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.

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 screen (and not pixel values), normally ranging from 0.0 to 1.0; 0.0 means 0% of the screen width (e.g. the left side of the screen in the context of x or y, or 0% length in the context of width and height). This makes font sizes usually a very small number (~0.02). This percentage is only based on the standard 4:3 screen area. A dialog will look the same for all users, regardless of their monitor's aspect ratio, as long as their aspect ratio is set correctly for their monitor in the display options panel. This is only likely to be a problem, should you be intentionally trying to fill the whole screen with a dialog and the user has a non-4:3 monitor. In all other situations, this behaviour is likely to be to your benefit, as you don't have to worry about users with different setups. Keep this in mind. You can set your positions and dimension outside of 0-1 if you wish. For the most part though, it's not recommended as parts of your dialog will be drawn outside the standard 4:3 screen area. This means the majority of users could not access the items outside this area. One practical application for that though, is that it lets you make a solid background that blocks out the screen for all users regardless of their monitor's screen aspect ratio. This can be done by setting a panel's position and dimensions to "X = -1; Y = -1; W = 3; h = 3".
• 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.

Constants

These are constants generally used to maintain a certain degree of readability. They represent integer values for use with type and style properties of controls. You can also define other constants, e.g. the font name.

// Control types #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_SHORTCUT_BUTTON 16 // Arma 2 - textured button #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_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_List_N_Box 102 // Arma 2 - N columns list box // Static styles #define ST_POS 0x0F #define ST_HPOS 0x03 #define ST_VPOS 0x0C #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_TYPE 0xF0 #define ST_SINGLE 0 #define ST_MULTI 16 #define ST_TITLE_BAR 32 #define ST_PICTURE 48 #define ST_FRAME 64 #define ST_BACKGROUND 80 #define ST_GROUP_BOX 96 #define ST_GROUP_BOX2 112 #define ST_HUD_BACKGROUND 128 #define ST_TILE_PICTURE 144 #define ST_WITH_RECT 160 #define ST_LINE 176 #define ST_SHADOW 0x100 #define ST_NO_RECT 0x200 // this style works for CT_STATIC in conjunction with ST_MULTI #define ST_KEEP_ASPECT_RATIO 0x800 #define ST_TITLE ST_TITLE_BAR + ST_CENTER // Slider styles #define SL_DIR 0x400 #define SL_VERT 0 #define SL_HORZ 0x400 #define SL_TEXTURES 0x10 // Listbox styles #define LB_TEXTURES 0x10 #define LB_MULTI 0x20 #define FontM "Zeppelin32"

Notice: All examples within this article use these constants. If you do not include them, or name them differently, these examples won't work as-is.

Attributes

A list of all available attributes (properties) without explanation, originally posted by ColonelSandersLite, can be found here

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)
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.

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 (requires "movingEnable" to be 1 in the dialog)
type	integer (constant)	control type constant
style	integer (constant)	style constant
x	float	the offset from the left side of the window (0..1; 0.0 = left side; 1.0 = right side)
y	float	the offset from the top side of the window (0..1; 0.0 = left side; 1.0 = right side)
w	float	the width of the control (0..1)
h	float	the height of the control (0..1)
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	the text to display initially

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 chapter for details.

CT_STATIC=0

Static controls represent exactly that: static data. Primarily they are used for texts, dialog backgrounds and pictures. The constant type property for these controls usually is CT_STATIC.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
autoplay	boolean	video only
loops	integer	video only
lineSpacing	float	line spacing. Required, if the style was set to ST_MULTI.
fixedWidth	boolean?
shadow	float	optional shadow style: 0 = none (default), 1 = drop shadow, 2 = outline

Text

Hello world text with semi-transparent background

Most often this type of control will be used to add text to dialogs. If you want the text to change dynamically while playing the mission, you should set the idc property to a positive number, which allows usage of the ctrlSetText function. Text alignment can be controlled using the style property and the ST_* constants.

By default, this will only display a single line (and cut the overflow); use ST_MULTI if you intend to use multiple lines. This also requires setting the property lineSpacing, which indicates the relative space between lines; usually, you can set this to 1 for normal line spacing.

