Chatsidebar

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-08

Overview

ChatSidebar is a UI widget that implements the lobby chat interface in Don't Starve Together. It organizes the chat input area, chat message history, and player list vertically, handles text input and submission, and manages focus navigation between the player list and chat input. It inherits from Widget and integrates with LobbyChatQueue, PlayerList, and standard input handling.

Usage example

local ChatSidebar = require "widgets/redux/chatsidebar"
local sidebar = ChatSidebar()
-- Typically added to the frontend or parent widget hierarchy
-- The sidebar automatically positions itself and initializes its child widgets
-- No further manual setup is required for standard use.

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None (pure UI widget with no entity components). Tags: Adds no tags to entities.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
active_tab	string	"players"	Tracks the currently active sidebar tab (currently only "players" or "chat" are implied).
chatbox	Widget	nil	Parent widget containing the chat input textbox and send button. Set during MakeTextEntryBox.
chat_pane	Widget	nil	Container widget for the chat input and message queue. Set during BuildChatWindow.
chatqueue	LobbyChatQueue	nil	Chat message history display. Set during BuildChatWindow.
default_focus	Widget	self.chatbox	Specifies the initial focus target.
playerList	PlayerList	nil	Player list panel. Set during BuildSidebar.

Main functions

BuildSidebar()

• Description: Initializes and positions the player list and chat windows. Called once during construction.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None identified.

MakeTextEntryBox(parent)

• Description: Constructs the chat input field, including the StandardSingleLineTextEntry textbox, send button, and associated event handlers (e.g., OnTextEntered). Configures text length limits and word prediction.
• Parameters: parent (Widget) — the parent widget to which the chatbox is added.
• Returns: Nothing. Sets self.chatbox internally.
• Error states: None identified.

BuildChatWindow()

• Description: Sets up the chat pane container, creates the text entry box, initializes the LobbyChatQueue, and positions all elements.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None identified.

IsChatting()

• Description: Checks whether the chat input textbox currently has focus and is in editing mode.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: boolean — true if the textbox is being edited, false otherwise.

OnControl(control, down)

• Description: Handles control inputs (keyboard/controller) for navigation and chat interaction. Prioritizes routing controls to the chat input textbox when focused or active.
• Parameters:
  • control (number) — the input control identifier (e.g., CONTROL_ACCEPT, CONTROL_SCROLLBACK).
  • down (boolean) — whether the control is pressed (true) or released (false).
• Returns: boolean — true if the control was consumed, false otherwise.

DoFocusHookups()

• Description: Configures directional focus navigation between the player list and chatbox.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing. Calls BuildPlayerList internally after hookups.

Refresh(params)

• Description: Refreshes the player list display, passing layout parameters for focus flow alignment.
• Parameters: params (table) — layout configuration (e.g., {right = ..., down = ...}).
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Pushes: None identified.
• Listens to: None identified (uses standard widget event system, but no explicit ListenForEvent calls are present in the code).