Setting and Retrieving the State of GUI Components

Creating and placing GUI components is only the first step -- without interaction or dynamic behavior, they don't do much.

In this section, you'll learn how to set and retrieve the state of GUI components after placing them, such as reading text from a field or updating colors or graphics.

Sponsored Link

---

Changing and Retrieving Colors

Changing Colors

To change the color of a GUI component, use the setComponentColor function. Its format is as follows:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: ID of the GUI component to change the color of
• fgRed, fgGreen, fgBlue, fgAlpa: RGBA values for the foreground color (0-255 each)
• bgRed, bgGreen, bgBlue, bgAlpa: RGBA values for the background color (0-255 each)

The color values follow the RGBA color model, which adds an alpha (transparency) component to the usual RGB (Red, Green, Blue). These values follow the properties below:

• Value range for each component: 0 (none) to 255 (full)
• For alpha: 0 is fully transparent, 255 is fully opaque

Note: Color blending is done using additive color mixing -- like how light works -- not subtractive mixing like paint. The result may differ significantly from what you might expect from pigment blending.

Retrieving Colors

To get the current color settings of a GUI component, use the getComponentColor function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: ID of the component whose color you want to retrieve

Return value:
A 2x4 int array containing the RGBA values:

• result[0][0] - [0][3]: Foreground color (R, G, B, A)
• result[1][0] - [1][3]: Background color (R, G, B, A)

Supported Components

The "setComponentColor" and "getComponentColor" functions can be used with the following GUI components:

Changing and Retrieving Position

Changing Position

To change the position of a GUI component, use the "setComponentLocation" function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: ID of the component to move
• x, y: New coordinates for the top-left corner

Retrieving Position

To get the current position of a GUI component, use the "getComponentLocation" function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: ID of the component whose position you want to retrieve

Return value:
An int array of size 2:

• result[0]: x-coordinate
• result[1]: y-coordinate

Supported Components

These position functions can be used with the following GUI components:

Changing and Retrieving Size

Changing Size

To change the size of a GUI component, use the "setComponentSize" function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: ID of the component to resize
• width, height: New width and height values

Retrieving Size

To get the current size of a GUI component, use the getComponentSize function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: ID of the component whose size you want to retrieve

Return value:
An int array of size 2:

• result[0]: Width
• result[1]: Height

Supported Components

setComponentSizeおよびgetComponentSize関数は、以下のGUIコンポーネントなどに対して使用できます。

Modifying and Retrieving Text

Modifying Text

To change the text of a GUI component, use the setComponentText function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: The ID of the component whose text you want to change
• text: The new text to display

Retrieving Text

To retrieve the text from a GUI component, use the "getComponentText" function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: The ID of the component from which to retrieve the text

Return value:
Returns the current text as a string.

Supported Components

The "setComponentText" and "getComponentText" functions can be used with the following GUI components:

Modifying and Retrieving Graphics Resources

Modifying Graphics

For components that display graphics -- such as image labels -- you can change the displayed graphics resource by using the setComponentGraphics function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• componentID: The ID of the GUI component to modify
• grapnicsID: The ID of the graphics resource to display

Retrieving Graphics

To retrieve the ID of the graphics resource currently being displayed by a component, use the "getComponentGraphics" function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• componentID: The ID of the component to retrieve the resource ID from

Return value:
Returns the ID of the graphics resource currently displayed.

Supported Components

The "setComponentGraphics" and "getComponentGraphics" functions can be used with the following GUI components:

Modifying and Retrieving Boolean and Other Values

Modifying Boolean Values

For components that have binary ON/OFF states -- such as check boxes -- use the setComponentBool function to set the value:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: The ID of the component to modify
• state: The boolean value to set (true or false)

Retrieving Boolean Values

To retrieve a boolean value from a component, use the "getComponentBool" function:

- Function Format -

Arguments:

• id: The ID of the component from which to retrieve the value

Return value:
Returns the boolean state as a bool. For example, with a check box, it returns true if checked, and false otherwise.

Supported Components

The "setComponentBool" and "getComponentBool" functions can be used with the following GUI components:

Other Types of Values

Although not covered in this guide, some GUI components -- such as sliders -- allow control over other types of values such as "int" or "float".

These components can be handled using the same pattern, with functions like:

• setComponentInt / getComponentInt
• setComponentFloat / getComponentFloat

For details on these components and functions, please refer to the GUI Library Specification.

---