• Example:

class MyHelloPlayerExample { idc = -1; type = CT_STATIC ; // defined constant style = ST_LEFT; // defined constant colorText[] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 }; colorBackground[] = { 1, 1, 1, 0.75 }; font = FontM; // defined constant sizeEx = 0.023; x = 0.3; y = 0.1; w = 0.4; h = 0.03; text = "Hello player!"; };

Backgrounds

Semi-transparent background

One can also use this control type to add solid background to dialogs by simply leaving the text property empty. This way, it will look like a regular rectangle.

• Example:

class MyRedBackgroundExample { /* ... same as the text example, except for */ colorBackground[] = { 1, 0.1, 0.1, 0.8 }; text = ""; };

Pictures

Using specific style constants you can enhance your dialogs with pictures too. These pictures should reside in your mission folder as paa-files. Then set your style property to ST_PICTURE (to display it once) or ST_TILE_PICTURE (to tile it) and use the text property to locate the paa image you want to use, relative to your addon or mission folder (absolute paths cannot be used).

Dialog control showing a picture

• Example:

class MyPictureExample { /* ... same as the text example, except for */ style = ST_PICTURE; text = "mypicture.paa"; };

Videos

All setings are same as for pictures, only source file must be of .OGV format. Two additional properties are available - autoplay (when 1, video starts automatically) and loops (defines how many times video will be played in loop).

For video encoding, you can use:

• ffmpeg2theora: http://www.v2v.cc/~j/ffmpeg2theora/download.html
• Theora Converter .NET: http://sourceforge.net/projects/theoraconverter/ (GUI for ffmpeg2theora)

• Example:

class MyVideoExample { /* ... same as the picture example, with addition of */ text = "myVideo.ogv"; autoplay = 1; loops = 10; };

BUTTONS

CT_BUTTON=1

Buttons are one way to add interactivity to your dialogs. Their corresponding type property is CT_BUTTON.

Buttons can have different states (see screenshot) and will render slightly different to give the user a visual feedback on the button's state:

• Enabled: the button has not been disabled, it currently doesn't have any mouse or keyboard related focus
• Disabled: the button has been explicitly disabled. It will not be clickable.
• Enabled + Focused: As enabled; additionally it will have a small border of the color defined in the colorFocused property. This occurs when the button currently has focus (ie. is the default button or has been selected via the Tab key).
• Enabled + Active: As enabled; additionally it will have a different background as specified in the colorBackgroundActive background. This occurs when the mouse is currently hovering over an unfocused button.
• Enabled + Active + Focused: The combined result of the above two states. The mouse is currently hovering over the button in question and it has input focus.

Button can also have code attached to it in the action property. This code will be run when the button is clicked. Most often, you will have at least one button that closes the dialog via closeDialog. In this case you can provide 0 as the right-side parameter to close the currently open dialog.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
action	string	a statement that is executed when the button is not disabled and clicked
BorderSize	float	thickness of border
default	boolean	Whether or not this button is the dialog's initially selected button
colorDisabled	color array	text color, if the control has been disabled via ctrlEnable
colorFocused	color array	color when control has received focus via tabbing or scripted methods
colorShadow	color array	the color of the shadow
colorBorder	color array	the color of the border, if any
borderSize	float	the width of the border
colorBackgroundActive	color array	color when control has received focus via mouse-over
colorBackgroundDisabled	color array	background color, if the control has disabled via ctrlEnable
offsetX	float	the relative X offset between the button and its shadow
offsetY	float	the relative Y offset between the button and its shadow
offsetPressedX	float	the relative X offset between the button and its shadow, when it's pressed
offsetPressedY	float	the relative Y offset between the button and its shadow, when it's pressed
soundEnter	sound array	the sound to play, when the cursor enters the button's bounds
soundPush	sound array	the sound to play, when the button has been pushed
soundClick	sound array	the sound to play, when the button is being released
soundEscape	sound array	the sound to play, when the button has been pushed and the mouse button is released when not over the control

The following example uses almost the same code as the buttons shown in the example screenshot.

