Skinning HowTo/Common XUI attributes

XUI Reference

This page describes XML attributes common to all XUI elements. Most are defined in the LLView base class in source file llui/llview.cpp.

Reference summary

The following table provides a quick reference for some common XUI attributes. A much more comprehensive list (with no descriptive information is here).

Attribute Name	Required?	Datatype	Valid values	Description
bottom	Optional	Integer	Positive or negative	Sets the vertical position of the widget's bottom edge relative to the parent container's bottom edge. A negative value sets the widget's bottom edge relative to the parent container's top edge. For example, given a floater with a height of 300 and a title 20 pixels tall, set the `bottom` to 260 to put the bottom edge of the title 40 pixels away from the top border of the floater.
bottom_delta	Optional	Integer	Positive or negative	Use instead of `bottom`. Sets the vertical position of the widget's bottom edge relative to the previous element's bottom edge, or, for the first widget, the bottom edge of the container. Use a negative value to move the widget down, and a positive value to move it up.
control_name	Optional	String		Associates check box and slider values with particular saved settings. When you load a floater or other XUI element containing a check box or slider with that tag, it will take its initial value from the named saved setting and automatically save modified values as the user interacts with those controls.
default_tab_group	Optional	Integer	Positive number	See ...
enabled	Optional	Boolean	true/false	Determines whether the the element and its children are operational. When disabled, the element is visible, but "greyed out." The Viewer may set this attribute value programatically to enable or disable the element as needed.
follows	Optional	String	left top right bottom all	Sets which edge(s) an element follows when the containing element is resized. Specifying all edges results in an element that dynamically re-sizes itself with its container. Separate multiple values with a pipe symbol (\|).
font	Optional	String	SansSerifSmall SansSerif SansSerifBig SansSerifBold Monospace	Sets the size and style of the application font to use. The default is SansSerifSmall for `text` elements and SansSerif for controls (such as `check_box` and `button`.
font.size	Optional	String	Monospace: 9pt Small: 9pt Medium: 10pt Large: 12pt Huge: 16pt	Sets the font size. The default size is defined by the font (e.g. SansSerifSmall is 'Small', SansSerif is 'Medium').
font.style	Optional	String	BOLD ITALIC UNDERLINE.	Sets the font style. The default size is NORMAL. Separate multiple values with a pipe symbol (\|).
halign	Optional	String	left center right	Controls horizontal alignment of label.
height	Required	Integer	Positive number	The height of the element in pixels. For text, this defines the visible text as well as the clickable area. If the height of a text element is not sufficient to hold the text, the text will be truncated. This is most likely what you will lengthen when localizing the viewer. For most other elements, this describes the dimensions of an element, such as a button, icon, panel, text_area, etc.
label	Optional	String		The text displayed in the element.
left	Optional	Integer	Positive or negative number.	Sets the horizontal position of the widget's left edge relative to the container's left edge. A negative value sets the position relative to the right edge of the container.
left_delta	Optional	Integer	Positive or negative number.	Use instead of `left`. Sets the horizontal position of the element's left edge relative to the previous element's left edge, or, for the first widget, the left edge of the container. Best used to left-align the current element with the previous element.
mouse_opaque	Optional	Boolean	true/false	Determines whether the the element reacts to the mouse when it is over it. When it is set to false, elements below will handle the mouse actions.
name	Required	String	Unique value within the floater.	The XML name of this element. Do not modify this attribute. Many of the element names are looked up by the viewer. If the viewer cannot find an element name it expects, it will crash.
positioning=" "		String	centered cascading relative none specified right
right	Optional	Integer	Positive or negative number.	Sets the horizontal position of the widget's right edge relative to the container's left edge. A negative value sets the position relative to the right edge of the container. Best used to align something to the right.
save_rect=" "	Optional	Boolean	true/false	Preserves where the element was located on reopening.
sound_flags	Optional	Integer		Determines whether to make a sound on mouse-up and/or mouse-down. This attribute is written when saving the XML, but it is not read when loading XML.
tab_group	Optional	Integer	Positive number	Tab order by default follows the order widgets are listed in XML, and is the same for all widgets. Widgets are divided into groups, by number. All widgets are in group 0 by default.
title=" "		String		as implied (unsure as to the actual number of alphanumeric characters the underlying code allows)
tool_tip	Optional	String		Text of tooltip displayed when the user moves the mouse over the element.
top	Optional	Integer	Positive or negative number.	Sets the vertical position of the widget's top edge relative to the container's top edge. A negative value sets the position relative to the top edge of the container. Best used to align something to the top of the parent container.
use_bounding_rect	Optional	Boolean	true/false	Hit test against bounding rectangle that includes all child elements.
valign	Optional	String	top bottom center	Controls vertical alignment of label.
visible	Optional	Boolean	true/false	Sets the initial visibility of the element and its children. The Viewer sets this attribute value programatically to hide or show the element as needed.
width	Required	Integer	Pixels	The width of the element is apparently based on a hard coded 1024x768 screen resolution. Establishing the actual size on a currently standard screen resolution of 1920x1080 (without a subsequent mathematical ratio applied) is hit or miss with many editing/logging iterations. For example: a floater given a 330px dimension appears as 410px. For most elements, this describes the bounding dimensions of an element, such as a floater, button, icon, panel, text_area, etc.

