Textedit Steamdeck

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

Overview

TextEdit is a UI widget derived from Text that provides interactive text input functionality. It integrates with the virtual keyboard, supports real-time text validation, formatting, tab navigation between text fields, and word prediction on platforms like Steam Deck. It manages state transitions (idle, hover, editing), text cursor display, and controller help text rendering.

Usage example

local textedit = TextEdit("default_font", 24, "", {1,1,1,1})
textedit:SetRegionSize(300, 50)
textedit:SetTextLengthLimit(20)
textedit:SetTextPrompt("Enter name", {0.7, 0.7, 0.7, 1})
textedit:SetAllowNewline(false)
textedit:EnableWordPrediction({mode = "enabled", width = 300}, {"apple", "banana"})
widget:AddChild(textedit)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: TextWidget, TextEditWidget (added via self.inst.entity:AddTextEditWidget()), WorldEntity, Widget base. Tags: None identified.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
limit	number	nil	Maximum character count (using UTF-8 length).
regionlimit	boolean	false	If true, trimming occurs on text overflow during input.
editing	boolean	false	Whether the widget is currently in edit mode.
editing_enter_down	boolean	false	Tracks if Enter key was pressed down during editing to avoid spurious exits.
allow_newline	boolean	false	Whether \n characters are allowed.
enable_accept_control	boolean	true	Controls whether CONTROL_ACCEPT triggers editing or submits.
force_edit	boolean	false	Forces text input processing when editing.
pasting	boolean	false	Flag set during paste operations.
validrawkeys	table	{}	Map of raw keys to ignore (to prevent debug key conflicts).
validchars	string	nil	String of allowed characters.
invalidchars	string	nil	String of disallowed characters.
format	string	nil	Template string with * placeholders for formatting input.
conversions	table	{}	Character transformation map (e.g., case overrides).
idle_text_color, edit_text_color	{r,g,b,a}	{0,0,0,1}	Text colors for idle/edit states.
idle_tint, hover_tint, selected_tint	{r,g,b,a}	{1,1,1,1}	Tints for idle/hover/selected states of the focus image.
nextTextEditWidget	TextEdit or function	nil	Widget (or function returning widget) to receive focus on TAB.
prediction_widget	WordPredictionWidget	nil	Sub-widget for word prediction suggestions.
pass_controls_to_screen	table	{}	Map of controls that bypass this widget and go to parent screen.
ignore_controls	table	{}	Map of controls to ignore.
prompt	Text	nil	Ghost text shown when field is empty and not editing.

Main functions

SetString(str)

• Description: Sets the displayed and stored string, applying formatting if present.
• Parameters: str (string) – text to set; may be nil or empty.
• Returns: Nothing.

SetEditing(editing)

• Description: Enters or exits editing mode, opening/closing the virtual keyboard and updating visual state.
• Parameters: editing (boolean) – true to start editing, false to finish.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnTextInput(text)

• Description: Processes a single-character input event. Handles validation, formatting, paste overflow, and prediction.
• Parameters: text (string) – a single UTF-8 character.
• Returns: true, overflow (boolean, boolean) – success flag and whether text was cut due to region limit.

OnProcess()

• Description: Finalizes editing (e.g., submits text). Calls OnTextEntered callback if present.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnRawKey(key, down)

• Description: Handles raw keyboard input during editing, including paste, Enter, Tab, and cursor keys.
• Parameters: key (KEY_* constant), down (boolean).
• Returns: true if the key event was handled; false otherwise.

OnControl(control, down)

• Description: Handles controller/abstract control input. Manages accept, cancel, navigation, and input routing.
• Parameters: control (CONTROL_* constant), down (boolean).
• Returns: true if control was handled and should not propagate further.

ValidateChar(text)

• Description: Checks if a character is allowed based on validchars, invalidchars, and system rules (e.g., newline handling).
• Parameters: text (string) – single character.
• Returns: true if valid; false otherwise.

FormatString(str)

• Description: Applies the format template to a validated string, inserting characters at * positions.
• Parameters: str (string) – raw unformatted input.
• Returns: Formatted string.

SetFormat(format)

• Description: Sets a template string (e.g., "***-***"), enabling character formatting and setting a length limit.
• Parameters: format (string or nil) – template with * placeholders; nil disables formatting.
• Returns: Nothing.

SetAllowNewline(allow_newline)

• Description: Enables/disables newline characters; updates enable_accept_control accordingly.
• Parameters: allow_newline (boolean).
• Returns: Nothing.

SetPassword(to)

• Description: Masks input when true, hides actual characters from display.
• Parameters: to (boolean).
• Returns: Nothing.

SetForceUpperCase(to)

• Description: Forces uppercase input when true.
• Parameters: to (boolean).
• Returns: Nothing.

EnableWordPrediction(layout, dictionary)

• Description: Initializes and displays the WordPredictionWidget for on-screen prediction suggestions.
• Parameters:
  layout (table) – e.g., {mode = "enabled", width = 300, pad_y = 5}
dictionary (table) – optional list of strings.
• Returns: Nothing.

ApplyWordPrediction(prediction_index)

• Description: Applies a predicted word selection at the given index.
• Parameters: prediction_index (number) – 0-based or 1-based index (depending on prediction widget).
• Returns: true if prediction applied; false otherwise.

GetLineEditString()

• Description: Returns the raw internal string (useful for password fields where display is masked).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: string.

SetHelpTextEdit, SetHelpTextCancel, SetHelpTextApply

• Description: Customizes help text displayed for editing, cancel, and apply actions.
• Parameters: str (string) – help text label.
• Returns: Nothing.

GetHelpText()

• Description: Returns concatenated localized help strings for the current state (editing vs idle).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: string.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: onremove – aborts virtual keyboard when entity is removed.
• Pushes: None identified.