The same button four times in different states

• Example:

class MyButton { idc = -1; type = CT_BUTTON; style = ST_LEFT; default = false; font = FontM; sizeEx = 0.03; colorText[] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 }; colorFocused[] = { 1, 0, 0, 1 }; // border color for focused state colorDisabled[] = { 0, 0, 1, 0.7 }; // text color for disabled state colorBackground[] = { 1, 1, 1, 0.8 }; colorBackgroundDisabled[] = { 1, 1, 1, 0.5 }; // background color for disabled state colorBackgroundActive[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }; // background color for active state offsetX = 0.003; offsetY = 0.003; offsetPressedX = 0.002; offsetPressedY = 0.002; colorShadow[] = { 0, 0, 0, 0.5 }; colorBorder[] = { 0, 0, 0, 1 }; borderSize = 0; soundEnter[] = { "", 0, 1 }; // no sound soundPush[] = { "buttonpushed.ogg", 0.1, 1 }; soundClick[] = { "", 0, 1 }; // no sound soundEscape[] = { "", 0, 1 }; // no sound x = 0.4; y = 0.475; w = 0.2; h = 0.05; text = "Close"; action = "closeDialog 0; hint ""Dialog closed. You are good to go now!"""; };

CT_SHORTCUTBUTTON=16

Properties
Name	Type	Remark

CT_ACTIVETEXT=11

The Active Text control behaves very similar to buttons. It shows up as regular text with the additional functionality that you can click and select it. The dialog's currently selected Active Text control will be underlined to indicate it's status. By default, the first Active Text control is selected. When the mouse cursor hovers over an instance of this control, it will show up in the color defined in the colorActive property.

Notice: This control doesn't render the usually common colorBackground property and colorText is replaced with color.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
action	string	a statement that is executed when the control has been clicked
blinkingPeriod	float (Seconds)	Makes the text start transparent, go to full opacity and back to full transparent in the amount of time specified.
color	color array	replaces colorText, standard text and underline color
colorActive	color array	text and underline color whenever the mouse hovers over the control
colorBackground	color array	not applicable
default	boolean	Whether or not this control is the dialog's initially selected active text
soundEnter	sound array	the sound to play, when the cursor enters the button's bounds
soundPush	sound array	the sound to play, when the button has been pushed
soundClick	sound array	the sound to play, when the button is being released
soundEscape	sound array	the sound to play, when the button has been pushed and the mouse button is released when not over the control.
text	string	the text to display initially

The following example uses almost the same code as the controls shown in the example screenshot.

Simple dialog with three Active Text controls

• Example:

class MyActiveText { idc = -1; type = CT_ACTIVETEXT; style = ST_LEFT; x = 0.75; y = 0.5; w = 0.2; h = 0.035; font = FontM; sizeEx = 0.024; color[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }; colorActive[] = { 1, 0.2, 0.2, 1 }; soundEnter[] = { "", 0, 1 }; // no sound soundPush[] = { "", 0, 1 }; soundClick[] = { "", 0, 1 }; soundEscape[] = { "", 0, 1 }; action = "hint ""Good choice!"""; text = "Text"; default = true; };

Structured text

The Structured Text control can display Structured Text. This is a own data type in Arma.

Structured Text can not only hold some text values, it also can contain some attributes to format the text, as you can see in the example picture below.

You can contain a subclass Attributes to change the default attributes for your control. But the Attributes class and all of its attributes are optional and must not be specified.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
type	integer (constant)	control type constant
style	integer (constant)	style type constant
colorBackground	color array	background color of your control
text	string	the text to display initially (this text uses the default atributes)

Optional SubClass Attributes Properties
Name	Type	Remark	Default Value
font	string	fontname to use	"Zeppelin32"
color	string	text color defined in HMTL-like syntax.	"#ffffff"
align	string	align of text. Values can be "left", "center" or "right"	"center"
valign	string	vertical align of text. Values can be "top", "middle", "bottom".	"middle"
shadow	string or boolean	enables or disables the shadow of the text. Use true/false for boolean or "1"/"0" for string	true
shadowColor	string	shadow color defined in HMTL-like syntax.	"#000000"
size	string	string representation of float (so "1.3" also valid). Set the size of the text where 1 is the size value of parent class.	"1"

The following example uses almost the same code as the controls shown in the example screenshot.

