Minetest Lua Mainmenu API Reference 5.9.0

Introduction

The main menu is defined as a formspec by Lua in builtin/mainmenu/ Description of formspec language to show your menu is in lua_api.md

Callbacks

core.button_handler(fields): called when a button is pressed.
- fields = {name1 = value1, name2 = value2, ...}
core.event_handler(event)
- event: "MenuQuit", "KeyEnter", "ExitButton" or "EditBoxEnter"

Gamedata

The "gamedata" table is read when calling core.start(). It should contain:

{
    playername     = <name>,
    password       = <password>,
    address        = <IP/address>,
    port           = <port>,
    selected_world = <index>, -- 0 for client mode
    singleplayer   = <true/false>,
}

Functions

core.start()
- start game session
core.close()
- exit engine
core.get_min_supp_proto()
- returns the minimum supported network protocol version
core.get_max_supp_proto()
- returns the maximum supported network protocol version
core.open_url(url)
- opens the URL in a web browser, returns false on failure.
- Must begin with http:// or https://
core.open_dir(path)
- opens the path in the system file browser/explorer, returns false on failure.
- Must be an existing directory.
core.share_file(path)
- Android only. Shares file using the share popup
core.get_version() (possible in async calls)
- returns current core version

Filesystem

core.get_builtin_path()
- returns path to builtin root
core.create_dir(absolute_path) (possible in async calls)
- absolute_path to directory to create (needs to be absolute)
- returns true/false
core.delete_dir(absolute_path) (possible in async calls)
- absolute_path to directory to delete (needs to be absolute)
- returns true/false
core.copy_dir(source,destination,keep_source) (possible in async calls)
- source folder
- destination folder
- keep_source DEFAULT true --> if set to false source is deleted after copying
- returns true/false
core.is_dir(path) (possible in async calls)
- returns true if path is a valid dir
core.extract_zip(zipfile,destination) [unzip within path required]
- zipfile to extract
- destination folder to extract to
- returns true/false
core.sound_play(spec, looped) -> handle
- spec = SimpleSoundSpec (see lua_api.md)
- looped = bool
handle:stop() or core.sound_stop(handle)
core.get_video_drivers()
- get list of video drivers supported by engine (not all modes are guaranteed to work)
- returns list of available video drivers' settings name and 'friendly' display name e.g. { {name="opengl", friendly_name="OpenGL"}, {name="software", friendly_name="Software Renderer"} }
- first element of returned list is guaranteed to be the NULL driver
core.get_mapgen_names([include_hidden=false]) -> table of map generator algorithms registered in the core (possible in async calls)
core.get_cache_path() -> path of cache
core.get_temp_path([param]) (possible in async calls)
- param=true: returns path to a newly created temporary file
- otherwise: returns path to a newly created temporary folder

HTTP Requests

core.download_file(url, target) (possible in async calls)
- url to download, and target to store to
- returns true/false
core.get_http_api() (possible in async calls)
- returns HTTPApiTable containing http functions.
- The returned table contains the functions fetch_sync, fetch_async and fetch_async_get described below.
- Function only exists if minetest server was built with cURL support.
HTTPApiTable.fetch_sync(HTTPRequest req): returns HTTPRequestResult
- Performs given request synchronously
HTTPApiTable.fetch_async(HTTPRequest req): returns handle
- Performs given request asynchronously and returns handle for HTTPApiTable.fetch_async_get
HTTPApiTable.fetch_async_get(handle): returns HTTPRequestResult
- Return response data for given asynchronous HTTP request

`HTTPRequest` definition

Used by HTTPApiTable.fetch and HTTPApiTable.fetch_async.

{
    url = "http://example.org",

    timeout = 10,
    -- Timeout for connection in seconds. Default is 3 seconds.

    post_data = "Raw POST request data string" OR {field1 = "data1", field2 = "data2"},
    -- Optional, if specified a POST request with post_data is performed.
    -- Accepts both a string and a table. If a table is specified, encodes
    -- table as x-www-form-urlencoded key-value pairs.
    -- If post_data is not specified, a GET request is performed instead.

    user_agent = "ExampleUserAgent",
    -- Optional, if specified replaces the default minetest user agent with
    -- given string

    extra_headers = { "Accept-Language: en-us", "Accept-Charset: utf-8" },
    -- Optional, if specified adds additional headers to the HTTP request.
    -- You must make sure that the header strings follow HTTP specification
    -- ("Key: Value").

    multipart = boolean
    -- Optional, if true performs a multipart HTTP request.
    -- Default is false.
}

`HTTPRequestResult` definition

Passed to HTTPApiTable.fetch callback. Returned by HTTPApiTable.fetch_async_get.