General attributes

These attributes are valid for all elements.

name

Required. The XML name of this element. The name must be unique to the floater you are editing.

IMPORTANT: As noted above, do not re-name XML elements, even for localization. Many of the element names are looked up by the viewer. If the viewer cannot find an element name it expects, it will crash.

String: name="input_first_name"

visible

Optional. Sets the initial visibility of the element and its children.

This can be set programatically to hide or show the element as needed.

Boolean: visible="false"

enabled

Optional. Determines whether the the element and its children are operational. When disabled, the element is visible, but "greyed out."

This can be set programatically to enable or disable the element as needed.

Boolean: enabled="false"

tool_tip

Optional. Explains the function of the element to the user when the user places the mouse over the element.

String: tool_tip="Pick a resident to mute"

mouse_opaque

Optional. Determines whether the element reacts to the mouse when it is over it. When it is set to false, elements below will handle the mouse actions.

Boolean: mouse_opaque="false"

control_name

Optional. Lets you associate check box and slider values with particular saved settings without writing any C++ code. Very useful. When you load a floater or other XUI element containing a check box or slider with that tag, it will take its initial value from the named saved setting and automatically saves back out modified values as the user interacts with those controls.

This is extremely powerful and should let you create a custom panel to control any of the boolean or real valued settings that you see in the Debug_Settings floater. See floater_beacons.xml for examples.

String: control_name="particlesbeacon"

sound_flags

Optional. Determines whether to make a sound on mouse-up and/or mouse-down.

This attribute is written when saving the XML, but it is not read when loading XML.

hover_cursor

Optional. Supposed to set the cursor icon used while hovering over this element.

Deprecated.

Allowed values are UI_CURSOR_ARROW, UI_CURSOR_WAIT, UI_CURSOR_HAND, UI_CURSOR_IBEAM, UI_CURSOR_CROSS, UI_CURSOR_SIZENWSE, UI_CURSOR_SIZENESW, UI_CURSOR_SIZEWE, UI_CURSOR_SIZENS, UI_CURSOR_NO, UI_CURSOR_WORKING, UI_CURSOR_TOOLGRAB, UI_CURSOR_TOOLLAND, UI_CURSOR_TOOLFOCUS, UI_CURSOR_TOOLCREATE, UI_CURSOR_ARROWDRAG, UI_CURSOR_ARROWCOPY, UI_CURSOR_ARROWDRAGMULTI, UI_CURSOR_ARROWCOPYMULTI, UI_CURSOR_NOLOCKED, UI_CURSOR_ARROWLOCKED, UI_CURSOR_GRABLOCKED, UI_CURSOR_TOOLTRANSLATE, UI_CURSOR_TOOLROTATE, UI_CURSOR_TOOLSCALE, UI_CURSOR_TOOLCAMERA, UI_CURSOR_TOOLPAN, UI_CURSOR_TOOLZOOMIN, UI_CURSOR_TOOLPICKOBJECT3, UI_CURSOR_TOOLSIT, UI_CURSOR_TOOLBUY, UI_CURSOR_TOOLPAY, UI_CURSOR_TOOLOPEN, UI_CURSOR_TOOLPLAY, UI_CURSOR_TOOLPAUSE, UI_CURSOR_TOOLMEDIAOPEN, UI_CURSOR_PIPETTE

String: hover_cursor="UI_CURSOR_HAND"

use_bounding_rect

Optional. Hit test against bounding rectangle that includes all child elements.

Boolean: use_bounding_rect="true"

default_tab_group

Optional.

Integer: default_tab_group="1"

tab_group

Tab order by default follows the order widgets are listed in XML and is the same for all widgets. Widgets are divided into groups by number. All widgets are in group 0 by default.

If you give a widget a specific tab_group attribute setting, all widgets following it will be in the same tab group until you specify another one. Tab order goes through the widgets in the lowest-numbered tab group in the order they are listed in XML, then goes to the next highest number tab group, and so on.

So, for example:

Element a will have tab group 0, and elements b and c will have tab group 1. So, the overall tab order would be a, b, c.

The point is to avoid having to number every single widget. You pick a couple of "anchor" points where you have a row of buttons that you want to come at a specific point in the tab order and you give the first one a unique number.

Positioning and size attributes

These attributes are valid for all elements.

Horizontal dimensions are specified with "right", "left", "left_delta", and "width". Together with the width of the parent container, that makes five constraints to define two edges. Something has to give. So "left" and "right" together override "width", and "left_delta" overrides "left" and/or "right".