A StructuredText control based on sample code

• Example:

class MyRscStructuredText { idc = -1; type = CT_STRUCTURED_TEXT; // defined constant style = ST_LEFT; // defined constant colorBackground[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }; x = 0.1; y = 0.1; w = 0.3; h = 0.1; size = 0.018; text = ""; class Attributes { font = "TahomaB"; color = "#000000"; align = "center"; valign = "middle"; shadow = false; shadowColor = "#ff0000"; size = "1"; }; };

• Helpful Script Commands:

ctrlSetStructuredText, lineBreak, parseText, composeText, image

CT_EDIT=2

A text box allows the user to either enter text himself, or to select and copy its content.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
autocomplete	string ("scripting")	entered text will automatically be completed with matching command
htmlControl	boolean	if used together with style=ST_MULTI, allows multi-line editable text fields.
lineSpacing	float	line spacing. Required, if the style was set to ST_MULTI.
colorSelection	array
size	float

• Example:

class TEMPL_EDIT { idc = -1; type = CT_EDIT; style = ST_LEFT; x = 0; y = 0; w = .2; h = .4; sizeEx = .02; font = BitStream; text = ""; colorText[] = {1,1,1,1}; autocomplete = false; colorSelection[] = {0,0,0,1}; };

CT_OBJECT=80

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
scale	float
direction	array
up	array

• Example:

class rscObject { access = 0; type = 80; scale = 1.0; direction[] = {0,0,1}; up[] = {0,1,0}; shadow = 0; };

CT_OBJECT_ZOOM=81

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
model	string	path to model
selectionArrow	string
position	array
direction	array
up	array
positionBack	array
inBack	integer
enableZoom	boolean
zoomDuration	float

• Example:

class RscCompass: RscObject { idc = -1; type = 81; model = "\core\compass\compass.p3d"; selectionArrow = "arrow"; position[] = {0.026,0.047,0.2}; direction[] = {0,1,1}; up[] = {0,0,-1}; positionBack[] = {0.0749,-0.059,0.315}; inBack = 1; enableZoom = 0; zoomDuration = 0.5; class Animations { class Pointer { type = "rotation"; source = "compassPointer"; selection = "kompas"; axis = "osa kompasu"; memory = 1; animPeriod = 0; minValue = "rad -180"; maxValue = "rad 180"; angle0 = "rad -180"; angle1 = "rad 180"; }; class Arrow { type = "rotation"; source = "compassArrow"; selection = "arrow"; axis = "osa kompasu"; memory = 1; animPeriod = 0; minValue = "rad -180"; maxValue = "rad 180"; angle0 = "rad -180"; angle1 = "rad 180"; }; class Cover { type = "rotation"; source = "compassCover"; selection = "vicko"; axis = "osa vicka"; memory = 1; animPeriod = 0; angle0 = 0; angle1 = "rad -81"; }; }; };

CT_LINEBREAK=98

Properties
Name	Type	Remark

• Example:

class RscLineBreak { idc = -1; type = 98; shadow = 0; };

CT_XSLIDER=43

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
style	integer	generally 1024
coloractive	color array	color of the arrows.
colorDisable	color array	Xslider only
arrowEmpty	color array	Xslider only
arrowFull	color array	Xslider only
border	color array	Xslider only
thumb	color array	Xslider only

Notice:

You can change the orientation of the slider with the style constants SL_HORZ and SL_VERT.

A Slider Control

• Example:

class MySlider { idc = -1; type = CT_SLIDER; style = SL_HORZ; x = 0.4; y = 0.2; w = 0.3; h = 0.025; color[] = { 1, 1, 1, 1 }; coloractive[] = { 1, 0, 0, 0.5 }; // This is an ctrlEventHandler to show you some response if you move the sliderpointer. onSliderPosChanged = "hint format[""%1"",_this];"; };

• Helpful Script Commands:

sliderPosition, sliderRange, sliderSetPosition, sliderSetRange, sliderSetSpeed, sliderSpeed

CT_COMBO=4

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
rowHeight*	float	the height of a single row in the elapsed box.
wholeHeight	float	the height of the elapsed box.
color*	color array	color of the control surrounding lines.
colorScrollBar	color array
maxHistoryDelay	float
colorSelect	color array	color of selected text.
colorSelectBackground*	color array	background color of selected lines.
soundSelect	sound array	Maybe the sound if an item is selected. don't work at this time
soundExpand	sound array	Maybe the sound if the box expand. don't work at this time
soundCollapse	sound array	Maybe the sound if the box collapse. don't work at this time
ScrollBar	class

Notice:

This seems to be a kind of listbox, so use the lb* commands like lbAdd or lbSetSelected to work with this control.

