utils.choose
Lua function utils.choose Summary Display a combo box with choices in it Prototype `result = utils.choose (msg, title, tbl, default)` Description `This displays a dialog box with a predetermined list of items for the user to choose from, in the form of a combo-box. If the user cancels the dialog box, or does not make a selection, nil is returned. Otherwise the key of the selected item is returned. There are three similar functions that have the same arguments: utils.choose - displays a dialog box with a combo-box in it (drop-down list) utils.listbox - displays a dialog box with a list control in it - single selection utils.multilistbox - displays a dialog box with a list control in it - multiple selections allowed The utils.listbox function would be more suitable for longer lists, but that is probably partly personal preference. The utils.multilistbox function allows multiple selections, so this is useful when you want the user to be able to select multiple items. The calling sequence is:
    result = utils.choose ( msg, title, t, default )
The only required arguments are the message text and the table of choices (t). msg = message to display (max 1000 characters) title = title of box - if nil, defaults to "MUSHclient" (max 100 characters) t - table of key/value pairs, as described below default = default key - defaults to no selection Return value = the key of what they selected, or nil if cancelled, or nothing selected. The third argument is a table of key/value pairs. The value is displayed, however the corresponding key is returned. The values are automatically sorted into ascending alphabetic order. The fourth argument is the key (string or number) which corresponds to the wanted default selection. If it does not correspond to any key in the table then no item will be selected. For no default selection just pass nil as the default. Example:
    print (utils.choose ("Your favourite", "Foods ...", { "apples", "bananas", "peaches", "cream" } ))
Possible returned values would be: nil - if no choice made or dialog cancelled 1 - apples chosen 2 - bananas chosen 3 - peaches chosen 4 - cream chosen (Note that peaches would actually be shown 4th in the list as the list is sorted). To convert from the key back to the value, simply index into your table. Eg.
    t = { "apples", "bananas", "peaches", "cream" }
    result = utils.choose ("Your favourite", "Foods ...", t)

    if result then
      print ("You chose", t [result])
    else
      print "Nothing chosen"
    end -- if
Keys and values can be either strings or numbers. MUSHclient will distinguish between strings and numbers which are the same (eg. "10" and 10 are considered different keys). Here is an example of using string keys, and supplying a default choice:
    t = {
        fruit = "apple",
        vegetable = "potato",
        spice = "pepper",
        herb = "parsley",
        }
    result = utils.choose ("Choose a food", "Foods ...", t, "fruit")

    if result then
      print ("You chose key", result, "which is", t [result])
    else
      print "Nothing chosen"
    end -- if
Possible returned values would be: nil - if no choice made or dialog cancelled "fruit" - apple chosen "vegetable" - potato chosen "spice" - pepper chosen "herb" - parsley chosen The return value will be one of the following types: nil - if no selection made or dialog cancelled string - if an item with a string key is selected number - if an item with a numeric key is selected` See Also ... Topics Lua base functions Lua bc (big number) functions Lua bit manipulation functions Lua coroutine functions Lua debug functions Lua io functions Lua math functions Lua os functions Lua package functions Lua PCRE regular expression functions Lua script extensions Lua string functions Lua table functions Lua utilities Scripting Lua functions utils.base64decode (Decode a string which was base-64 encoded) utils.base64encode (Encode a string with base-64 encoding) utils.compress (Compress a string) utils.decompress (Decompress a string) utils.editbox (Display a large message box and get free-format reply) utils.edit_distance (Returns the Levenshtein Edit Distance between two words) utils.filepicker (Invokes the Windows standard "file picker" dialog box) utils.fromhex (Convert a string from hex) utils.functionlist (Returns a table of MUSHclient world function names) utils.hash (Hash a string, returning the hex codes) utils.info (Information about directories) utils.inputbox (Display a message box and get free-format reply) utils.listbox (Display a dialog box with choices in it in a single selection list box) utils.md5 (Hash a string using the 128-bit MD5 algorithm) utils.metaphone (Returns metaphones (sound-alike codes) for the supplied word) utils.msgbox (Display a message box and get a response) utils.multilistbox (Display a dialog box with choices in it in a multiple selection list box) utils.readdir (Read a disk directory into a table) utils.sha256 (Hash a string using a 256-bit hash) utils.spellcheckdialog (Spell-checker dialog) utils.split (Split a delimited string into a table) utils.tohex (Convert a string into hex) utils.utf8decode (Encodes a series of Unicode codes into a UTF-8 string) utils.utf8encode (Encodes a series of Unicode codes into a UTF-8 string) utils.utf8valid (Checks if a UTF-8 string is valid) utils.xmlread (Parses an XML string into a nested table) (Help topic: lua=utils.choose) Documentation contents page