
#define ST_LOWERCASE			0xD0
#define ST_ADDITIONAL_INFO		0x0F00
#define ST_SHADOW				0x0100
#define ST_NO_RECT				0x0200
#define ST_KEEP_ASPECT_RATIO	0x0800
#define ST_TITLE				ST_TITLE_BAR + ST_CENTER
#define SL_VERT					0
#define SL_HORZ					0x400
#define SL_TEXTURES				0x10
#define ST_VERTICAL				0x01
#define ST_HORIZONTAL			0
#define LB_TEXTURES				0x10
#define LB_MULTI				0x20
#define TR_SHOWROOT				1
#define TR_AUTOCOLLAPSE			2

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UI Eventhandlers

A reference list of User Interface Event Handlers.

Best practice

Inheritance

Using inheritance can reduce your dialog class definitions significantly by standardising common attributes in base classes and just changing unique attributes in derived classes. There is no need to redeclare all attributes for each class definition.

• Example:

class RscText // Base definition used for inheritance
{
	type = CT_STATIC;
	idc = -1;
	style = ST_LEFT;
	colorBackground[] = {0, 0, 0, 1};
	colorText[] = {1, 1, 1, 1};
	font = FontM;
	sizeEx = 0.04;
	h = 0.04;
	text = "";
};

class My_BlueText : RscText // My_BlueText inherits all attributes from RscText defined above, thus only x,w & colorText need to be changed
{
	colorText[] = {0, 0, 1, 1};
	x = 0.1;
	w = 0.4;
};

class My_Dialog
{
	//…

	controls[] = {
		My_Text_1,
		My_Text_2
	};

	class My_Text_1 : My_BlueText // My_Text_1 inherits all attribute from My_BlueText, therefore only text & y attributes have to be changed
	{
		text = "Line 1";
		y = 0.2;
	};

	class My_Text_2 : My_BlueText
	{
		text = "Line 2";
		y = 0.25;
	};
};

Preprocessor instructions

Note that you can also add your own preprocessor instructions for commonly used data, eg. for colors, to save yourself the hassle of writing it in several different places and then adapt each of them if you want to change them afterwards (especially if class inheritance isn't applicable). Also it can make your code look more readable sometimes.

• Example:

#define COLOR_LIGHTBROWN { 0.776, 0.749, 0.658, 1 }
#define COLOR_HALF_BLACK { 0, 0, 0, 0.5 }
#define COLOR_TRANSPARENT { 0, 0, 0, 0 }

// …

class MyDialog {
	idd = -1;
	movingEnable = 1;
	objects[] = {};
	controlsBackground[] = { MyDialogBackground };
	controls[] = { MyDialogText };

	class MyDialogBackground : RscText {
		colorBackground[] = COLOR_HALF_BLACK;
		x = 0.7;  y = 0.1;
		w = 0.25; h = 0.15;
	};

	class MyDialogText : RscText {
		style = ST_MULTI;
		colorBackground[] = COLOR_TRANSPARENT;
		colorText[] = COLOR_LIGHTBROWN;
		text = "No power in the 'Verse can stop me.";
		lineSpacing = 1;
		x = 0.71; y = 0.11;
		w = 0.23; h = 0.13;
	};
};