A ComboBox Control from example code

• Example:

class MyRscCombo { idc = -1; type = CT_COMBO; style = ST_LEFT; x = 0.1; y = 0.1; w = 0.2; h = 0.3; font = "TahomaB"; sizeEx = 0.025; rowHeight = 0.025; wholeHeight = 4 * 0.025; // 3 lines to display + 1 line of the unelapsed control color[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorText[] = {0,0,0,1}; colorBackground[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorSelect[] = {1,0,0,1}; colorSelectBackground[] = {0,1,0,1}; soundSelect[] = {"", 0.0, 1}; soundExpand[] = {"", 0.0, 1}; soundCollapse[] = {"", 0.0, 1}; };

LISTBOXES

• CT_LISTBOX=5
• CT_XLISTBOX=42
• CT_LISTNBOX=102

Notes for future:

For list boxes, the usage of 'ST_' style constants (ST_MULTI & ST_TITLE_BAR) behave differently than expected for other controls, so use the corresponding 'LB_' (LB_TEXTURES & LB_MULTI) list box style variants instead.

style = LB_TEXTURES; // solid scrollbar
style = LB_MULTI; // multiple item selection

Properties			Applies to
Name	Type	Remark	5	42	102
autoScrollSpeed	integer		x		x
autoScrollDelay	integer		x		x
autoScrollRewind	integer		x		x
arrowEmpty	color array		x	x	x
arrowFull	color array		x	x	x
border	argb array			x
colorScrollbar	color array		x
colorActive	color array			x
colorDisabled	color array			x
colorSelect	color array		x	x	x
colorSelect2	color array		x		x
colorSelectBackground	color array		x		x
colorSelectBackground2	color array		x		x
columns	array				x
drawSideArrows	boolean			x
idcLeft					x
idcRight					x
maxHistoryDelay	float		x		x
period	float?		x		x
rowHeight	float	the height of a single row in the elapsed box.	x		x
SoundSelect	class			x
ScrollBar	class		x		x
soundSelect	array		x		x

• Examples:

class RscListNBox { access = 0; type = 102; style = 0; w = 0.4; h = 0.4; font = "TahomaB"; sizeEx = 0.04; rowHeight = 0; colorText[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorScrollbar[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorSelect[] = {0,0,0,1}; colorSelect2[] = {1,0.5,0,1}; colorSelectBackground[] = {0.6,0.6,0.6,1}; colorSelectBackground2[] = {0.2,0.2,0.2,1}; colorBackground[] = {0,0,0,1}; maxHistoryDelay = 1.0; soundSelect[] = {"",0.1,1}; period = 1; autoScrollSpeed = -1; autoScrollDelay = 5; autoScrollRewind = 0; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; drawSideArrows = 0; columns[] = {0.3,0.6,0.7}; idcLeft = -1; idcRight = -1; shadow = 0; class ScrollBar { color[] = {1,1,1,0.6}; colorActive[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorDisabled[] = {1,1,1,0.3}; thumb = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; border = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; shadow = 0; }; }; class RscListBox { access = 0; type = 5; style = 0; w = 0.4; h = 0.4; font = "TahomaB"; sizeEx = 0.04; rowHeight = 0; colorText[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorScrollbar[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorSelect[] = {0,0,0,1}; colorSelect2[] = {1,0.5,0,1}; colorSelectBackground[] = {0.6,0.6,0.6,1}; colorSelectBackground2[] = {0.2,0.2,0.2,1}; colorBackground[] = {0,0,0,1}; maxHistoryDelay = 1.0; soundSelect[] = {"",0.1,1}; period = 1; autoScrollSpeed = -1; autoScrollDelay = 5; autoScrollRewind = 0; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; shadow = 0; class ScrollBar { color[] = {1,1,1,0.6}; colorActive[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorDisabled[] = {1,1,1,0.3}; thumb = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; border = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; shadow = 0; }; }; class RscXListBox { type = 42; color[] = {1,1,1,0.6}; colorActive[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorDisabled[] = {1,1,1,0.3}; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,0.5,0,1)"; border = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,1)"; colorSelect[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorText[] = {1,1,1,0.8}; soundSelect[] = {"",0.1,1}; };