{
    completed = true,
    -- If true, the request has finished (either succeeded, failed or timed
    -- out)

    succeeded = true,
    -- If true, the request was successful

    timeout = false,
    -- If true, the request timed out

    code = 200,
    -- HTTP status code

    data = "response"
}

Formspec

core.update_formspec(formspec)
core.get_table_index(tablename) -> index
- can also handle textlists
core.formspec_escape(string) -> string
- escapes characters [ ] \ , ; that cannot be used in formspecs
core.explode_table_event(string) -> table
- returns e.g. {type="CHG", row=1, column=2}
- type: "INV" (no row selected), "CHG" (selected) or "DCL" (double-click)
core.explode_textlist_event(string) -> table
- returns e.g. {type="CHG", index=1}
- type: "INV" (no row selected), "CHG" (selected) or "DCL" (double-click)
core.set_formspec_prepend(formspec)
- formspec: string to be added to every mainmenu formspec, to be used for theming.

GUI

core.set_background(type,texturepath,[tile],[minsize])
- type: "background", "overlay", "header" or "footer"
- tile: tile the image instead of scaling (background only)
- minsize: minimum tile size, images are scaled to at least this size prior doing tiling (background only)
core.set_clouds(<true/false>)
core.set_topleft_text(text)
core.show_keys_menu()
core.show_path_select_dialog(formname, caption, is_file_select)
- shows a path select dialog
- formname is base name of dialog response returned in fields
  - if dialog was accepted "_accepted" will be added to fieldname containing the path
  - if dialog was canceled "_cancelled" will be added to fieldname value is set to formname itself
- if is_file_select is true, a file and not a folder will be selected
- returns nil or selected file/folder
core.get_active_driver():
- technical name of active video driver, e.g. "opengl"
core.get_active_renderer():
- name of current renderer, e.g. "OpenGL 4.6"
core.get_active_irrlicht_device():
- name of current irrlicht device, e.g. "SDL"

core.get_window_info(): Same as server-side get_player_window_information API.

-- Note that none of these things are constant, they are likely to change
-- as the player resizes the window and moves it between monitors
--
-- real_gui_scaling and real_hud_scaling can be used instead of DPI.
-- OSes don't necessarily give the physical DPI, as they may allow user configuration.
-- real_*_scaling is just OS DPI / 96 but with another level of user configuration.
{
    -- Current size of the in-game render target.
    --
    -- This is usually the window size, but may be smaller in certain situations,
    -- such as side-by-side mode.
    size = {
        x = 1308,
        y = 577,
    },

    -- Estimated maximum formspec size before Minetest will start shrinking the
    -- formspec to fit. For a fullscreen formspec, use a size 10-20% larger than
    -- this and `padding[-0.01,-0.01]`.
    max_formspec_size = {
        x = 20,
        y = 11.25
    },

    -- GUI Scaling multiplier
    -- Equal to the setting `gui_scaling` multiplied by `dpi / 96`
    real_gui_scaling = 1,

    -- HUD Scaling multiplier
    -- Equal to the setting `hud_scaling` multiplied by `dpi / 96`
    real_hud_scaling = 1,

    -- Whether the touchscreen controls are enabled.
    -- Usually (but not always) `true` on Android.
    touch_controls = false,
}

Content and Packages

Content - an installed mod, modpack, game, or texture pack (txt) Package - content which is downloadable from the content db, may or may not be installed.

core.get_user_path() (possible in async calls)
- returns path to global user data, the directory that contains user-provided mods, worlds, games, and texture packs.
core.get_modpath() (possible in async calls)
- returns path to global modpath in the user path, where mods can be installed
core.get_modpaths() (possible in async calls)
- returns table of virtual path to global modpaths, where mods have been installed The difference with core.get_modpath is that no mods should be installed in these directories by Minetest -- they might be read-only.
  
  Ex:
```
{
    mods = "/home/user/.minetest/mods",
    share = "/usr/share/minetest/mods",

    -- Custom dirs can be specified by the MINETEST_MOD_DIR env variable
    ["/path/to/custom/dir"] = "/path/to/custom/dir",
}
```
core.get_clientmodpath() (possible in async calls)
- returns path to global client-side modpath
core.get_gamepath() (possible in async calls)
- returns path to global gamepath
core.get_texturepath() (possible in async calls)
- returns path to default textures

core.get_games() -> table of all games (possible in async calls)

name in return value is deprecated, use title instead.

returns a table (ipairs) with values:

{
    id               = <id>,
    path             = <full path to game>,
    gamemods_path    = <path>,
    title            = <title of game>,
    menuicon_path    = <full path to menuicon>,
    author           = "author",
    --DEPRECATED:
    addon_mods_paths = {[1] = <path>,},
}

core.get_content_info(path)

returns

{
    name             = "technical_id",
    type             = "mod" or "modpack" or "game" or "txp",
    title            = "Human readable title",
    description      = "description",
    author           = "author",
    path             = "path/to/content",
    textdomain = "textdomain", -- textdomain to translate title / description with
    depends          = {"mod", "names"}, -- mods only
    optional_depends = {"mod", "names"}, -- mods only
}

core.check_mod_configuration(world_path, mod_paths)

Checks whether configuration is valid.
world_path: path to the world
mod_paths: list of enabled mod paths

returns:

{
    is_consistent = true,  -- true is consistent, false otherwise
    unsatisfied_mods = {},  -- list of mod specs
    satisfied_mods = {}, -- list of mod specs
    error_message = "",  -- message or nil
}

core.get_content_translation(path, domain, string)
- Translates string using domain in content directory at path.
- Textdomains will be found by looking through all locale folders.
- String should contain translation markup from core.translate(textdomain, ...).
- Ex: core.get_content_translation("mods/mymod", "mymod", core.translate("mymod", "Hello World")) will translate "Hello World" into the current user's language using mods/mymod/locale/mymod.fr.tr.

Logging

core.debug(line) (possible in async calls)
- Always printed to stderr and logfile (print() is redirected here)
core.log(line) (possible in async calls)
core.log(loglevel, line) (possible in async calls)
- loglevel one of "error", "action", "info", "verbose"

Settings

core.settings:set(name, value)
core.settings:get(name) -> string or nil (possible in async calls)
core.settings:set_bool(name, value)
core.settings:get_bool(name) -> bool or nil (possible in async calls)
core.settings:save() -> nil, save all settings to config file

For a complete list of methods of the Settings object see lua_api.md

Worlds

core.get_worlds() -> list of worlds (possible in async calls)

returns

{
    [1] = {
        path   = <full path to world>,
        name   = <name of world>,
        gameid = <gameid of world>,
    },
}

core.create_world(worldname, gameid, init_settings)
core.delete_world(index)

Helpers

core.get_us_time()
- returns time with microsecond precision
core.gettext(string) -> string
- look up the translation of a string in the gettext message catalog
fgettext_ne(string, ...)
- call core.gettext(string), replace "$1"..."$9" with the given extra arguments and return the result
fgettext(string, ...) -> string
- same as fgettext_ne(), but calls core.formspec_escape before returning result
core.parse_json(string[, nullvalue]) -> something (possible in async calls)
- see core.parse_json (lua_api.md)
dump(obj, dumped={})
- Return object serialized as a string
string:split(separator)
- eg. string:split("a,b", ",") == {"a","b"}
string:trim()
- eg. string.trim("\n \t\tfoo bar\t ") == "foo bar"
core.is_yes(arg) (possible in async calls)
- returns whether arg can be interpreted as yes
core.encode_base64(string) (possible in async calls)
- Encodes a string in base64.
core.decode_base64(string) (possible in async calls)
- Decodes a string encoded in base64.
core.urlencode(str): Encodes non-unreserved URI characters by a percent sign followed by two hex digits. See RFC 3986, section 2.3.

Async

core.handle_async(async_job,parameters,finished)
- execute a function asynchronously
- async_job is a function receiving one parameter and returning one parameter
- parameters parameter table passed to async_job
- finished function to be called once async_job has finished the result of async_job is passed to this function

Limitations of Async operations

No access to global lua variables, don't even try
Limited set of available functions e.g. No access to functions modifying menu like core.start, core.close, core.show_path_select_dialog

Background music

The main menu supports background music. It looks for a main_menu sound in $USER_PATH/sounds. The same naming conventions as for normal sounds apply. This means the player can add a custom sound. It will be played in the main menu (gain = 1.0), looped.

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menu_lua_api.md

menu_lua_api.md

Minetest Lua Mainmenu API Reference 5.9.0

Introduction

Callbacks

Gamedata

Functions

Filesystem

HTTP Requests

`HTTPRequest` definition

`HTTPRequestResult` definition

Formspec

GUI

Content and Packages

Logging

Settings

Worlds

Helpers

Async

Limitations of Async operations

Background music

Files

menu_lua_api.md

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menu_lua_api.md

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Minetest Lua Mainmenu API Reference 5.9.0

Introduction

Callbacks

Gamedata

Functions

Filesystem

HTTP Requests

HTTPRequest definition

HTTPRequestResult definition

Formspec

GUI

Content and Packages

Logging

Settings

Worlds

Helpers

Async

Limitations of Async operations

Background music

`HTTPRequest` definition

`HTTPRequestResult` definition