Suggest UI.Metrics and more UIElement methods to Warzone devs

[Laurinchen]

Since it is the easiest to get debug info about font size, position etc. on the Website, the Mod library has been primarily made for the Website Version of Warzone. For example, width of a char, spaces between two Elements in a HorizontalLayoutGroup, extra space needed for every Element down the UI hierarchy chain, etc. are easily to get via the Website with inspect Element. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Standalone and Mobile Client. I'm therefore suggesting following (client only) UI APIs:

• UI.Metrics.GetTextWidth(text): Takes a string as the argument and returns the width of text in pixels as a number. Depends on the client type (website, standaloneclient, ...) and the current font used. Suggested Resources:
  • https://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/Font.GetCharacterInfo.html
  • https://stackoverflow.com/questions/118241/calculate-text-width-with-javascript/21015393#21015393
• UI.Metrics.HorizontalGapSize: Constant number, the gap Size between 2 Elements in a HorizontalLayoutGroup. Will depend on the the client type (website, standaloneclient, ...) the game is being played on
• UI.Metrics.VerticalGapSize: Constant number, the gap size between 2 Elements in a VerticalLayoutGroup. Will depend on the the client type the game is being played on
• UI.Metrics.ExtraSpacePerChildLevel: Constant number. Every child of a parent gets moved left further (left: CSS-property) depending how deep down it is the ancestor tree. This constant reflects that

Definition of a [UIElement]: Everything that can have a size, which can for example be set via [UIElement].SetPreferredWidth, for example a HorizontalLayoutGroup or Label. API suggestions:

• [UIElement].GetCurrentWidth(): Returns a number of how much width the element currently uses in pixels
• [UIElement].GetAvailableWidth(): Returns a number of the max width the element can expand into in pixels
• [UIElement].GetAvailableWidthLeft(): Returns a number of how much space there's left it still can expand into in pixels. Basically GetAvailableWidth() - GetCurrentWidth()
• [UIElement].GetCurrentHeight(): Returns a number of how much height the element currently uses in pixels
• [UIElement].GetAvailableHeight(): Returns a number of the max height the element can expand into in pixels
• [UIElement].GetAvailableHeightLeft(): Returns a number of how much space there's left it still can expand into in pixels. Basically GetAvailableHeight() - GetCurrentHeight()
• [UIElement].GetAncestorCount(): Returns the ancestor count of the UI Element. For example, the method called on a Label directly inheriting from rootParent should return 1.
• If any of the above cannot be calculated for whatever reason, it should return -1

EDIT: Definition of dialogRootParent: the rootParent passed to the callback of ClientGame.CreateDialog(callback).

• GetDialogHeight(dialogRootParent): Returns the height of the created menu created by calling ClientGame.CreateDialog(...)
• GetDialogWidth(dialogRootParent): Returns the width of the created menu created by calling ClientGame.CreateDialog(...)
• Above could also be parameters of the callback passed to ClientGame.CreateDialog(callback)

Edit 2: I think, following function(s) should be enabled:

• pcall
• (xpcall)

Reasoning: pcall (and xpcall) are core parts of the exception system of Lua and allow for simple error recovery. This is generally useful for general modding and programming, but it is also useful for this library: If the parsing fails, it could instead

• return an error or
• add the error to the UI to inform the user of what happened This is especially useful if
• a mod developer wants to let players have access to the functionality of this library, for example for a custom group chat with color support
• the text parameter is highly dynamically generated and the mod author didn't do formal verification of his code

Another reason is that http://lua-users.org/wiki/SandBoxes callspcall and xpcall safe, so there shouldn't be much to worry about except if

• Fizzer changed pcall (and xpcall) in an important way
• Fizzer knows about security vulnerabilities with pcall (and xpcall)
• Fizzer changed the underlying exception system in such a way that pcall (and xpcall) don't work as expected anymore

[Laurinchen]

appendum: There should also be a [UIElement].GetAncestorCount()

[JustMe003]

I would like to see methods like GetDialogHeight and GetDialogWidth that would return the size of the dialog.

Using the setMaxSize function sets the window IF the given sizes fit on the device. This would at least allow us to create fixed menu's

appendum: There should also be a [UIElement].GetAncestorCount()

In theory this is already possible. I've written a small UI package, that keeps track of each element created. You can easily track how many children / ancestors an element using something like this

[Laurinchen]

Created suggestion in uservoice forum:

https://warlight.uservoice.com/forums/77051-warzone-features/suggestions/48249116--modding-ui-metrics-and-more-uielement-methods