CT_TOOLBOX=6

A Toolbox is a set of buttons, ordered by columns and rows. Only one can be active at a time.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
color	color array	Color of the selection box when this the control isn't active.
colorTextSelect	color array	Color of the text when selected.
colorSelect	color array	Color of the selection box.
colorTextDisable	color array	Color of control text when the control is disabled.
colorDisable	color array	Color of the selection box when the control is disabled.
rows	integer	Amount of rows to display
columns	integer	Amount of columns to display
colorSelectedBg	255 color array	this appears to be non-working typo
strings	string array	Text for each toolbox entry
values	integer array	Initial state for each toolbox entry, using values 0 or 1.

A Toolbox Control from example code with a hint dialog from UI event handler

• Example:

class MyRscToolbox { idc = 200; type = CT_TOOLBOX; //defined constant (6) style = ST_LEFT; //defined constant (2) x = 0.1; y = 0.2; w = 0.2; h = 0.15; colorText[] = {1, 1, 1, 1}; color[] = {0, 0, 0, 1}; // seems nothing to change, but define it to avoid error! colorTextSelect[] = {1, 0, 0, 1}; colorSelect[] = {0, 0, 1, 1}; colorTextDisable[] = {0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 1}; colorDisable[] = {0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 1}; font = "Zeppelin32"; sizeEx = 0.0208333; rows = 3; columns = 2; strings[] = {"Entry 1","Entry 2","Entry 3","Entry 4","Entry 5","Entry 6"}; values[] = {1,1,0,1,0,0}; // Only a simple user interface event handler to show some response onToolBoxSelChanged = "hint format[""Toolbox change:\n%1\nEntry#:%2"",(_this select 0),(_this select 1)];" };

Notice: As you see in the example image, the returned entry number from the onToolBoxSelChanged event handler starts at zero (0)! So if you have 6 toolbox entrys, the first is 0 and the last is 5!

Checkboxes

The Checkboxes are a set of state change buttons, ordered by columns and rows. Unlike the Toolbox Control more than one button can become active.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
idc	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.
colorText	color array	color of the control text.
color	color array	color of border from selected entry, if other control has focus.
colorTextSelect	color array	color of text if selected
colorSelect	color array	color of border from selected entry.
colorTextDisable	color array	color of control text, if control is disabled.
colorDisable	color array	seems nothing to change, but define it to avoid errors.
font	float	the font to use. See the list of available fonts for possible values
sizeEx	float	the font size of text (0 to 1)
rows	integer	amount of rows to display
columns	integer	amount of columns to display
color	color array	color of the control surrounding lines.
strings	string array	text for each toolbox entry

Checkboxes corresponding type property is CT_CHECKBOXES.

A Checkboxes Control from example code with a hint dialog from UI event handler

• Example:

class MyRscCheckBoxes { idc = 200; type = CT_CHECKBOXES; // defined contant (7) style = ST_CENTER; // defined constat (0) x = 0.1; y = 0.18; w = 0.15; h = 0.15; colorText[] = {1, 0, 0, 1}; color[] = {0, 1, 0, 1}; //seems nothing to change, but define to avaoid errors colorTextSelect[] = {0, 0.8, 0, 1}; colorSelect[] = {0, 0, 0, 1}; colorTextDisable[] = {0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 1}; colorDisable[] = {0.4, 0.4, 0.4, 1}; font = "Zeppelin32"; sizeEx = 0.0208333; rows = 3; columns = 2; strings[] = {"Entry 1","Entry 2","Entry 3","Entry 4","Entry 5","Entry 6"}; //Simple UI event handler to show response on clicks onCheckBoxesSelChanged = "hint format[""Checkbox change:\n%1\nEntry#: %2\nNewState: %3"",(_this select 0),(_this select 1),(_this select 2)];" };

