Difference between revisions of "LuaAPI"

From The Battle for Wesnoth Wiki
(Wesnoth Modules: Try to make the listing a bit clearer about what is under wesnoth.* and what isn't.)
(Wesnoth Modules: Add link to audio module, plus missing dev-tags on the two newest modules)
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** [[LuaAPI/wesnoth/sides|wesnoth.sides]] (Sides) - {{DevFeature1.15|3}} The <tt>sides</tt> submodule contains functions for manipulating sides in the scenario.
 
** [[LuaAPI/wesnoth/sides|wesnoth.sides]] (Sides) - {{DevFeature1.15|3}} The <tt>sides</tt> submodule contains functions for manipulating sides in the scenario.
 
** [[LuaAPI/wesnoth/map|wesnoth.map]] (Game Map) - {{DevFeature1.15|11}} The <tt>map</tt> submodule contains functions for querying and manipulating the game map.
 
** [[LuaAPI/wesnoth/map|wesnoth.map]] (Game Map) - {{DevFeature1.15|11}} The <tt>map</tt> submodule contains functions for querying and manipulating the game map.
 +
** [[LuaAPI/wesnoth/audio|wesnoth.audio]] (Audio) - {{DevFeature1.15|13}} The <tt>audio</tt> submodule contains functions for playing music and sound effects.
 
* [[LuaAPI/gui|gui]] (User Interface) - {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The <tt>gui</tt> module contains routines for showing dialogs on the screen. It does ''not'' contain anything for manipulating the in-game UI, however.
 
* [[LuaAPI/gui|gui]] (User Interface) - {{DevFeature1.15|0}} The <tt>gui</tt> module contains routines for showing dialogs on the screen. It does ''not'' contain anything for manipulating the in-game UI, however.
 
** [[LuaAPI/gui/widget|gui.widget]] (GUI Widget Support) - {{DevFeature1.15|6}} The <tt>widget</tt> submodule contains routines for operating on dialog widgets. Since they take a widget reference an argument, they can only be called while a dialog is onscreen.
 
** [[LuaAPI/gui/widget|gui.widget]] (GUI Widget Support) - {{DevFeature1.15|6}} The <tt>widget</tt> submodule contains routines for operating on dialog widgets. Since they take a widget reference an argument, they can only be called while a dialog is onscreen.
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* [[LuaAPI/functional|functional]] - Higher-order functions module. Not loaded by default.
 
* [[LuaAPI/functional|functional]] - Higher-order functions module. Not loaded by default.
 
* [[LuaAPI/stringx|stringx]] - Additional string support functions, to augment the built-in string module.
 
* [[LuaAPI/stringx|stringx]] - Additional string support functions, to augment the built-in string module.
* [[LuaAPI/mathx|mathx]] - Additional math and randomization support functions, to augment the built-in math module.
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* [[LuaAPI/mathx|mathx]] - {{DevFeature1.15|13}} Additional math and randomization support functions, to augment the built-in math module.
* [[LuaAPI/filesystem|filesystem]] - Functions that allow read-only access to arbitrary files in the data folder.
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* [[LuaAPI/filesystem|filesystem]] - {{DevFeature1.15|13}} Functions that allow read-only access to arbitrary files in the data folder.
  
 
=== Wesnoth Types ===
 
=== Wesnoth Types ===

Revision as of 00:18, 16 May 2021

Note: This page is is a work-in-progress and only reflects the current stable version. For more complete documentation for 1.14, see here. For information on what has changed since 1.14, see here.

All Lua API functionality is available in one of several global module tables, as well as some global functions which form the basic Lua API. The following core Lua modules are available and are documented on the Lua website:

  • basic — except dofile, require, and loadfile; also note that print redirects to the Lua console interface rather than standard output; you can use std_print if you need the default Lua behavior. Starting from 1.15, loadstring (deprecated in Lua in favor of load) isn't available either.
  • coroutine
  • string
  • utf8
  • table
  • math — note that math.random is unsafe for MP usage; wesnoth provides a separate MP-safe random function
  • os — only the clock, date, time, and difftime functions are available (but keep in mind that they are not MP safe)
  • debug — only the traceback function is available

Wesnoth also provides several modules of its own, some of which are loaded by default while others require you to load them as needed.

Conventions used in this manual

On this page and any page linked from it, parameters will be shown in italic type, while literal names will be shown in bold type. Return values will be indicated by a right arrow (→) followed by a list of names in italics. Optional portions will be enclosed in square brackets.

For example, consider the following hypothetical definitions:

  • wesnoth.some_function(some_parameter [, some_optional_parameter]) → first_return_value, second_return_value

This is a function that returns multiple values and has optional parameters

  • some_value:some_method(some_parameter) → some_new_value
  • some_value.some_memberresult

For member variables, the right arrow may be replaced with a left arrow (←) if it is write-only, or a double-ended arrow (↔) if it is read-write.

Many functions and variables are only available in certain contexts. Currently, there are three possible contexts - plugins, map generators, and the game. Most Lua will run in the game kernel. If a function is only available in certain contexts, that will be indicated in parentheses at the beginning of the definition. For example:

  • (game only) wesnoth.game_exclusive_function(parameter) → result


Functions that take a variable number of parameters or return a variable number of values where the specific meaning of the parameters is unspecified will use the string "..." to indicate this. For example:

  • wesnoth.variadic_function(required_param [, ...])
  • wesnoth.get_several_values(param) → ...

Wesnoth Modules

Wesnoth Types

Wesnoth defines a large number of userdata types, some of which are quite common and complex. Most of them are documented alongside the function that creates them, but some of the most common or complex ones are listed below.

  • translatable strings - a string that will be translated by the engine.
  • vconfig - a WML object that automatically substitutes variables on the fly.
  • unit - represents a reference to Wesnoth unit on the map, on the recall list, or private to Lua.
  • weapon - represents a unit's weapon.
  • race - represents a unit's race.
  • unit type - represents a unit's type.
  • side - represents a single side (player) in the game.
  • widget - represents a GUI2 widget.