The same is true of vertical dimensions. The four parameters are "top", "bottom", "bottom_delta", and "height". "top" overrides "height", and "bottom_delta" overrides "bottom" and/or "top".

The values may not mean what you think they do. Read the definitions carefully.

When a parent container is resized, the child edges can be set to follow the parent edges using the "follows" parameter. If the "follows" parameter is not set, the logic is a bit complicated. If "left" is negative, the left edge follow the parent right edge; if non-negative, the left edge follows the parent left edge; unless "left_delta" or "right" are specified, in which case, nothing follows. If "bottom" is negative, the bottom edge follows the parent top edge; if non-negative, the bottom edge follows the parent bottom; unless "bottom_delta" or "top" are specified. If none of "top", "bottom", and "bottom_delta" are specified, the first child follows the parent top edge, and the others follow their siblings.

width

Required. The width of the element, in pixels.

For text, this defines the visible text as well as the clickable area. If the width of a text element is not sufficient to hold the text, the text will be truncated. This is most likely what you will widen when localizing the viewer.

For most other elements, this describes the dimensions of an element, such as a button, icon, panel, text_area, etc.

Tip: See the bounding boxes of all XML elements in the viewer: Advanced menu > UI > Debug Views.

Integer: width="140"

height

Required. The height of the element, in pixels.

For text, this defines the visible text as well as the clickable area. If the height of a text element is not sufficient to hold the text, the text will be truncated. This is most likely what you will lengthen when localizing the viewer.

For most other elements, this describes the dimensions of an element, such as a button, icon, panel, text_area, etc.

Integer: height="24"

left

Optional. Sets the position in the horizontal dimension of the element's left edge relative to the container's left edge. Positive and negative values are accepted. A negative value will set the position relative to the right edge of the container.

Integer: left="6"

right

Optional. Sets the position in the horizontal dimension of the element's right edge relative to the container's left edge. Positive and negative values are accepted. A negative value will set the position relative to the right edge of the container. Best used to align something to the right.

For example, given a floater with a width of 500 and a button we wish to right align in the floater, we can set the right to 490 -- this puts the right edge of the button 10 pixels away from the right border of the floater.

Integer: right="-6"

left_delta

Optional. (use instead of left) Sets the position in the horizontal dimension of the element's left edge relative to the previous element's left edge, or, for the first widget, the left edge of the container. Positive and negative values are accepted. Best used to left-align the current element with the previous element.

For example, given Button B with a width of 100, a previous Button A with a width of 50 and a distance between elements of 6, we would set the left_delta to -106, putting the left edge of Button B 106 pixels to the left of Button A. We use a negative number to move left, and a positive number to move right.

Integer: left_delta="-106"

bottom

Optional. Sets the position in the vertical dimension of the element's bottom edge relative to the parent container's bottom edge. Positive and negative values are accepted. A negative value sets the element's bottom edge relative to the parent container's top edge. For example, given a floater with a height of 300 and a title 20 pixels tall we can set the bottom attribute to 260 putting the bottom edge of the title 40 pixels away from the top border of the floater.

Integer: bottom="260"

top

Optional. Sets the position in the vertical dimension of the element's top edge relative to the container's top edge. Positive and negative values are accepted. A negative value will set the position relative to the top edge of the container. Best used to align something to the top of the parent container.

Integer: top="-20"

bottom_delta

Optional. (use instead of bottom) Sets the position in the vertical dimension of the element's bottom edge relative to the previous element's bottom edge, or, for the first widget, the bottom edge of the container. Positive and negative values are accepted. We use a negative number to move down, and a positive number to move up.

Integer: bottom_delta="-106"

follows

Optional. Sets which edge(s) an element follows when the containing element is resized. Specifying all edges results in an element that can dynamically resize itself with its container.

Values: "left", "top", "right", "bottom", "all". String multiple values together using pipes.

The following example sets an element to follow both the left and the top, such as a floater's title may be designed: String: follows="left|top"

rect_control

Optional. Gets "left," "right," "bottom," and "top" from the default configuration file, but the XML parameters will override this. For panels (and floaters, which are derived from panels) that are resized by the user, the resized values will be stored in the default configuration file.

String: rect_control="FloaterAdvancedSkyRect"

Text attributes

label

Optional. This is the text that is displayed on the element.

String: label="Oggetti scriptati"

font

Optional. Sets which size and style of the application font to use. The default is SansSerifSmall for text elements and SansSerif for controls (such as check_box and button.

Values: SansSerifSmall, SansSerif, SansSerifBig, SansSerifBold, Monospace

String: font="SansSerifSmall"

font.size

Optional. Sets the font size. The default size is defined by the font (e.g. SansSerifSmall is 'Small', SansSerif is 'Medium').

Values:

Monospace = 9 pt
Small = 9 pt
Medium = 10 pt
Large = 12 pt
Huge = 16 pt

String: font_size="Small"

font.style

Optional. Sets the font style. The default size is NORMAL.