Notice: As you see in the example image, the returned entry number from the onCheckBoxesSelChanged event handler starts at zero (0)! So if you have 6 toolbox entrys, the first is 0 and the last is 5! Notice: You must add this line : coloSelectedBg[] = {0, 0, 0, 0}; (for setting the selected box color)

CT_PROGRESS=8

Progress bars are handled by the engine internally. While it is technically possible to attach a progress bar to a dialog, there are no means to influence it (e.g. setting it's value). The progress bar will always stay at 0%.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
colorFrame	color array
colorBar	color array
texture	color array

• Example:

class RscProgress { access = 0; type = 8; style = 0; colorFrame[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorBar[] = {1,1,1,1}; texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; w = 1.2; h = 0.03; shadow = 0; }; };

CT_ANIMATED_TEXTURE=45

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
texture	color array

• Example:

class RscProgressNotFreeze { idc = -1; type = 45; style = 0; shadow = 0; x = 0; y = 0; w = 0.5; h = 0.1; texture = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(0,0,0,0)"; };

HTML

The HTML control is well known as the "notebook" in the Map-View of the game. It can display a text over more pages and can inherit links to other, own defined sections. It has some simple formatting possibilities. It also can display images.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
filename	string	the html file to load into the control at startup
text	string	the text the control should display. Leave it blank, if you set a filename
colorBackground	color array	background color of control
colorBold	color array	color of bold text (between <b> and tags)
colorLink	color array	text color of links (between <a href="#Sectionname> and </a>)
colorLinkActive	color array	text color of the active link (normaly the fist on in page)
colorPicture	color array	color of transparent part of image
colorPictureBorder	color array	color of the borader arround image
colorPictureLink	color array	color of transparent part of image within links
colorPictureSelected	color array	color of transparent part of image within active links
colorTetx	color array	color for default text
prevPage	string	filename of image which is used as left arrow
nextPage	string	filename of image which is used as right arrow
Properties of subclass (H1-H6,P)
Name	Type	Remark
font	string	font to use for default text
fontBold	string	font to use within bold tags
sizeEx	float	font size

The following example uses almost the same code as the controls shown in the example screenshot.

A HTML control with some different formatted text and links

• Example:

class MyRscHTML { idc = -1; type = CT_HTML; // defined constant (9) style = ST_LEFT; // defined constant (0) x = 0.1; y = 0.1; w = 0.6; h = 0.5; filename = "test.html"; text=""; colorBackground[] = {1,1,1,0.5}; colorBold[] = {1, 0, 0, 1}; colorLink[] = {0, 0, 1, 1}; colorLinkActive[] = {1, 0, 0, 1}; colorPicture[] = {1, 1, 1, 1}; colorPictureBorder[] = {1, 0, 0, 1}; colorPictureLink[] = {0, 0, 1, 1}; colorPictureSelected[] = {0, 1, 0, 1}; colorText[] = {0, 0, 0, 1}; prevPage = "\ca\ui\data\arrow_left_ca.paa"; nextPage = "\ca\ui\data\arrow_right_ca.paa"; class H1 { font = "Zeppelin32"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.02474; }; class H2 { font = "Zeppelin32"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.0286458; }; class H3 { font = "Zeppelin32"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.0286458; }; class H4 { font = "Zeppelin33Italic"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.0208333; }; class H5 { font = "Zeppelin32"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.0208333; }; class H6 { font = "Zeppelin32"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.0208333; }; class P { font = "Zeppelin32"; fontBold = "Zeppelin33"; sizeEx = 0.0208333; }; };

• Helpful Script Commands:

htmlLoad

Tree

Raedor has said, "Unfortunately one can only use RscTree hardcoded." This strongly implies that RscTree is only available to BIS and not to the public. The original post can be found here.

