Chatinputscreen

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-09

Overview

ChatInputScreen is a UI screen that manages player text input for in-game chat messages and user commands. It provides a dedicated interface for entering messages, supports whisper/say mode selection, and integrates with the emoji and command autocomplete systems via TextEdit. When active, it pauses debug toggles, hides the chat queue, and prioritizes keyboard/controller input for chat operations. It interacts with TheNet:Say() for message transmission and UserCommands.RunTextUserCommand() for command processing.

Usage example

-- Launch the chat input screen in whisper mode
TheFrontEnd:PushScreen("screens/chatinputscreen", true)

-- Launch the chat input screen in say mode
TheFrontEnd:PushScreen("screens/chatinputscreen", false)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None (ChatInputScreen is a screen subclass, not a component).
Tags: None identified.
Widget dependencies: Text, TextEdit, ScrollableChatQueue, ImageButton, Widget, Screen.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
whisper	boolean	false	Indicates whether the next message should be sent as a whisper.
runtask	Task	nil	Cancelable delay task used to debounce message sending.
chat_edit	TextEdit	—	Input field widget for player text entry.
chat_type	Text	—	Display text indicating current mode (SAY or WHISPER).
chat_queue_root	Widget	—	Container for the chat queue display.
networkchatqueue	ScrollableChatQueue	—	Widget showing recent network chat messages.

Main functions

OnBecomeActive()

• Description: Activates the screen, focuses the text input, and hides the chat queue HUD.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnBecomeInactive()

• Description: Deactivates the screen, cancels pending tasks, and restores the chat queue HUD.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

GetHelpText()

• Description: Returns localized help text describing current input control mappings.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: string — concatenation of localized control labels and actions (e.g., "B Cancel A Say").
• Error states: None.

HasMessageToSend()

• Description: Checks whether the text input contains non-whitespace content.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean — true if trimmed text is non-empty, otherwise false.

Run()

• Description: Processes and sends the current input: dispatches slash commands, or sends the message via TheNet:Say() if within length limits.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Early return if input is empty or exceeds MAX_CHAT_INPUT_LENGTH.

OnTextEntered()

• Description: Schedules Run() to execute after a short delay; cancels any previous pending task.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

Close()

• Description: Closes the screen, restores debug toggle, and pops it from the frontend stack.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: None (does not register inst:ListenForEvent handlers).
• Pushes: None (does not call inst:PushEvent).
• Uses task scheduling: inst:DoTaskInTime(0, DoRun, self) — not an event but a DST-specific delayed execution mechanism.