Controls group

The x and y coords of the child control are relative to the parent class, the height and width are not
If the height and / or width of the child control are greater than the parent control then scrollbars will be seen
This allows the creation of scrollable active text controls etc
The entire child class needs to be defined in the parents subclass class Controls {};

• Example:

In this example, the child control My_RscStructuredText is higher (h value) than the parent control, so a vertical scrollbar is automatically created, which allows scrolling the entire length of the structured text display class My_RscControlsgroup { type = 15; idc = -1; style = 0; x = (safeZoneX + (SafezoneW * 0.0363)); // scalability code which resizes correctly no matter what gui size or screen dimensions is used y = (safeZoneY + (SafezoneH * 0.132)); // scalability code which resizes correctly no matter what gui size or screen dimensions is used w = (SafezoneW * 0.31); // scalability code which resizes correctly no matter what gui size or screen dimensions is used h = (SafezoneH * 0.752); // scalability code which resizes correctly no matter what gui size or screen dimensions is used class VScrollbar { color[] = {1, 1, 1, 1}; width = 0.021; autoScrollSpeed = -1; autoScrollDelay = 5; autoScrollRewind = 0; }; class HScrollbar { color[] = {1, 1, 1, 1}; height = 0.028; }; class ScrollBar { color[] = {1,1,1,0.6}; colorActive[] = {1,1,1,1}; colorDisabled[] = {1,1,1,0.3}; thumb = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; border = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; }; class Controls { class My_RscStructuredText { idc = 55; colorBackground[] = {1,1,1,0.3}; x = 0; y = 0; w = (SafezoneW * 0.3); h = (SafezoneH * 3); text = ""; size = 0.02; class Attributes { font = "TahomaB"; color = "#106A1A"; align = "center"; valign = "middle"; shadow = false; shadowColor = "#ff0000"; size = "1"; }; }; }; };

Animated texture

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
texture	string	Relative path to the file used for the texture from the mission folder

This feature is still relatively undocumented and it is not clear how to produce anything except a non-animated, non-tiled image (even if the ST_TILE_PICTURE style is used).

Map

Example

List N Box (multicolumn listBox)

RscListNBox

class RscListNBox { access = 0; type = 102; style = 0; x = 0; y = 0; w = 0.400000; h = 0.400000; font = "TahomaB"; sizeEx = 0.040000; rowHeight = 0; colorText[] = {1,1,1,1 }; colorScrollbar[] = {1,1,1,1 }; colorSelect[] = {0,0,0,1 }; colorSelect2[] = {1,0.500000,0,1 }; colorSelectBackground[] = {0.600000,0.600000,0.600000,1 }; colorSelectBackground2[] = {0.200000,0.200000,0.200000,1 }; colorBackground[] = {0,0,0,1 }; maxHistoryDelay = 1.000000; soundSelect[] = {"",0.100000,1 }; period = 1; autoScrollSpeed = -1; autoScrollDelay = 5; autoScrollRewind = 0; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; drawSideArrows = 0; columns[] = {0.300000,0.600000,0.700000 }; idcLeft = -1; idcRight = -1; class ScrollBar { color[] = {1,1,1,0.600000 }; colorActive[] = {1,1,1,1 }; colorDisabled[] = {1,1,1,0.300000 }; thumb = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowEmpty = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; arrowFull = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; border = "#(argb,8,8,3)color(1,1,1,1)"; }; };

Most properties are the same as RscListBox. Unique or changed properties are shown below.

Properties
Name	Type	Remark
idc	integer	the unique ID number of this dialog. Can be -1 if not required.
type	integer (constant)	control type (ComboBox=102 or CT_LIST_N_BOX) constant
style	integer (constant)	style constant
text	string	Cell label.
drawSideArrows	integer (0 or 1)	Each row can be linked to 2 arrow buttons which are shown on the left and right of the row.
idcLeft	integer	the IDC of the control to be used for the left button.
idcRight	integer	the IDC of the control to be used for the right button.
canDrag	integer	allow item dragging
period	float	probably flash period
columns	float array	These values define the left starting position of each column. The values are offsets ratios (not spacing ratios). Tip: Use {-0.01} in first column to fix unwanted offset, if desired.

RscListNBox corresponding type property is CT_LIST_N_BOX.

Using -1 for idcLeft/idcRight will use the full row width. Using a valid idc will reserve sides for arrows and link with those controls.

idcLeft/idcRight bug?: Using -1 for either idc will link to first control with an idc using -1, instead of treating it as an unused idc. Workaround: number every idc in dialog rather than leaving any idc as -1.

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 { 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 { 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 { 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; }; };

Demo mission

For VBS2 users, a demo mission is available here.